1. Art and Diseño

A Vision for
Wilderness Management and
Primitive Recreation in the
South Central Adirondacks
Bill Ingersoll
Get Out. Seek Out.
FIND OUT.
www.HikeTheAdirondacks.com
Published January 2015
WILD RIVER Press
7123 Trenton Road
Barneveld, NY 13304
All photos & maps by Bill Ingersoll unless otherwise noted
Front cover: Camping at Middle Lake, Wilcox Lake Wild Forest
Back Cover: Hiking to Peaked Mountain, Siamese Ponds Wilderness
South Lake, West Canada Lake Wilderness
Contents
Introduction
Historical Background for the South Central Adirondacks
Planning for Primitive Recreation in a Wild Setting
Southern Black River Wild Forest: An Unprotected Wilderness
The North Creek Lakes: A Missed Opportunity
The Sacandaga Valley Seven
The Siamese Ponds: A Wilderness Connection
West Canada Lake Wilderness: A Fragile Resource
Crane Mountain: Room for Expansion
Preserving the Wild Core
Conclusion
1
3
6
8
10
13
17
20
23
25
28
Cascade Pond, Blue Ridge Wilderness
1
T
his document represents my detailed
thoughts and ideas
on the management
of the so-called “Great South
Woods,” a section of the Adirondack Forest Preserve that is the
subject of a recreation-focused
planning project spearheaded
by DEC, APA, SUNY-ESF, and
others. I attended the project
kick-off meeting in Speculator
on December 17, 2014, and
while I was glad to see such a
tremendous public turnout, I felt
that the format of the meeting
(intended to engage as many
participants as possible) did not
permit a detailed discussion
by those individuals who truly
do know this part of the Forest
Preserve well. Therefore I have
outlined in writing my thoughts
on the Great South Woods project in this report.
I have been thoroughly exploring the southern Adirondacks
since 1997, when I fell in love
with wilderness recreation on
a family trip to North Lake in
the Black River Wild Forest.
During the past eighteen years I
have hiked the vast majority of
the area’s trails (including the
unmarked ones) and paddled
many of its waters. Since 2006
I have been the author and
publisher of the Discover the Adirondacks series of guidebooks,
which was created by the late
Barbara McMartin. These books
are more than just recreational guides, in my opinion: they
are an inventory for the Forest
Introduction
Preserve, listing all of the known
trails, unmarked footpaths, and
bushwhack destinations for
each region.
In recent years I have updated
four of the books falling within
the Great South Woods (GSW)
region. I released the fifth
edition of Discover the Southern Adirondacks in November
2014—a beefy 520-page reference to everything south of
Route 8 and west of the Northway. Discover the South Central
Adirondacks was issued earlier in
2014, with notes on every route
and destination worth visiting in
the Siamese Ponds Wilderness.
Discover the West Central Adirondacks (2013) describes the West
Canada Lake Wilderness and
Moose River Plains Wild Forest—two of the best wild land
resources in the Adirondack
Park—while Discover the Southwestern Adirondacks (2013) covers the Black River Wild Forest
south of Old Forge.
While these are nominally
guidebooks intended to help
hikers, paddlers, and skiers plan
their next adventures, I also
regard these latest editions as
detailed references—the “owner’s manuals” to the Forest Preserve, geared towards the primitive forms of recreation that I
espouse. They list all of the most
interesting natural features and
historic sites I have been able
to find, as well as every official
and unofficial trail that anyone
might be willing to explore.
Because I am an avid backpack-
er, the new editions include
sample itineraries for point-topoint hikes across each of the
regions (including one potential
“lodge to lodge” hike across the
Siamese Ponds Wilderness that
takes advantage of commercial
facilities strategically located
near two public trailheads). In
the course of researching these
books, I have accumulated a
personal inventory of trail data
that seems to exceed most state
and commercial maps I’ve ever
seen—all of it derived from my
own firsthand experiences exploring and leading trips in this
region, and with the assistance
of my contributors.
The books also contain detailed
historical information on the
Forest Preserve, telling the
story of how many of our wild
lands were exploited in the past.
This backstory was researched
by studying old forest commission reports and contem-
2
porary newspaper accounts.
The knowledge that I applied in
creating these books has been
reapplied in this document.
Although I can’t claim to have
been everywhere in the region,
very little of this forest is hypothetical to me; I have experienced many rewarding days and
nights here, and there are many
places that I cannot wait to see
again.
As someone who already
knows this region of the Forest
Preserve extremely well, I felt
constrained by the basic level of
discussion that was conducted
at the December kickoff meeting for the GSW project. I agree
with the overall assessment that
the meeting was successful in
its ability to engage nearly all
of the attendees, but I had a
hard time understanding how
the broad range of ideas that
was expressed (and the un-prioritized manner in which they
were jotted down) would be
helpful to any state planner.
There is something to be said
for a meeting that is led by subject matter experts, with a clear
statement of what is in and out
of scope. In theory, DEC and
APA staff should be the experts
on Forest Preserve management, since as planners and
foresters this is their professional focus. Public input is a very
important element, but many
high-level policy directions
regarding the Forest Preserve
have already been determined
through the continued public
support of Article XIV of the
state constitution, and the im-
plementation of the State Land
Master Plan. Therefore if the
GSW project meetings are to
generate any meaningful input
from the public, there needs to
be more structure to the discussions held at the open workshops, and clearer constraints
to eliminate fruitless digressions
about such things as ATV access
and groomed ski trails, which
are legally impossible in the
Forest Preserve.
Furthermore, the scheduling
and location of the meetings—
midweek, in the communities
within the GSW region—assumes that knowledge of the
Forest Preserve increases with
residential proximity. The truth
is that the people with the best
up-to-date knowledge of our
backcountry areas are those
who recreate there frequently.
Such people are just as likely
to come from Poughkeepsie
as they are Piseco. However,
someone who is free to explore
the Forest Preserve on the
weekend is unlikely to be able
to attend a meeting held on a
workday more than an hour’s
drive from home. Therefore
the GSW project leaders could
do a better job at engaging
knowledgeable individuals from
outside the Adirondack Park. If
local business owners are the
project’s primary participants,
then the final report will be
shaped by economic self-interests, not environmental protection.
residents of St. Lawrence County to describe the Adirondack
Park in general. For everybody
else, this region is known as the
“North Woods” or “North Country.” The GSW name was highly
criticized during the December
kickoff meeting, and I must
concur that it is not an apt name
for the region. A more accurate
description might be “South
Central Adirondacks,” a phrase
that I have used several times
throughout this document.
All of this aside, I do have plenty
of ideas for improving the trail
system of the south central
Adirondacks, particularly in
regards to its ability to accommodate primitive forms of recreation: hiking, bushwhacking,
skiing, and paddling. In my view,
the wildness of this region is its
biggest attraction, and it is the
element that should be preserved against all other threats.
The Forest Preserve is first and
foremost a wild resource, and
the wilderness characteristics of
the south central Adirondacks
are the region’s primary trait. An
increase in road or snowmobile
trail mileage would diminish this
wildness and make the area less
attractive to the people who
are already drawn to its solitary
spaces. Recreation is an important aspect of Forest Preserve
management, and it is through
recreation that people like
myself become knowledgeable
about this important state resource. But any recreation plan
for the south central AdironFinally, I need to question the
dacks should regard wildness as
choice in the name “Great South
the primary attraction, not as an
Woods.” This is a term used by
impediment.
3
I
Historical Background for the
South Central Adirondacks
t seems paradoxical that a
forest so large, so undeveloped, could exist in such
close proximity to the Erie
Canal corridor, which was once
the economic and industrial
artery of the state. Yet here it is,
a wilderness where residents of
the Mohawk Valley and Capital
District can scoot north and
indulge in some of the finest
woodlands in North America.
To understand the trail system
for the south central Adirondacks, it helps to have a basic
knowledge of the area’s history.
The Forest Preserve holdings
are so vast in the GSW region,
especially along the southern
boundaries of the park, for two
reasons: the original Adirondack Park blue line focused the
state’s first land acquisition
efforts here, and because abundant amounts of timberland
were so available in this region
at the end of the nineteenth
century.
At a time when Adirondack
logging was dominated by the
mills at Glens Falls, places like
the modern Silver Lake Wilderness and Ferris Lake Wild Forest
were deemed to be too remote
and too poor in their spruce
content, especially compared
to places closer to the Hudson
River. Some parcels in the town
of Morehouse were sold to the
state as virgin forests, for the
premium price of $7 an acre.
Many other tracts had only
been harvested for red spruce
and eastern hemlock, and then
returned to the state at an early
date. Although not technically
“virgin,” there are large swaths
of forest in the south central Adirondacks that have long since
regrown to mature conditions.
Lands acquired by the state
have often included the sites
of forgotten settlements and
public highways, the relics of
an earlier day when wilderness
preservation was the furthest
thing from anybody’s mind. The
Annual Report of the Forest Commission for the Year 1893, Volume II, provided a list of public
highways commissioned by the
state legislature throughout the
nineteenth century, including
those that later became parts
of the Forest Preserve. Aber
and King’s History of Hamilton
County mentions a number of
similarly forgotten town roads.
Hamilton County was poorly
mapped until the USGS began
to issue topographic quadrangles at the turn of the century,
so understanding the development of the region’s road
system—especially in regards
to the wilder sections that later
became Forest Preserve trails—
can be quite difficult. It is possible that some of these roads
were never completed, which
might explain why they became
unused and forgotten.
Human activity in the backwoods was in no way limited to
logging, although it is true that
lumbering and tanbarking were
the primary sources of employment in what later became the
Forest Preserve. The southern
Adirondacks contain the ruins
of numerous small sawmills
and tanneries, a few of them
far from the nearest modern
road. For example, one can hike
to mill ruins at Glasgow Millpond, Holmes Lake, Pinnacle
Creek, and elsewhere on state
land. These mills specialized in
a variety of wood products, including barrel staves and bungs,
clothespins, and furniture
rungs. One mill in Arietta may
have been connected to the
hamlet of Stratford (where its
owner lived) by a tram railroad
with wooden rails in the 1840s.
The only logging railroad in
the southern Adirondacks was
located near Jerseyfield Road in
today’s Ferris Lake Wild Forest; many steel rails can still be
found along the rail bed.
Mining also left its mark on the
landscape, especially near Gore
Mountain. The gaping pit of
the Hooper garnet mine above
Thirteenth Lake is a man-made
oddity within the Siamese
Ponds Wilderness; several small
outbuildings from this mine, not
inventoried in DEC’s unit management plan, still stand nearby
on state land. In the 1880s there
4
was a flurry of interest in gold
and silver mining in today’s Silver Lake Wilderness near Benson. Contemporary newspaper
accounts suggested that large
amounts of earth were being
moved to uncover fabulous riches, but in reality the wilderness
was hardly disturbed. I have
only found one small pit in the
bed of Goldmine Creek, where
two small milling machines can
still be found. I strongly suspect
that the gold mining schemes
were little more than invest-
ment scams.
Much of today’s wild landscape
was once cleared farmland.
Little is known about some of
the more remote sites like Curtis
Clearing in the Siamese Ponds
Wilderness, or Devorse Creek
and Whitehouse in the Silver
Lake Wilderness. The early residents eluded census takers and
are only vaguely mentioned in
regional histories, if at all. Perhaps some of these people were
regarded as social outcasts. The
Farm plow at Devorse Creek, Silver Lake Wilderness
Northrups farmed at Whitehouse, a site on the West Branch
Sacandaga that later became
a sportsmen’s lodge operated
by the Lawrence and Fountain
families. Old Farm Clearing
(identified mysteriously as an
“Indian clearing” on one old
map) might have serviced the
extensive logging operations
in Township 13, before it too
became a hunting and fishing
lodge. A camp on Devorse Creek
deep within the Silver Lake
Wilderness, located along the
abandoned Wells and Bleecker
state road, was undoubtedly
farmed. A cabin located here
was occupied by the father and
son hermits Daniel and Seth
Wadsworth; the younger man
was eventually evicted as a
squatter on state land by the
Conservation Commission circa
1915, and later became a watchman at the Cathead Mountain
fire tower.
The Wilcox Lake Wild Forest was
significantly smaller a century
ago because its fringes had
been cleared for agriculture. It
is hard to visualize today, but
much of the East Branch Sacandaga valley from Griffin to Oregon (along today’s Route 8) was
farmland, although state forest
commissioners who visited the
area in 1895 held the occupants
in low regard. Bartman Road
near Bakers Mills provided
access to several lost farms that
extended high up into the hills.
The Baldwin Spring area is the
site of a robust community once
known as West Stony Creek; in
its day, it was one of the remotest farming settlements in
5
the Adirondacks. Bakertown,
located on a lost state highway
between Wells and Stony Creek,
was still being used for cattle
grazing when a forest ranger
reforested the area in 1918 with
75,000 white pine saplings.
The most unusual lost settlement in the Forest Preserve of
the south central Adirondacks
is the site of Little Canada, near
Indian Lake in the Siamese
Ponds Wilderness. This land had
been purchased as part of the
Township 15 acquisition from
Finch Pruyn in 1897, which added such landmarks as Chimney
Mountain and the Indian Lake
dam to the state’s holdings.
Since becoming the predominant landowner in Indian Lake in
the mid-1800s, Finch Pruyn had
sold off many lots within the
township to individual settlers
over the years. However, the
company did not keep a good
record of these sales. After the
state bought the land, it soon
became clear that this “forest”
included quite a few farms, and
that the state did not have a
clear title to the entire tract. A
special court was established
in 1914 to review all the land
claims, and anyone who could
provide a record of their purchase from Finch Pruyn could
keep their lands. The residents
of Little Canada were found to
be squatters, and the state’s
title was upheld. Therefore the
farms were evacuated and the
fields reforested with pines.
Today, only a handful of foundations and one small cemetery
remain to mark the location of
the settlement.
Ore mill at Goldmine Creek, Silver Lake Wilderness
Unlike the High Peaks region to
the north, where tourists came
to explore the mountainous
landscape on foot, the early
recreational focus for the southern Adirondacks was hunting
and fishing. Guides maintained
trails to their favored sporting
grounds, and these routes were
typically marked by axe blazes.
In the absence of detailed maps
and trail signs, Forest Preserve
visitors were reliant upon local
knowledge to get around—
hence the need for guides.
There was no such thing as a
marked state trail until the Conservation Commission became
the preserve’s primary steward
in the 1910s. Automobiles made
the public much more independent, and the arrival of paved
roads made it easier for city and
suburban residents from outside
the Adirondack Park to travel to
the Forest Preserve for weekend
recreation. These factors, combined with the availability of the
first detailed topographic maps
from the USGS, made outdoor
6
explorers more self-sufficient
than they had ever been before.
Recognizing that there were
more people striking into the
woods on their own, the Conservation Commission began
to mark trails for the first time
circa 1919, using colored disks
and brown signs to replace
the traditional axe blazes. The
intent was to make it possible
for even inexperienced outsiders to navigate safely through
the woods. Over the course
of the next decade, the state
developed a park-wide system
of trails and lean-tos, as well as
roadside campsites at places
where motorists were already
tending to congregate. A popular tent platform program allowed anyone to build semi-permanent camping structures
on state land by applying for a
permit. All of this was part of a
concentrated effort to get the
public engaged with the Forest
Preserve through recreation,
I
and in the process the Conservation Commission (renamed
the Conservation Department in
1927) developed the park aesthetic that we now find so familiar in the twenty-first century.
However, very little planning
went into this recreational
development, and the state
was only marking trails along
preexisting routes, such as old
roads and guides’ trails. Because
these traditionally stuck to lower elevations, there were very
few hiking trails to mountain
summits in the southern Adirondacks. The only exceptions
were the fire tower trails (where
mountain climbing was quite
popular) or places like Chimney
Mountain (where a lodge owner
cut a trail for the amusement of
his guests). The vast majority
of trails led to ponds and lakes,
even though the forest fires
of the early twentieth century
had opened numerous vistas
on the surrounding mountains.
Even today, there are only a
handful of marked state trails to
non-tower summits in the south
central Adirondacks.
Prior to the proliferation of
snowmobiles, nearly all trails
were foot trails. After World
War II, though, snowmobiles
and jeeps began to infiltrate
recesses of the Forest Preserve
that had only been accessible by
foot or horseback. As a result,
the modern notion that “wildness” equaled the absence of
motor vehicles was born. Action
was needed lest the wilderness
quality of the Forest Preserve
be permanently lost. The SLMP,
first issued in 1972, codified this
aesthetic by prohibiting motor
vehicles from fifteen designated
wilderness areas throughout
the park, and by prescribing
that motorized use of the wild
forests be capped and otherwise
not encouraged.
Planning for Primitive Recreation
in a Wild Setting
t should be stressed that
there are far more trails in
the Forest Preserve than the
DEC has inventoried, and
that few areas are truly “trailless.” Further, DEC Region 6
has inventoried certain “roads”
in the western Adirondacks
(including the Black River Wild
Forest within the scope of the
GSW project) that fail to meet
SLMP criteria for motor vehicle
use. I have therefore prepared
a series of maps illustrating the
GSW region as I know it, focusing on selected parts of the
Forest Preserve. These maps
are based on the GPS data that
I gathered while researching my
guidebooks.
The key feature of the Forest
Preserve is its wildness, and this
characteristic is what must be
preserved against all other concerns. When the APA first zoned
the preserve in 1972 into wilderness and wild forest areas,
these two classifications were
staggered across the GSW region like a giant checkerboard.
The areas chosen for the wilderness classification were truly
deserving, containing some
of the preserve’s most rugged
terrain. But most of the wild
forests also included sections
with high wilderness potential,
particularly certain core areas in
7
between the snowmobile trails
where opportunities for solitude
are high. These places survive
unmolested today, even though
state policy carries no guarantees for their protection.
The array of wild forests along
the park’s southern boundary
has been called a “crescent”
where a greater amount of
recreational development could
occur. So far, though, most of
this development has been in
the form of snowmobile trails,
and opportunities for quality
primitive recreation—i.e., areas
where motorized vehicles are
largely absent—remain somewhat scant in the wild forests.
My maps identify numerous
mountains scattered across the
entire region that feature good
views. If there is one easy way
to make this part of the Forest
Preserve more attractive to a
larger number of people, it is
to cut a few trails up some of
the more peripheral peaks so
that people can climb them and
see how vast and beautiful the
south central Adirondacks really
are.
for this area have looked past
the current trail layout, or have
tried to understand the almost
accidental nature of how the
network was developed in the
past. While I would prefer to see
the wild cores of the forest left
unmolested—or even enhanced
and enlarged if possible—there
is still plenty of room for recreation development in the peripheral zones, close to hamlets
and travel corridors.
With so much interconnection
between the various state land
tracts, this is certainly a region
that could benefit from regional management. Few of the
UMPs that have been produced
The following pages list some
of my specific proposals for
enhancing primitive recreation
opportunities in the southern
Adirondacks without degrading
its wild character.
8
Southern Black River Wild Forest:
A
An Unprotected
Wilderness
prime example of
a wild forest with
wilderness characteristics is the section
of the Black River Wild Forest
south of North Lake Road. At
least two-thirds of this area
meets wilderness standards
as defined by the SLMP, and
should be reclassified. This is the
zone marked as the proposed
“Cotton Lake Wilderness” on
the accompanying map. Three
private inholdings would need
to be excluded, and DEC would
need to evaluate whether the
landowners have deeded rights
to operate motor vehicles on
state land, but otherwise the
Cotton Lake Wilderness could
be designated without any
impacts to active snowmobile
trails.
The proposed Cotton Lake
Wilderness includes several
small ponds, a section of likely
old growth forest, and a former reservoir. The state’s canal
commission built a dam at
Twin Lakes in the 1880s, turning these two small ponds into
a shallow reservoir. Portions
of the old masonry dam still
stand at the outlet. Although
the modern Canal Corporation
did not transfer the abandoned
reservoir bed to the Forest
Preserve until 2006, the lakes
have long since returned to
a natural condition. Most of
the area was acquired by the
state long ago, with maturing
forests now found throughout
the proposed wilderness. A
handful of old logging roads in
the vicinity of Cotton Lake and
Twin Lakes Marsh appear to be
the result of salvage operations
after the 1950 hurricane; they
now form the basis of an informal trail network. The subtle,
non-mountainous nature of the
terrain is probably what caused
it to be overlooked by state
planners. However, the absence
of spectacular scenery is also
what makes Cotton Lake such
a strong wilderness candidate:
few people go there, and it
offers outstanding opportunities
for solitude.
The Cotton Lake Wilderness is
bounded on the east by routes
that DEC Region 6 has inventoried as “roads.” It is true
that motor vehicles (ATVs and
snowmobiles) use these routes
for recreation and to access private inholdings. The Herkimer
Landing Road was possibly a
town highway in a prior century;
based on its current appearance
it was probably last maintained
by the defunct Town of Wilmurt,
which was abolished in 1918
after complaints of mismanagement. The road features an
ancient concrete bridge over Big
Brook that was built for automobiles, but both the bridge
and the road have deteriorated
into such an unusable condition that the route now fails to
meet the SLMP definition of a
road. A connecting trail in the
vicinity of Little Salmon Outlet,
called the “South Shore Road”
on some DEC maps, is little
more than a muddy trail. Under
no circumstances should these
ways be considered “roads” in
the SLMP sense! A decade ago,
DEC Region 6 proposed converting these two roads into an
automobile through-way from
Nobleboro to South Lake. Such
an action would destroy this
area’s remote, wild quality, and
it would violate the SLMP. This
part of the Forest Preserve requires more scrutiny on the part
of APA planning staff to ensure
compliance with the master
plan.
The North Creek Lakes:
A
A Missed Opportunity
nyone who has ever
visited the corner of
the Ferris Lake Wild
Forest between Arietta and Stratford may be curious
as to why there is a Third and
Fourth lake here, but no First
and Second. The answer is simple: the two numbered ponds
are part of a group of backcountry waters that was widely
known as the North Creek Lakes
in the nineteenth century, after
the stream that transmitted
their combined output into the
East Canada Creek. The first lake
in the chain was named Waters
Millpond, after a William Waters
who farmed and ran a sawmill
on its outlet during the Civil
War era. The second lake was
called Long Lake. Although the
collective name for the chain
appeared on old maps, it was
dropped for unknown reasons
in the twentieth century by the
USGS.
11
backpacking, but the management of this area has rarely considered anything beyond winter
snowmobiling.
There are several reasons for
this claim. First, several of the
trails suffer from poor drainage
and excessive wetness, with
no attempts to harden them
through the use of bog bridging
or relocation. One of the prettiest segments in this network is
the portion that hugs the southeast shore of Third Lake; what
should be an attractive trail
with good views of the water is
instead marred by the fact that
much of the walking surface is
a boggy mess. A simple reroute
a few feet inland onto higher
ground would resolve this issue.
The four North Creek Lakes lie
in a pocket of forest bearing a
richness of water, with neighbors that include Nine Corner
Lake, Good Luck Lake, Dexter
Lake, and Spectacle Lake. The
lands within Fulton County were
acquired in the mid-twentieth
century from the West Virginia
Pulp and Paper Company, which
had a mill in Mechanicville on
the Hudson River. The paper
company built a network of
unimproved roads to most of
the ponds, but they floated
their pulp logs out to Knappville
via North Creek. Here, the logs
could be more easily loaded
onto trucks for shipment to the
mill.
Today, most of the old logging
roads serve as part of Fulton
County’s snowmobile trail
system. Such a dense collection
of scenic lakes so close to two
state highways should also be
a boon for summer hiking and
Second, the signage is unhelpful
for non-snowmobilers, because
signs at most of the trail junctions point to the surrounding
towns and their commercial
establishments, not the interior
destinations. Ideally, trail signs
should help novice hikers find
key landmarks. This is especially important in a place like the
North Creek Lakes, where the
sheer number of intersections
makes the trail network very
confusing. Family members
have told me that they grew discouraged hiking here because
the signs did not help them
reach their destination.
Third, the snowmobile trail network contains a few gaps that
are difficult to fill in the summer.
This is especially true at Spectacle Lake, where trails from the
west, east, and south can only
be connected when the water
12
is frozen. Bushwhackers can
follow the shore to make these
connections, but the average
hiker would not be willing to
make such an effort.
The area is located quite close
to Gloversville and Johnstown,
and it is frequented by residents
of that area. It is also within
easy reach of Utica and Albany.
No fewer than seven good trailheads service the trail network,
and because none of the ponds
are very remote these lakes
have the potential to become
an exemplary setting for pointto-point hiking. With better trail
connections, a variety of loops
could be planned—suitable for
day hiking and easy backpacking. A few of the lakes have
good campsites, although litter
seems to be an issue.
Specifically, trails should be
built around the eastern and
northern shores of Spectacle
Lake, which is indisputably
the largest and most dynamic
water body in the area. These
trails should connect the three
snowmobile trails that lead to
the lake, making it easier to
hike from one end to the other.
Another trail should provide a
direct connection between Long
Lake and Waters Millpond, providing a continuous hiking trail
to all four North Creek Lakes.
View from West Stony Mountain, Shaker Mountain Wild Forest
Because camping is unevenly
distributed here—much of it
occurring on the Arietta side of
the forest—a series of lean-tos
should be built near the shorelines. Third Lake, Long Lake,
Waters Millpond, Dexter Lake,
and Spectacle Lake are all excellent lean-to candidates. Building
all five lean-tos would inspire
people to travel around the trail
network, and to return to the
area multiple times.
All of these changes could be
implemented without altering
the snowmobile trail system in
any way.
13
G
The Sacandaga Valley Seven
uides in Keene Valley
and Saint Huberts
were not shy about
cutting trails up the
High Peaks, because trails were
good for business. In a region
with outstanding mountain
scenery, climbing was the main
reason people traveled to that
part of the Adirondacks. But
with the exception of Crane
Mountain in Warren County,
there seems to have been little
interest in mountain climbing
in the southern Adirondacks,
where hunting and fishing were
more popular.
It wasn’t until the twentieth
century, when the Conservation
Commission began to erect fire
towers at strategic locations,
that hikers took a broader interest in climbing the mountains of
the southern Adirondacks. For
many years, the fire tower trails
were the only marked ascents
in the entire region, with very
few exceptions. Even today
marked state trails to non-tower
summits are rare, and are easily
listed: Chimney Mountain, Good
Luck Mountain, Peaked Mountain, Echo Cliffs, Severance Hill,
and Sawyer Mountain in the
twentieth century, and Ledge
Mountain, Moxham Mountain,
and Balm of Gilead Mountain in
the twenty-first. In a mountainous region spanning two million
acres, this is a pathetically small
number.
The lack of mountain trails in
no way reflects an absence
of desirable mountains. The
Discover books have long inventoried dozens of mountains with
fine views, often caused by the
forest fires of a century ago. But
most of these remain the solitary haunts of bushwhackers,
too difficult for most people to
find.
I am certainly not proposing
that all mountains in all locations be subject to trail building.
However, there is unquestionably room for improvement.
When looking at a map of the
region I see a hole in the trail
system stretching from Northville to Speculator, where no
mountain trails exist despite a
wealth of mountains. Previously, there were two fire towers in
this area: Hamilton, which was
removed, and Cathead, which
was closed due to a property
dispute. If someone in Wells
feels the urge to climb a mountain, they need to drive many
miles to find a mountain trail—
even though Wells, an attractive hamlet on the Sacandaga
River, is surrounded by plenty of
mountains of its own.
I frequently hear non-bushwhackers bemoan the loss of
access to the Cathead fire tower
in the town of Benson. I did
have the opportunity to climb
that mountain in 2008 at the
invitation of the landowner, and
the view was indeed quite good.
But I know of no forthcoming
resolution to that property
dispute, and therefore have no
reason to expect public access
to be restored.
However, I have climbed extensively throughout this region, and I know of many small
peaks throughout the Sacandaga watershed with excellent
views: Mount Francisco, the
Long Pond cliffs, Extract Ridge,
Buckhorn Mountain, the Shanty
Cliffs, Eleventh Mountain, the
“Moose’s Hoof” near Griffin,
Finch Mountain, Southerland
Mountain, Huckleberry Mountain, Moose Mountain near
Pumpkin Hollow, Rand Mountain, West Stony Mountain, Big
Oak Hill, and Mud Lake Ridge.
Although I have not been there,
I know that Corner, Macomber,
and Little Cathead mountains
also have views; Cattle Mountain might be worth a look
someday.
Not a single mountain on this
extensive list has a trail. Looking over this roster of beautiful
mountains, I see seven that
stand out as non-remote destinations that would appeal to
casual hikers as well as the veterans, if trails were constructed
to their tops:
1. Mount Francisco – This
small mountain between
Piseco and Lake Pleasant was partially burned
and offers views of the
Hamilton Mountain
Range. Although located
in the Silver Lake Wilderness, it stands very close
to Route 8. A trailhead
parking area could easily
be built near the site of
an old rock quarry on
14
state land, with a mile-long trail to the bald spot.
2. Eleventh Mountain – A shoulder of this mountain
in the Siamese Ponds Wilderness features excellent views of the wilderness interior. There is an
existing trailhead on Route 8 near Bakers Mills.
3. Moose’s Hoof – This is my nickname for a small
foothill of Moose Mountain on the Hamilton-Warren county line near Griffin. The foothill rises
directly above the highway and features views of
Buckhorn Mountain. It is served by the under-utilized Georgia Creek trailhead on Route 8.
4. Huckleberry Mountain – Rising above Murphy
Lake in the Wilcox Lake Wild Forest, this is the
remotest summit on the list—but the hike past
Bennett, Middle, and Murphy lakes would presumably be part of the appeal. All of these lakes
are already popular destinations, and the trail up
Huckleberry would become an attractive side trip.
5. Moose Mountain – The Wilcox Lake Wild Forest
Draft UMP proposed a trail to this summit near
Pumpkin Hollow in 2006, but that plan was never completed. The UMP’s proposal was to build
a trail from the Sacandaga Campground, but
a route from the Coulombe Creek trailhead on
Pumpkin Hollow Road might be more practical.
6. Rand Mountain – Likewise, the 2006 draft UMP
proposed a trail loop to this small mountain near
Hope Falls. There are several ledges with views
of East Stony Creek and its environs. A loop that
incorporates the summit with all three waterfalls
on Tenant Creek would be an outstanding recreational asset for the Northville region.
7. West Stony Mountain – The Adirondack Mountain Club is currently extending the Northville-Placid Trail through the Shaker Mountain
Wild Forest south of Benson. A portion of this new
route already exists near Collins Gifford Valley
Road, leading to Mud Lake and a little beyond.
Several small summits surround this tiny pond,
and most of them feature good views. The best
can be found on West Stony Mountain, overlooking the creek of the same name. It would not be
difficult to build a spur from the NPT to the summit.
Puffer Pond, Siamese Ponds Wilderness
There has been a surge in popularity in programmatic hiking
challenges, in which participants earn patches for completing certain trails. Clifton-Fine
sponsors the Cranberry Lake 50
program, and Hamilton County
offers patches for fire towers
and waterfalls. More recently,
hikers can earn recognition for
hiking the “Saranac 6.”
If any such program is to be
duplicated in the southern Adirondacks, then there must first
be trails to attract people. The
seven mountains above—most
of which are located within easy
reach of hamlets and paved
state highways—could collectively become the “Sacandaga
Valley Seven,” with a patch
issued by local government.
Rather than focusing on the
loss of Cathead, climbers could
celebrate the varied views from
these very fun small mountains. Vistas would include the
East Branch Sacandaga River,
and the distant mountains of
the Silver Lake and Siamese
Ponds wilderness interiors. In
the course of completing the
challenge, hikers would pass
through Northville, Wells, Speculator, Lake Pleasant, Piseco,
and Bakers Mills.
My maps show a plethora of
peaks in the Forest Preserve
with good views (see page 7).
Building trails up all of these
would be impractical and undesirable. Mountains such as
Southerland and Finch should
remain bushwhack destinations
for those people who delight in
challenges. Nevertheless, the
proposed Sacandaga Valley Seven list is just an example of how
non-remote mountains could
become exceptional hiking
destinations, for the benefit of
both the public and local communities. Additional mountains
that should have trails include
Moose, Baldhead, and Burnt
mountains near Stony Creek;
and Ledge, McGinn, and Big
Pisgah mountains near Indian
Lake.
17
The Siamese Ponds:
I
A Wilderness Connection
consider the Siamese Ponds
Wilderness to be the archetypical wild area, because its
diversity of terrain—everything from mountains to ponds
to wetlands and rivers—includes
a little bit of everything that the
Adirondacks are known for.
It is also reasonably accessible
throughout the year, since most
of its trailheads are maintained
during the winter. This combination of large size, impressive
ruggedness, and proximity to
civilization makes it unique
in the Adirondack Park. The
Siamese Ponds Wilderness
occupies the space between the
hamlets of Speculator, Indian
Lake, Bakers Mills, and North
Creek, with key trailheads
located near all four communities. The area is already a tremendous asset to Hamilton and
Warren counties, but with just a
little tweaking it become even
better.
NEW TRAILS
The trail network in the Siamese
Ponds Wilderness is already
quite extensive. The unit management plan recognizes a
“trailless” area in the southern
part of the unit, although in my
observation only the remotest
core near South Pond is truly
trackless. The network contains a medley of marked and
unmarked trails. The marked
trails are adequate for current
purposes, but the addition of
a few key links could complete
the system and provide better
connections between the surrounding communities.
1. McGinn Hill to Clear
Pond and John Pond:
A trail connecting John
Pond with Route 28 at
McGinn Hill would provide a new trailhead just
outside of Indian Lake,
within easy walking distance of the downtown
commercial district. It
would allow backpackers
to travel through the
wilderness, exit near
the hamlet, and then
continue northward into
the Essex Chain region if
they so wished.
2. Baldface Mountain:
A popular trail already
exists on the western
slopes of this small
mountain. It begins at
Norman Cove on Indian
Lake and leads to a ledge
with a very photogenic
view of the lake. However, this trail is only accessible by boat. It is possible to build a second trail
to the summit across the
Crotched Pond Conservation Easement, offering a land-based route to
the lookout. The existing Round Pond Brook
trailhead would be the
starting point.
3. Siamese Ponds to Kings
Flow: A few miles of
additional trail near the
heart of the wilderness
would allow hikers to
complete a spectacular
loop between the East
Branch Sacandaga,
Thirteenth Lake, and
Kings Flow. This loop
could be accessed from
several trailheads, and
it would require several
days to follow. Currently,
the Siamese Ponds are
reached by following a
dead-end trail from the
Eleventh Mountain trailhead. The loop would allow better disbursement
and more enjoyable trip
options; hikers making
the circuit through the
wilderness interior would
be somewhat less likely
to encounter each other,
experiencing a stronger
sense of solitude as a
result.
These additional trail segments
would not degrade the wilderness and wild forest character
of the lands they cross, but they
are necessary components to
the regional network.
LODGE-TO-LODGE BACKPACKING
One of the goals of the Great
19
South Woods project is to
identify opportunities for “lodge
to lodge” hiking in the region.
The real question to be asked is
whether there are existing commercial lodging facilities that
are located in close proximity to
state trailheads. In the case of
the Siamese Ponds Wilderness
the answer is yes, there are two.
The Cabins at Chimney Mountain near Indian Lake offers vacation rentals clustered around
the Chimney Mountain trail-
head, and the Garnet Hill Lodge
near North River offers lodging
and meals. In Discover the South
Central Adirondacks, I identified
one potential trip itinerary (the
so-called “Tentless Traverse”)
that utilized these facilities instead of backcountry campsites
on a four-day through-hike from
Speculator to North Creek.
The suggested traverse is indicated by red dots on the accompanying map.
20
West Canada Lake Wilderness:
I
A Fragile Resource
n my opinion, the West Canada Lake Wilderness is one
of the most unique regions in
the Adirondack Park. Its key
feature is a high plateau studded with lakes between 2300
and 2500 feet in elevation, and
forested with thick stands of
spruce, balsam, and red maple.
The plateau is hammered with
precipitation, making it one of
the wettest places in the park.
This results in muddy trails and
perpetually damp conditions;
finding dry firewood can be a
challenge in a region where
logs are often rotten soon after
hitting the ground.
The combination of mountainous terrain, dense forests,
and sensitive lakes create an
unparalleled landscape, long
known for its remoteness. Prior
to the acquisition of the Moose
River Plains in the 1960s, the
West Canada Lakes were very
difficult to reach by foot. The
nearest trailhead was located at
Perkins Clearing, and hikers had
to walk several miles through
Sled Harbor before reaching
the first lake. The Gould acquisition opened an alternate route
past Brooktrout Lake, and the
Perkins Clearing land exchange
with International Paper, which
was completed in 1983, created
two new trailheads at Pillsbury
Mountain and Spruce Lake.
These actions made the wilderness a little less remote, but the
prohibition against floatplane
access in the 1970s meant that
the only legal way to visit the
lakes was under one’s own
power.
Because this is a cool, wet place
sensitive to environmental
stresses like acid rain, this wilderness should remain a lightly
used and highly protected place.
No significant new recreational
uses should be considered, and
even such seemingly benign
proposals as the North Country
National Scenic Trail should be
reviewed in terms of potential
impacts to trails and campsites.
CEDAR LAKES DAM
There has never been a unit
management plan for the West
Canada Lakes, and this has
proven to be a major shortcoming for the area. Of particular
concern is the status of the old
dam at Cedar Lakes, which for
several years has been undercut
by flowing water. The dam has
not failed structurally, and it
does still seasonally impound a
large flow. However, during the
course of an average summer
the lake drains down as water
flows beneath the dam, restoring the Cedar Lakes to their
natural water levels.
These annual fluctuations (high
in the spring, low by the end of
summer) give the Cedar Lakes
the appearance of a reservoir,
with exposed shoals and beach-
es when the water is drawn
down. Because the lake level is
restored to full capacity in the
spring, natural revegetation
cannot occur along the shoreline. Some interest has been expressed in keeping the dam, but
the costs to rebuild such a large
structure so far from the nearest
road would be prohibitive. The
Cedar Lakes are still quite large
at their natural level, and when
the water is down one can still
paddle easily from the foot of
the lake to its head. Rather than
rebuilding the dam, the best
22
course of action is to permanently breach the dam in a way
that prevents a catastrophic
failure in the future, and that
allows the lake level to stabilize
immediately.
FRENCH LOUIE’S CAVE
The wilderness contains one
historic site (not labeled on the
accompanying map) with a
potentially high cultural significance. The famous guide and
trapper “French” Louie Seymour
is said to have camped in a cave
near Cobble Hill, and indeed a
cave does exist at the foot of
this landmark. There are two
wooden bunks inside, and one
of them is partially made from
hand-ripped boards. These
boards seem to represent a
form of woodcraft rarely seen
in this age of power tools, and
if they were indeed made by
Seymour then they are one of
the few remaining artifacts left
by this historical figure. To date,
I have not chosen to publish the
precise location of the cave in
my guidebook for fear of vandalism.
The site should be assessed
professionally to determine its
true historic value, and whether actions should be taken to
protect any objects contained
within the cave.
OTTER BROOK AND LITTLE
MOOSE LAKE
In 2010, the APA reclassified a
large portion of the Moose River
Plains near Sly Pond from wild
forest to wilderness. However, a
linear “wild forest corridor” was
designated from Otter Brook to
Little Moose Lake for the sole
purpose of accommodating
mountain bikes in an area where
the SLMP otherwise prohibits
such use. The APA took this
action despite a complete lack
of precedent for the concept of
a “wild forest corridor” in the
SLMP, despite a complete lack
of evidence that the corridor
was previously used by mountain bikes prior to the reclassification (or that it served any
useful purpose for mountain
biking), despite a significant
amount of criticism from Forest Preserve advocacy groups,
and despite the fact that the
“wild forest corridor” proposal
was not included in the draft
plan submitted to the public for
review and comment.
The designation of this “wild
forest corridor” between the
Little Moose and West Canada
Lake wildernesses was the most
offensive action taken by the
APA in this region. I have hiked
to Otter Brook and Little Moose
Lake several times, and this is
a very remote area that excels
at solitude. The trail corridor is
so far from major travel routes
that few mountain bikers will
express any interest in it. The
APA interpreted the SLMP far
too leniently when it designated the corridor, applying the
wild forest classification in a
way its authors never intended. The agency has effectively
spot-zoned a non-conforming
use within the wilderness area,
frustrating the fundamental
purpose of the SLMP. There
is only one acceptable solution: eliminate the “wild forest
corridor,” merge Little Moose
and West Canada Lake into one
uninterrupted wilderness area,
and eliminate all non-conforming uses.
In regards to Little Moose Lake,
a cabin still stands on its northern shore from a hunting lease
that existed prior to state purchase. Since 2008, this cabin has
stood vacant and dilapidated.
It should have been removed
years ago, and the 2010 wilderness classification has only
complicated the state’s ability
to access the site. The building
is now severely vandalized and
uninhabitable, and its presence
cannot be tolerated any longer.
The site is perched on a high
bank with hard-packed soils and
partial views, and it would seem
to be an excellent location for a
lean-to.
23
Crane Mountain:
C
Room for Expansion
rane Mountain has one
of the most visually
striking profiles of any
mountain in the south
central Adirondacks. For many
years it was regarded as the
highest peak in Warren County,
until Verplanck Colvin proved
that Gore was taller. It has long
been a favored climbing destination, with published accounts
of recreational hiking and camping dating to as early as 1870.
Visitors would often hire local
residents (even young children)
to guide them up the steep
trails. While it falls well short
of the 4000-foot threshold, it
nevertheless bears an uncanny
resemblance to a High Peak.
24
Crane has a fitful acquisition
history. In the nineteenth century the mountain was privately
owned, but there seemed to
be no question of public access
then. Locals frequented its
heights in search of a variety of
blueberry called huckleberries.
The mountain was surrounded
by farmland, and it fell a short
distance outside the original
Adirondack Park blue line. The
state’s initial interest in Crane,
apparently, was its value as a
fire observation station. It was
acquired for nonpayment of
taxes prior to the turn of the
century, but was promptly
redeemed by private owners on
a legal technicality. In the end,
only two sections were added to
the Forest Preserve: the summit
and its pond, and the site of a
paint pigment mine at the foot
of Huckleberry.
the rugged valley between the
mountains, extending from
Crystal Brook to Paintbed
Brook. It has the potential to become a prized ski trail, but each
terminus lies on private, posted
land. The only legal access is to
climb over Crane Mountain from
Ski Hi Road and descend the
other side.
Without naming specific properties, I recommend that the
forest surrounding Crane Mountain be targeted for future land
acquisition, if willing sellers can
be identified. The goal should be
to improve access to the summit of Huckleberry Mountain
and the valley below its cliffs.
Actions should be taken to bar
illegal ATV use of the unmarked
trail from Crystal Brook to Crane
Mountain Pond.
The fire tower is long gone from
the summit, but it is hardly
missed because Crane features outstanding views from
multiple points. In addition to
the marked state trails to the
summit, there are herd paths
to two scenic knobs near Crane
Mountain Pond. The trails are
incredibly steep, but they are
also short; many people complete the arduous journey to the
summit every year.
However, the state’s holdings
are just spacious enough to
contain the mountain’s best
features, and nothing more.
They include the summit of
Huckleberry Mountain, but not
any of the approaches to it. An
excellent old road traverses
Beaver pond on Paintbed Brook, Wilcox Lake Wild Forest
25
B
Preserving the Wild Core
y conservative count,
I can identify eleven
parcels within the wild
forests of the south
central Adirondacks that exist in
a wilderness or near-wilderness
state today. These are places on
existing state land where little
or no motorized/mechanized
use occurs, and which harbor
outstanding opportunities for
primitive and solitary forms of
human recreation. They exist
in the gaps between the wild
forest snowmobile network,
and they could be upgraded to
wilderness with little or no trail
closures. Although I have only
listed eleven in this document,
I could easily pick out several
more.
I am by no means proposing
that all of these areas be reclassified as wilderness—as much as
I might like to see that happen.
Certainly, a few of these places
really do deserve reclassification
and should be made a priority.
However, I think it is equally important to point out that these
places exist, particularly in a
planning project such as GSW in
which recreational development
is the focus. Any action that
would diminish the wildness
of these core areas would also
diminish the collective wildness
of the Forest Preserve. The
intrusion of motorized vehicles,
including and especially snowmobiles and ATVs, into quiet
and remote areas would represent an irretrievable loss.
The eleven areas can be summarized as follows:
• Cotton Lake: As mentioned previously, this
section of the Black River Wild Forest merits full
wilderness protection.
It was proposed to APA
and DEC for reclassification in 2006.
• Richards Vly: This is a
trailless gap in the Ferris
Lake Wild Forest snowmobile system south of
Nobleboro. It features
an array of wetlands and
sees very little human
Kibby Pond, Wilcox Lake Wild Forest
26
usage.
• Big Alderbed: Although
not completely motorless—there is one unused snowmobile trail
and an access road to a
string of private inholdings in the Brayhouse
Gore—the northern and
southern ends of this
area are remote and
trackless. The J. G. Tefft
Tract between Big Alderbed and DeBraine Lake
contains a virgin forest,
and the central region
features a high plateau
of small lakes. The Powley-Piseco Road forms
the eastern boundary.
• G Lake: This section
of the Ferris Lake Wild
Forest should be added
to the adjacent West
Canada Lake Wilderness. It includes G Lake
and Panther Mountain
Stream, but not the
town-maintained G Lake
Road.
• County Line Lakes: A
significant portion of
the Shaker Mountain
Wild Forest abutting the
southern boundary of
the Silver Lake Wilderness is largely undeveloped and fully meets
wilderness criteria.
Considering the strong
opposition to closing the
end of West River Road
at Whitehouse, this tract
would make a suitable
alternate addition to the
Silver Lake Wilderness.
• West Stony Creek: This
section of the Shaker
Mountain Wild Forest
was proposed for a wilderness reclassification
by the advocacy group
Protect the Adirondacks.
• Shiras Pond: This wild
core of the Wilcox Lake
Wild Forest is encircled
by snowmobile trails,
but it contains no official trails of its own. A
handful of unmarked
footpaths lead into the
interior. The area features several small ponds
(New Lake, Shiras Pond,
and Little Joe Pond)
that are far too small for
floatplane landings.
• Kibby Pond: This is
another section of the
Wilcox Lake Wild Forest
currently used only for
primitive recreation. It
includes the marked trail
to Kibby Pond, as well
as the fishermen’s path
to Eagle Pond. The Fish
Ponds and part of Stewart Creek form part of
the boundary.
• Crane Mountain: This
mountain is far too small
for wilderness consideration, but its rugged
terrain and shallow soils
do warrant increased
considerations.
• Sumner Stream: Currently, the southwestern
boundary of the Blue
Ridge Wilderness ends
at an arbitrary line south
of Lake Kora. However,
a large section of the
Moose River Plains Wild
Forest along Sumner
Stream (as far as the
confluence with Bear
Paw Creek) is rugged
and wild. Considering
27
that there appears to
be little public interest
in removing the Wakely
Mountain fire tower and
adding that mountain to
the Blue Ridge Wilderness as prescribed by the
SLMP, Sumner Stream
and Cellar Pond would
be an acceptable alternative. The Moose River
Road corridor would
form the area’s southern
boundary.
• Rock River: A section of
the Blue Mountain Wild
Forest was once expected to become part of a
“Wild Rivers Wilderness.”
However, that proposal
was not adopted in 2013
when the Essex Chain
of Lakes was classified.
28
Nevertheless, the northern half of Township 17 is
quite wild and secluded.
It used to contain several
snowmobile trails, but
legal protections for the
Rock and Cedar rivers
led to their closure years
ago. The only exception
is a community connector trail parallel to Route
28, south of Rock Lake;
this corridor should be
retained. Although the
Wild Rivers Wilderness
proposal appears to
be shelved, this area
still deserves increased
protection. Scenic vistas
can be found on McGinn
Mountain, White Birch
Ridge, Ledge Mountain,
and the Stark Hills.
The areas shaded red on the
accompanying map should be
regarded as equals to the designated wilderness areas in terms
of preservation priority. Human
recreation is appropriate in
these zones, but not the use of
motor vehicles. Any proposal to
open additional motorized trails
and roads through these zones
should be opposed; efforts to
enhance and protect their wildness should be favored.
T
Conclusion
he GSW project covers such an enormous
geographic area that
it would be difficult to
discuss all of the relevant issues
and proposals in a succinct manner. The maps and ideas contained in this report are merely
the beginning of a potential
vision for managing primitive
recreation in the Forest Preserve; much more work could be
done.
For instance, there is an opportunity to establish a fine
cross-country ski trail network
on the Flatrock Mountain
Demonstration Forest near
Thendara, on the edge of the
Black River Wild Forest. An
approvable route for the North
Country National Scenic Trail is
still lacking, as yet another decade ticks by. I have said nothing about the Hoffman Notch
Wilderness and Vanderwhacker
Mountain Wild Forest, despite
the wealth of opportunities in
that region. Nor have I touched
upon recreation in the Essex
Chain region; so many recent
decisions about the management of that parcel have been
politically driven that my own
views seem irrelevant.
Generally, I support efforts to
engage in regional management planning for the Forest
Preserve—especially since unit
management planning has
proven to be slow and (sometimes) ineffectual. Despite
the passage of 42 years since
implementation of the SLMP,
few UMPs have been revised,
and several plans (West Canada
Lake, Ferris Lake, and Wilcox
Lake) have never been completed. If combining these units into
a single regional plan is the key
to getting anything done, then
let’s give it a try.
However, I can see that keeping
track of so many proposals and
issues for such a huge area will
be difficult. Ideas will be traded
back and forth on a wholesale
basis. I found there was no way
for me to communicate my own
thoughts on the GSW project
without organizing them in the
form of a report; my experiences with the south central Adirondacks are too specific, too
personal, to permit brevity.
What concerns me is that the
project’s dependence on local
business owners and government officials as “experts” on
the Forest Preserve will lead
to a final report that emphasizes maximum use of the wild
resource. I agree that recreation
is an important element in the
management of the preserve,
because it is the means by
which most people grow to become knowledgeable stewards.
But these public lands by legal
design cannot be all things to
all people. The Forest Preserve
is just one species of public land
in the statewide spectrum of
opportunity. It is constitutionally directed to be a wild place
because few other parks in
New York State are capable of
providing the wilderness experi-
29
ences found in the Adirondacks.
The preserve is not a place that
is suitable for intensive uses,
and it should not be equated
with the liberal allowances that
govern recreation in a suburban park. If you are seeking a
wild, self-powered adventure
in wide-open spaces, then the
Adirondacks will accommodate
you. If your preferred form of
recreation is not dependent on
a wild resource, then the Forest Preserve is not what you’re
looking for.
The most appropriate forms of
recreation in the Forest Preserve are those that are inspired
by its wildness, not those that
impair it. Any proposal issued
by the GSW project must
conform to established legal
guidelines, must not overburden the resource, and must not
be politically motivated. There
is certainly room for improvement in the trail system of the
south central Adirondacks, and
I have illustrated several ways
that primitive recreation could
be enhanced without infringing
upon—or altering—the wilderness nature of the backcountry:
adding several trails to peripheral peaks with outstanding views,
and connecting a few dead-end
trails to facilitate point-to-point
backpacking, as examples.
But there are also some places
such as the West Canada Lake
Wilderness that should be left
alone. For the same reason that
campers are encouraged to
leave a campsite cleaner than
when they arrived, it is imperative that each generation pass
along an Adirondack Forest Preserve that is wilder than the one
it inherited. A recreation plan
that promotes motorized access
in remote places or increased
primitive recreation in sensitive
areas—a plan that does not
regard wildness as the Forest
Preserve’s most valuable and
attractive characteristic—would
be detrimental to the region.
That being said, I am confident
that a beneficial plan can be
drafted for the south central
Adirondacks, and I am eager to
see the results.
Thank you for your attention to
my thoughts and ideas.
About the Author
Bill Ingersoll has hiked and
backpacked in the wildernesses of
Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico,
and California, but feels most at
home in the grand forests of the
Adirondacks. He became a co-author
for the Discover series in 2000 and has
now become the series’ publisher.
He is the author of Snowshoe Routes:
Adirondacks and Catskills, and his
articles and photos have appeared
in Adirondack Explorer, Adirondack
Sports & Fitness, and Adirondack
Life magazines. Ingersoll has served
on the conservation committees
for several organizations, and in
2014 he established the Adirondack
Wilderness Explorers group on
Meetup. You will find him exploring
the North Country with his dog Lexie
in all four seasons, by trail, snowshoe,
and canoe.
Photo by Jessica Fitzgerald
Get Out. Seek Out.
FIND OUT.
www.HikeTheAdirondacks.com