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| ADK Onondaga Chapter |
| Reports and News |
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View from the Chair By Jon Bowen I am writing this the day following our return from the Heart Lake work weekend in April. This was our second year at this event. We became reacquainted with people we met last year as well as new ADK members. Participants not only come to the Loj from throughout NYS, but we also met members from Philadelphia and New Jersey. There is always an extensive list of jobs that need doing such as replacing storm windows with screens in the Loj; cleaning all the campsites for winter debris; staining tables, benches, chairs; roofing lean-tos; plumbing, electrical and carpentry work, etc. This year we stet up the campground host site, Kathy re-stained some Adirondack chairs and helped clean up the campground while I helped build a new tent platform. There are jobs for any level of expertise. People attending ranged from elementary aged to junior high, high school on up to the very experienced 80+ age bracket. Both the Heart Lake and JBL work weekends are held twice a year and everyone is welcome to come and work. Most people stay in the Loj with a few people in the Trail cabin and campground cabin and a handful of us elect to camp. Meals for works are provided by ADK in the Loj. If you are interested in future events, talk to one of our chapter’s 9 attendees for their comments and suggestions. On a somber note, many of you are aware of the hiker that died on the FLTC cross county hike series in March. In this case, there was nothing that could have been done to save the individual, but when hiking you should carry identification as well as any pertinent medical information such as drug allergies, heart issues, medications, etc. It could save your life. Recently, our chapter made donations to the following groups: Gift basket to be auctioned at the ADK Black Fly Affair, $300 to ADK National Trails Day at Indian Lake, $500 to FLTC. In addition, whatever receipts we obtain from the EMS Club Days will be sent to ADK. Check out the Outings Schedule listed in this Newsletter. The summer list grows every year and there is something for everyone. We always look for new places to visit. Hope to see you on the trail… Trails Chair ReportBy Tony Rodriguez The FLTC Alleycat Trail Crew has scheduled the Tinker Falls trail relocation project for August 2-6, 2010. The plan is to transport the materials and tools to the top of the Falls on Sunday August 1 so as to begin construction on Monday August 2. Volunteers from outside the CNY area will be camping at Highland Forest for the week and our volunteers will commute from Jamesville to the work site daily. Whatever time you can spare will be much appreciated, as the project will render that section easier and safer to traverse. Contact me, Tony Rodriguez, if you are interested. Are you interested, or just curious, about the history of parts of our CNY area? If so plan to participate in the collaboration between our Chapter and Highland Forest to clear, preserve, and exhibit the foundations and artifacts left by the early settlers of the Park. Did you know there are remnants of a former cheese factory and that there was a high security program for the testing of war explosives? For the past 30 years a gentleman named Al Lafrance has discovered the location of more than 20 foundations that had been reclaimed by nature. This year we hope to clear four of the foundations so that Park users can become aware how the area was settled and eventually became what it is today. We have already cleared one foundation, but it will take a lot more effort to clear and prepare the others for exhibit. These are not planned events, but if you would like to participate contact Lucy Hawkins, Education Chair, or me, Tony Rodriguez, for more up to date information. It should be fun! Summary statistics for trail maintenance and construction during 2009, as compiled by Hal Boyce:
Those are pretty amazing numbers and everyone who participated, whatever the contribution, should be proud; we all heartily thank and salute each and everyone of you! The steward and worker appreciation picnic is set for Sunday June 27 at Highland Forest. If you are free to attend please inform me so that we can plan for the amount of food. ADK-ON Chapter Distinguished Volunteer AwardMary Coffin, Ad Hoc Com. Chair The Awards Committee is accepting written nominations for the 2010 Chapter Distinguished Volunteer Award. The Executive Committee is looking for an individual who has made major contributions to the Onondaga Chapter either for a specific project or for many years of service. The nominee must be a member of the chapter in good standing who has demonstrated outstanding volunteerism, leadership or is a role model for the membership. Nominations must be made in writing (email is acceptable), listing the accomplishments and received by (Mary Coffin) maryccoffin@gmail.com by Sept 1, 2010. The Committee will select an individual to recognize and the presentation will be made at the Annual Meeting Banquet in November. Past recipients comprise the committee are not eligible: Hal Boyce, Al Obrist, Anne and Bill Brosseau, Mary and Bill Coffin, Dick Lightcap, Kathy Disque, Tony Rodriguez, Mary Dineen, George Zacharek, Peg Whaley. Outings Committee’s Tuesday’s “In Our Own Backyard” Hike SeriesCentral New York offers many opportunities to learn and explore in our very own backyard. State and County Parks in Madison, Onondaga and Oswego Counties have a varied history and have been around as long ago as the 1920’s. The Erie Canal, Pratt’s Falls County Park, Green Lakes State Park, and others are part of our heritage and offer family friendly spaces for us to enjoy. The FLT, North Country Trail and Link Trail are trails maintained by our Chapter and are minutes away from where we live. Please join us this Summer on the Tuesday evening “In Our Own Backyard” hike series and receive the New Onondaga Chapter Patch for participating in one or more hikes (one patch per member please). Please look for the “In Our Own Back Yard” hike events in the Outings Schedule. Cranberry Lake 50 Hike Series 2010 ADK-ONBy Lisa Druke, Outings Chair Want to experience the diversity of the lake, ponds, and woods of the Northwest Adirondacks? The ADK-ON Outings Committee is planning the ‘Cranberry 50’ hike series coming this Summer and Fall. The ‘Cranberry 50’ links the beautiful Five Ponds Wilderness with the Cranberry Lake Wild Forest in a 50 mile loop around Cranberry Lake. Join us and celebrate ‘Octoberfest’ on the last hike in rustic Wanakena and receive your ‘Cranberry Lake 50 patch’ awarded by the Five Ponds Partners. The loop will be sectioned into 4 hikes: There will be a fee for the boat shuttle, participants must pre- register and pay the boat shuttle fee prior to the hike.
Note: the 5.5 mile road section on Route 3 may be hiked, biked or driven to receive your ‘Cranberry Lake 50’ patch. Algonquin and Wright, January 2010by Mike Forsyth It’s now a well-established tradition for us to do a winter High Peaks climb using the Brookside Motor Inn as a base camp. Onondaga Chapter members converged on Upper Jay from Boston and Albany, as well as from the Syracuse area, for a quick dinner followed by a group orientation and safety meeting, with distribution of emergency gear among the nine group members. We did a gear check, and spent a bit of time making sure that all the full crampons were wellfitted to their respective boots. We left the motel about 5:30 a.m. and were hiking by headlamp when morning light penetrated the forest near Heart Lake. Temperatures were in the teens and the sky was overcast. We had some hopes pinned on the “partly sunny” part of the forecast for the afternoon. We made good time on the well-packed trail. We stopped for snacks, drinks and photos at the frozen waterfall, then pushed on. As we got past the nubble on the right and the Wright trail on the left, the tree tops got lower and the wind got louder. We saw a cloudy and overcast sky above. The last half mile or so below timberline is unrelentingly steep. Just below timberline, it eases a bit, and this is a convenient place to layer-up before making the bid for the summit. We fortified ourselves with a bit of lunch, drank what we could, then went up into the clouds above timberline. We had done well up to this point on snowshoes, and encountered very little ice. We decided to stay with snowshoes unless conditions up higher compelled us to change to crampons. Visibility was limited, often less than fifty yards, but we were able to follow old tracks and the occasional cairn to the summit. The only view was of the inside of the cloud cover. We had hoped to hike the summit ridge of the MacIntyre Range from Algonquin to Boundary and Iroquois, then back, and it was early enough to try it. However, visibility was poor, and the wind, about thirty miles per hour or more, made voice communication impossible from more than a few feet. Under these conditions, someone could very easily and quickly stray out of sight and out of earshot or the group become separated, and the trail to Iroquois is not maintained, and tracks would be blown over in minutes or less. We decided against continuing towards Iroquois, and dropped back down to timberline, where we regrouped and had some more lunch. Most of our group wore MSR snowshoes, and most of those were the MSR Denali Ascents. In the leader’s opinion, they are the best snowshoes for trails in the High Peaks, and they cost about half the price of the second- best. As we hiked down to the Wright junction, the leader noticed that the fabric binding on one of his snowshoes had separated from the rivets attaching the binding to the rest of the shoe. (These shoes have seen a lot of wear.) He took a piece of 3/4" webbing strap, such as one might use to lash something to a pack, figure-eighted it with one loop around his boot and the binding assembly, and the other loop around his ankle, pulled it tight and resumed hiking. The repair held, and the shoe required no further attention that day. At the Wright junction, some of us opted to keep hiking out and get dinner started back at the Brookside, while some of us made the ascent of Wright. Much of this summit is above timberline. We were in clouds for most of the ascent above the trees, but got some breaks in the cloud cover on the summit. We had some spectacular back-lit views of the summit of Algonquin, briefly in the clear, and good views to the north. We headed back down, and made good time to the Loj parking lot. At the Brookside, while Patti’s vegetarian lasagne cooked in the oven, and Stephanie’s vegetarian chili warmed in the crockpot, we dug into Jim’s homemade garlic hummus with pita bread. For the carnivores, Dave brought meatballs and tomato sauce. We dished up Jaye’s spinach salad. For dessert, we had Paul’s spiced harwich hermits and apple sauce muffins, and Kellie’s key lime pie. After an evening of conviviality, we turned in early, having started the day at 4:30. The following morning all were fortified by a breakfast of sausage, eggs and pumpkin pancakes provided by Deborah and Mike. A post script to the hike: Mike called Cascade Designs, which makes the MSR line, and they replaced the bindings on both snowshoes without charge. The shoes are U.S.-made, built to last, and the manufacturer stands behind the product. Help WantedThe Executive Committee is looking for someone to be the Publicity Chair for the Chapter. If you would be interested, please contact. Jon Bowen or any committee member at the numbers listed on Officer's page. Okay, people; listen up!As you will soon discover, this quarter’s outings schedule offers a gazillion events. Therefore it is ever more likely that you will come across some of our newest members whose names are listed below. We would encourage you to welcome them, be it on the trail, on a bike or on the water.
Conservation Report View the conservation report here. |
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