Non-motorized public access is now available into the Indian River and southern Essex Chain Lakes tracts under the Interim Public Access Plan. You can hike 2.5 miles to Clear Pond. Or you can carry your canoe 3.7 miles to put in the Cedar River, then paddle down to the Hudson River, take our your canoe before you get to the nasty Class IV-V rapids, then carry your canoe about another mile to get back to your car.
Last weekend, I did the hike to prove beyond a shadow of reasonable doubt this land does not fit the State’s criteria for Wilderness. Anyone who follows my footsteps and says this land is “Wilderness” is either lying or doesn’t know what he’s looking at.
Parking lot 3.5 miles down Chain Lakes Road at Gooley Club Gate:
Believe it or not, I hadn’t been past the Gooley Club gate in 25 years. I was a teenager my last time into the Gooley Club, riding back to Pine Lake by snowmobile to help Uncle Bruce cut and stack wood for his spring fishing camp. Truth be told, I did very little cutting and stacking. I was back there for the snowmobiling. 😉
Smiling by the DEC kiosk because I’m not carrying a canoe back there!
A short distance into my hike I encountered a large fallen tree. You can also see a washout from the excessive rain we’ve had over the past month-and-a-half:
Aside from some washouts on the hilly sections, the ROAD was in good shape:
About a mile into my hike, I reached the Gooley Clubhouse:
Here is a splendid view of the Hudson River from the Clubhouse porch steps:
These signs were found immediately past the Clubhouse. Apparently, Gooley Club members no longer have motorized vehicle access past their clubhouse:
Here is a LARGE culvert under the ROAD past the Gooley Clubhouse:
Even a blind man could tell you that he was walking on a ROAD!
Here is another culvert under the ROAD as it cuts
through a sliver of Blue Mountain Wild Forest:
An old logging meadow in the Essex Chain Lakes tract:
The ROAD was still looking GREAT!
This part of the ROAD was flooded by a beaver dam. A couple of well placed culverts and some road fill would probably alleviate the problem:
After 3.7 miles hiking the ROAD,
it was finally time to take a footpath down to the river:
Cedar River at the canoe put-in: Very still and beautiful!
I saved the best for last: Logging carnage less than a quarter-mile
through the woods from Cedar River!
Wide field of bleached tree carcasses,
less than a quarter-mile through the woods from Cedar River!
Recent skidder trail, less than a quarter-mile
through the woods from Cedar River!
ROADS, HOUSES, LOGGING: Clearly, this was NOT “Wilderness!” Sure, it was nice to walk at a brisk enough pace to keep the deer flies off me. But only having that would be a shameful waste of the roads. If the bridge over Cedar River was replaced over the existing abutments, it would open up a tremendous snowmobile trail network for Indian Lake and Newcomb without the need to cut down a single tree! Unfortunately, NONE of the options presented by Adirondack Park Agency would allow snowmobile use through Indian Lake’s “Southern Gateway” into the Chain Lakes tract.
We’ve got less than a week left to let Adirondack Park Agency know that we want Wild Forest Classification for the ENTIRE Essex Chain Lakes and Indian River tracts with NO re-classification of Blue Mountain Wild Forest into Wilderness. Remind Governor Cuomo of his promise to expand Adirondack snowmobiling on the new State land. Letting these roads waste away would be sinful mismanagement of the $50 million that taxpayers shelled out when the State bought this land.
Get your letters and emails out before July 19th!
TOP URGENT UPDATE 9/5/13! Contact APA Commissioners DIRECTLY and tell them Wild Forest for all of it before 9/12/13.
Thank you,
Darrin @ ilsnow.com
