essays

Camping at Betty Brook, Aug 26

The Betty Brook Campsite remains one of my favorite in NY State, especially because it’s a quick hour drive from downtown Albany out there, over the Thruway and the Warren Andersen Expressway. It almost never disappoints, and it was a great night.

Beautiful Saturday Morning

Morning Sun. The valley being so deep around Betty Brook the sun sets early, and rises late this time of year. Looking at the sun through the trees, a little after 9 AM.

Morning Sun

Betty Brook Road. Just looking at this road brings me home, back to my favorite camping area.

Betty Brook Road

The Campsite. And yes, I of course have my trademark Christmas lights that I always use for ambiance.

The Campsite

Betty Brook Site All Cleaned Up

I headed from here, in my truck, up to explore the Mallet Pond State Forest-area just to the north. I probably will camp up at Rossman Pond the next time I am here, because the pond is so pretty and I can paddle around with my kayak there.

Sun Altitude from Horizon

Here is a map of the Betty Brook Campsites. There is a larger one to the south, but I generally prefer the one to the north, as its smaller and the firepit and stone table is much nicer.


View Hiking in 2009 in a larger map

Why Does the DEC Hide Camping Areas?

One of the things that I’ve puzzled over for for some time, is the practice of hiding officially designated roadside camp sites and primative camping areas from their website and from offical signage on primary roads.

Campsite 55

The DEC never puts a sign up along a road saying “Camping Area”, although they do often designate individual sites along the roads with smaller markers. It’s always signed as “C.C. Dam Assocation”, “Moose River Plains Wild Forest”, “Mountain Pond Fishing Area” with no information on camping activities, despite having dozens if not hundreds of designated road-side camping sites.

Brasher Falls Sign

Limekiln Entrance Sign

It’s not like people can’t figure out where primative campsites are located by searching the Internet for other web sites, driving around on state truck trails, checking topographic maps, studying Unit Management Plans, and talking to people who have been their previously. Things are not really hidden, it’s that DEC just doesn’t make it obvious.

Campsite 4

To make matters worst, the DEC varies greatly in their policy towards putting campsites on their online interactive mapper. Some camping areas are not included in their interactive mapper at all, while other are in part or whole. Some designated camping areas on the mapper, require a free permit from the DEC, although you would never know it from the website.

Adirondack Park Land Cover

The DEC also does not provide public access to the shape files used to draw the data in the online interactive mapper. Despite one’s repeated attempts to contact the Department for acess to that shapefile, the GIS director has never responded. If you wanted that incomplete shapefile, you would probably have to FOIL the agency, and no guarantees that the department would provide access.

Tent

There are probably a couple of rationals for this disorganized policy towards primative camping:

  • Discourage over use by keeping camping areas known to a limited number of people who’ve spent the time discovering them on their own
  • Discourage ‘casual’ use by youth who seek simply places for partying and generally making a mess with beer cans and other unburnable trash, damage to vegetation, and generally getting themselves in trouble
  • Competition from State-owned DEC Campgrounds, many of which are money makers for the DEC and help fund other activities of the department
  • Disorganization in the DEC regional offices, which may not sychronize their data with DEC Headquarters in Albany.
  • Regional DEC Offices desire not to share with the DEC in Albany, a list of campsites that do not comply with wild forest guidelines due to spacing or frontage issues.
  • Regional DEC Offices would prefer people contact the forest rangers directly about camping opportunities, so they can better control use of their lands and maintain a kind of fiefdom over them.

Reading in the Rain

Regardless, it would be nice if the Department of Environmental Conservation, in the form of it’s regional and state offices, would be honest with the public about camping opporunties across the state. The public owns the land, and the public has the right to know about how it can be used, without directly having to contact individual forest rangers, which may or may not be honest or helpful.

No Good At Getting Going in Morning

I can set my alarm clock to an early hour, and get going at an early morning. Yet, I can’t get moving fast in the morning. I am a slow poke, always delaying, and puttering around, as the time moves along on the clock. It’s simply not possible for me to rush and get ready most days.

Barge Canal Backwaters

I like to get up early to go hiking. I don’t like to waste the whole day in bed on the weekends. I have to get to work on time. Yet, to do that I always have to get up extra early in the morning, because I’m just so darn slow.

Breakfast and Gear Everywhere

I set my alarm clock extra early, and get going earlier. Yet, it still takes me 1 1/2 to 2 hours to get going, as I often reset the alarm clock, drink several cups off coffee, take much too long in the shower, and just poke around. I wish was I faster, but I guess there isn’t much I can do about it.

Sunshine Makes Me High

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy, sunshine in my eyes can make me cry. Sunshine on the water looks so lovely, sunshine almost always makes me high.

– John Denver, Sunshine on My Shoulders

You know, there is nothing like the first rays of sunshine in the morning. Whether it’s waking up to the sunrays breaking throug the glass of the truck cap, sitting down at a lake or on a hilltop watching the sun rise, or even just looking at the bus window at the rising the sun, it gives me an increadible high.

Sunshine

Sunshine means a new day has broken. A new chance to explore, to discover, to figure out who I am as an individual. A new chance to do good and change the world. Everything starts over again, as we go from the cycle of morning to night in the life of the day.

Night time can be dark and frightening at times. Yet, then with the rising of the sun, the light shines brightly over the world once again.

It Should Not Rain on Weekends

I am absolutely opposed to rain on the weekends. Rain can ruin weekend plans, force people to be stuck inside, when it would otherwise be much nicer to spend time outdoors exploring the great outdoors.

Now there is absolutely no way to prevent rain from occuring on weekends. It’s not like we can pass a law preventing or just tell god not to rain on our weekends. There are no giant raincoats that we place over the sky, to keep the clouds from dumping their load upon us.

It’s not to say that we don’t need rain. Rain keeps the plants and crops growing, it keep things from drying out to much and decreases the risk of wildfire. It keeps our streams and wells replenished and full. Yet, does that mean it’s okay for it to rain on weekends?

Rain Soaked Trail

Why can’t every weekend day, be beautiful, and sunny, low humidity, and 75 degrees?

Kayaking Mountain Pond, Aug 14

Mountain Pond is located about 2 miles North of Paul Smiths College on an old routing of NY 30. It is a mile long, has catch and release fishing, and good place for some solitude and flat water paddling. It is in Debar Mountain Wild Forest, with 2 large campsites on the pond, 3 smaller ones on or near the pond, and 10 other along Mountain Pond Road. It’s little used due to it’s remote location, and easy to even get one of the large sites on the lake on the weekends.

Paddling. Just paddling along Mountain Pond in the kayak.

Paddling

Tall Pine. Lining the edge of Mountain Pond, as I ride around in the kayak.

Tall Pine

Towards Jenkins Mountain. The last hill that makes up Jenkins Mountain is where Mountain Pond gets it’s name from.

Towards Jenkins Mountain

From Southern End of Mountain Pond. This is looking from Campsite 1 at the Southern End of Mountain Pond, looking North. Old NY 30 winds right along the shore of NY 30, the New Routing is about a 1/2 mile away for NY 30.

From Southern End of Mountain Pond

Campsite No 1. This is campsite No 1 at Mountain Pond. It was never used on the Saturday Night I was there, but it looks nice, if not a bit small.

Campsite No. 2

View from Campsite 1. Here my kayak is parked at Campsite 1, where I got out for a stretch. Looking south at this rather spectacular looking lake on a great day. The lake winds back and forth, for about a mile.

View from Campsite in Evening

Along Edge of Pond. This is looking at the eastern, more mountainess shore of Mountain Pond.

Along Edge of Alder Pond

Central Part of Lake. On the left is the western shore, by where NY 30 runs. It is a beautiful, if not humongous lake with lots of shoreline and bys.

Central Part of Lake

Many Downed Trees. There where many downed trees that had fallen into the lake, from the often steep eastern edge of mountain pond. Campsites are on the other side of the lake, and they all where in good shape.

Many Downed Trees

Northeastern Bay. Here is an Northeastern Bay at Mountain Pond. Not as pretty as farther south with the steep rock ledges against the lake, but still a classic Adirondack Lake.

Northeastern Bay

Loons. While this picture is somewhat in shadow, there where loons on Mountain Pond. They were not all that noisy, compared to Polliwog Pond or especially Mason Pond, where they howled quite bit more in the evening.

Mountain. This is the Mountain at Mountain Pond. It’s not much more then a hill, because Jenkins Mountain has largely petered out before reaching here, but it’s still a lot higher then surrounding elevation.

Mountain

Campsites No 4 and No 5. As I had previously noted, Campsites 4 and 5 where pretty close to one an another. Nobody ended up staying at No 5, although somebody parked there for a while to go paddling.

Music

Treeline. This is the tree line towards the top of Mountain Pond, on this rather beautiful day for sure.

 Treeline

Campsite No 4. This was taken from the lake. It was great to be right on the lake, at this very remote Adirondack Pond.

Campsite No 4

Here is a map of the pond.

Camping at Mountain Pond, Aug 14

Mountain Pond is located about 2 miles North of Paul Smiths College on an old routing of NY 30. It is in Debar Mountain Wild Forest, with 2 large campsites on the pond, 3 smaller ones on or near the pond, and 10 other along Mountain Pond Road. It’s little used due to it’s remote location, and easy to even get one of the large sites on the lake on the weekends.

Old NY 30 Signs. Along Mountain Pond Road/Old NY 30, you can see the road signs dating back to the 1960s or maybe even earlier, prior to modern alignment of NY 30.

Old NY 30 Signs

Campsite 4. Here is the view of Campsite 4 from Old NY 30/Mountain View Road and down by the lake. A nice campsite, big, roomy, and private, although the much smaller Campsites 5 is fairly close.

Campsite No 4

Making Up Blueberry Cake Mix. Here I’m the Blueberry Cake Mix, and getting ready to add the Blueberries I picked up at Moose River Plains. Should be real good.

Making Up Blueberry Cake Mix

Baking in Dutch Oven. That sure smells good, doesn’t it. I put the pan that the mix was in dutch oven up on rocks, so it didn’t burn the bottom of the cake, and made sure to add adequate coals to the top to keep things cooking evenly.

Baking in Dutch Oven

Mountain Pond in the Evening.

Mountain Pond in the Evening

First Rays of Sunshine. I purposefully picked this campsite, and parked my truck so that the first rays of the sun, would come through the truck cap, and wake me up around the crack of down (around 6:35 AM this time of year).

First Rays of Sunshine

Getting Out and Stretch. That’s my rig with all the messy camping gear and sleeping stuff around, as I first awake in the morning.

Getting Out and Stretch

Sunshine. Sparkling on the pond, first thing in the morning. Real purty.

Sunshine

Ropes. These are the ropes and bungee cords I use to secure the kayak on the roof. Seems to work well on the kayak blocks.

Ropes

Gear All Packed Up. Now just to get the kayak up on the roof.

Gear All Packed Up

Here is a map of the camping area.