DEC Closing Some NY Campgrounds

To save money (and it’s about time), New York State is closing down six campgrounds in Upstate New York.

“As Governor Paterson has made clear, New York is facing a large budget deficit and must make many hard choices,” Commissioner Grannis said. “Closing these facilities for the 2009 season is one such hard choice, but is one that is necessary in these tough economic times.”

The six facilities slated for closure are:
– Poke-O-Moonshine, Essex County, Town of Keesville (Adirondacks).
– Sharp Bridge, Essex County, Town of North Hudson (Adirondacks).
– Point Comfort, Hamilton County, Town of Piseco (Adirondacks).
– Tioga Point, Hamilton County, Town of Raquette Lake (Adirondacks).
– Beaverkill, Sullivan County, Town of Roscoe (Catskills).
– Bear Spring Mountain, Delaware County, Town of Walton (Catskills).

These facilities were selected based upon sparse use over the previous years – often the camps had an occupancy rate 20 percent or less. Poke-O-Moonshine had an occupancy rate of 8 percent or less the last two years.

I don’t know how expensive it is to run a state campground, but it must be in the hundreds of thousands? Still, if New York government eliminated even handful of the glut of expensive administrative jobs and cushy pensions for retired State educators, we’d save a bundle more.

The Fish Hatchery in Van Hornesville, NY

The beginning of spring in Upstate New York is a beautiful thing. Spring is coming! Last March about this time, we decided to break out of our winter hibernation hole and go for a drive in the country. My youngest son wanted to go fishing that day (he is a fishing maniac– he even reads fishing magazines), but no one else did. So we did the next best thing, for a fish freak: we visited a fish hatchery.

Our choices were whittled down to the hatchery in Rome or in Van Hornesville. We opted for Van Hornesville; perhaps some other day we’ll see what Rome is like. If you are a fish freak, you can find out more about New York State hatcheries here.

Van Hornesville stocks only Rainbow Trout, a beautiful fish. And yummy. The action starts here, in the Nursery:

The tanks were swarming with billions of teeny-tiny fish. The place reeked something fierce, too. Outside, various muddy paths led to large tanks with medium-sized trout.

There are a total of 12 pools, most of them are filled with the medium-sized fish. Click the photo for a larger one from Flickr.com.

The fish were irresistible. Some of the kids tried to grab one. Rrrrright! These buggers were slippery. The water was very cold. My son said some of the fish tried to nibble his hand with their beak-like snouts.

The fish were a great, big squirming mass of brown fish. When I tapped the pool’s concrete wall with my boot, the entire mass moved in unison away from the wall. The fish were amazingly active. Hundreds of them flagellated just below the surface of the water. Some leaped from the water, showing off their pink flanks and brown freckles.

Wandering further, we came to an employee of the hatchery (there are three who work here). It looked like he was making a big pot of soup.

He was actually cleaning the pool of bacterial debris, which had accumulated in the water pipes. The water was a brown swirling mass of gooey debris. Ugh. The employee, Mr. D, said there were fish in there. We waited for the water to clear, and then we saw them. BIG MONSTER fish!

I tried to take a picture of the one who kept coming close to the surface. The photo is not so hot, but maybe you can see the fish better if you enlarge the photo.

Their mouths were large white traps, snapping open and closed as they swam. As they swam, they reminded me of the movements a shark makes as it swims in the deep. Some were allowing the swirling current to drag them backwards. Others were quite aggressive, bonking the slower fish out of the way. I’d say the fish were a good ten to twelve pounds, and maybe a yard long. Some had very bright pink sides. You could see the beautiful color even through the murky water. They looked delicious.

We talked with Mr. D who was more than happy to tell us everything we wanted to know about the fish.

The Van Hornesville hatchery raise these trout to distribute them into lakes and streams, local and even as far away as Long Island. The employees do become familiar the fish they have raised, sometimes becoming attached to them and giving them names. They also take delight in surprising unsuspecting local fisherman by dumping these monster trout into local ponds. A fisherman might just be out fishing for sunfish or perch, and snag a whopper trout instead! He told us that he once caught one of these Rainbows when fishing in Canadarago Lake and was shocked to measure it at 44 inches.

Mr. D told us one story about encountering a fisherman who had just pulled an enormous trout from a local pond. The fisherman lifted the great fish from his bucket to show him the prize. Mr. D promptly recognized this fish that he’d cared for since a fry. Mr. D yelled, “That’s ole Leatherback!” taking the fisherman completely aback. In the local diner that night, the fish find was the talk of the town.

It was a nice visit, even for a fish hatchery! Certainly this was no fanciful outing, but it was so good to be outside again and to drive on clear roads with the sun shining! From the hatchery, we ventured on to a few other places. But these narratives will have to wait, because I am going to get to bed in a timely fashion tonight! More to come.

Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse, NY, Part Two

See Part One of our visit to the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse. This is Part Two.

After pulling the children off the packet boat and into the Museum, we wandered around the halls. There was a great deal to see and explore, and I wanted to soak it all in. From the packet boat display, we entered into the original 1850 building. I was overcome by the architectural beauty of the building.

The ceilings and walls were covered with elaborate pressed metal from the 1850s (I have some of it in my own house, still). There were several layers of paint covering it, which gave it a soft appearance. I’d never seen walls done this way. The trim was in wood. The lighting looked original, too; I later saw a photo of NYS engineers’ office from the 40s, and the lights were the same. Imagine– a canal weighlock building designed so beautifully! It’s funny, how such elegant buildings were built for such mundane or totally pragmatic functions. I’d recently seen photos of the Utica Psychiatric Building, which is the greatest example of Greek Revival architecture, but was built as a mental hospital and later became a place for alcohol and drug rehab. Amazing.

We wandered around a few rooms and enjoyed displays of everything from packet boat models to artifacts to office reproductions.

I was thrilled to see an entire section devoted to Elizabeth Cotten. How I used to love singing her old songs! I didn’t know she was from Syracuse until I moved away. Her song, “Freight Train,” was one of my favorites as a kid.

Libba Cotten’s Grammy and her SAMMY award were on display, too. There were displays about Syracuse’s salt mines, shoe manufacturing, and the lovely Syracuse China.

As if all this wasn’t enough, there was another floor to the Museum. We enjoyed our elevator ride up.

We entered the second-floor into a number of life-sized displays from the Erie Canal days, including a tavern, a general store, and a theatre stage. Elsewhere on the floor are an exhibition called “The Art of the Draughtsman” which featured original drawings of the Canal plans, and photographs. And there was a huge dress-up area with children’s tables, books, toys, bean bags, and puppets and a puppet stage. Needless to say, the kids LOVED every second of it.

I saw another hair wreath! I’d first seen one when we visited the Old Stone Fort in Schoharie. What weird things! This one was very intricate.

A curio cabinet displayed beautiful dishes. We found one with Utica on it!

The Utica plate information had me stunned. I never knew Utica was once “inferior to none in the western section of the state”! This is proof that Utica was thriving before the Italian mafia took over! Ha!

The kids had a blast in the children’s area, even the teenagers.

We had an absolutely wonderful time! I’m glad we decided to go!

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