6 Ponds down

The weather forecast wasn’t looking too promising.  They were predicting 4” to 10” of snow.  I had to make a decision whether to go now or wait till spring.  Curiosity and eagerness got the best of me so the decision was made to go.  The next morning I packed up the truck early, grabbed my father and we hit the road. 

The low hanging gray clouds swirled high above as we traveled south.  The hour and twenty minute trip through the Adirondack foothills was filled with my endless chatter of the research I had done and the project we would be working on.  This trip had three very simple objectives, one, get started on the St Lawrence County portion of the New York State Native Fish Coalition’s project for the DEC. Two, find some new places to fish, and three, spend some quality time with my father in the outdoors.  As we made the left hand turn at Sevey’s Corners we saw a crew of people setting up the snowmobile trail signs along the road.  We knew that soon this place would be a winter wonderland but at the moment there was just a dusting of snow on the ground and the temperature was hovering around 40 degrees.  Finally the big brown and yellow sign came into view.  It was time to get to work.  Welcome to the Massawepie Scout Camp.

I had spent the last week trying to make heads or tails out of this property.  It was marked as private property on the maps yet there were DEC access easements all over the place.  To make it even more challenging some of the maps showed the area full of snowmobile trails while others showed it as a town road.  After several phone calls to the DEC, I was able to make contact with the DEC forester that was in charge of all the easements in the area.  We had a great conversation and he assured me I was good to go and he even told me to talk to the caretaker of the property and ask for permission to cross some private property to get to one of the locations I had to get to.  The first stop we made was at the large maintenance garage to find Ben the caretaker.  Ben was a friendly young man who knew the property inside and out.  I explained to him who I was and we discussed the project I was there to work on.  He was thankful that we were there and handed me a map of the area. 

Pond by pond he marked the map with parking spots and trail heads to waters I needed to get to.  Then I asked, “Any chance I could walk across the private property to have a shortcut to the last pond”?  He smiled and said “Walk? You don’t want to walk that far, I’ll make sure the gate is unlocked so you can drive within a quarter mile of the water”.  With that very kind gesture it was time to get to work.

The crushed stone and dirt road through the property was well maintained.  A thin layer of melting ice and snow was all that remained.  Our first destination was Round Pond.  The .8 mile drive to the parking area was a breeze considering I had visions of having to walk this whole trip.  We parked the truck and grabbed the first sign.  The well maintained trail over a small hill took us right to the waterfront.  A skinny layer of ice glistened over the small body of water.

We nailed up the first sign, took in the beautiful scenery and headed back to the truck.  Pond one down, I thought to myself.  Back in the truck we drove another ¾ of a mile and found our next parking spot at Horseshoe Pond.  We grabbed our sign and followed the path.  The thawing leaves along the steep incline made the walk a bit challenging.  Slowly and cautiously we worked our way up and over the ridge and looked for the perfect tree along the shoreline.  My goal was to find trees that were visible and healthy enough so the signs would stay in place for years to come. 

Once I selected the perfect tree, I nailed up the sign and we headed back to the truck.  I marked this pond completed on my spreadsheet and took a look at my map.  Next up were Deer Pond and Townline Pond.  We crept along the gravel road taking in the magnificent views.  The rolling forest landscape and ponds that surrounded us truly made this trip worth the drive.  After traveling a mile and a half farther back into the woods we found our parking space and loaded up with our signs, hammer and nails.    These ponds were right across the road from each other so we hit the trails and were back at the truck in about twenty minutes.  We had made it as far down the road as we had to so we turned around and headed back.  During the mile long drive to Boot Tree Pond we discussed how amazing it was to have so many great fishing locations so close together.  You could spend an entire week in the area, not travel more than a mile and a half and not be able to fish it all.  There was so much backwoods water in such a small area.  It was truly an Adirondack gem.  When we arrived at the gate to Boot Tree Pond we hung our two signs. 

One at the gate and one down at the waterfront.  The last pond we had to get to was Pine Pond.  This was the one that was quite a ways off the beaten path.  We drove through the unlocked gate and drove around the north end of Massawepie Lake.  The road slowly went from smooth to rough in a hurry.  Once we reached the point that I was concerned we may get the truck stuck we parked it and started to walk.  Consulting our map several times we picked our way over a ridge and down to the waterfront.  There we found a beautiful campsite set up with a lean-to, fire pit, and row boat all ready to go for the next lucky person. 

We took a few minutes to look around and take in the serene opportunities that sat before us.  This wasn’t our final location so we moved on.  Finally from on top of a steep ridge we could see the water through the trees. Down the trail we went to the waterfront.  We picked out the perfect tree and placed our sign.  With the day's mission accomplished we locked up the private gate and made a quick stop back at the maintenance building.  We thanked Ben one last time for all his help and headed home. It had been an incredible day wandering the woods with my father and getting some important conservation work done.

About this location:

Massawepie sits about 6 miles southeast of Seveys Corner on Route 3 in Gale, New York.  This 3,048 acre conservation easement is only open to the public from September 1 - June 14 every year.  The rest of the year it is closed while the Boy Scout camp is in use.  Before you visit make sure you look over the DEC  rules and regulations. This area has nine bodies of water that have easy access for canoeing and kayaking. 

There’s also great opportunities for hiking, mountain biking, snowmobiling, cross country skiing, snow shoeing and some primitive camping.  If you are looking for a place to spend the day in the woods or by a small Adirondack pond look no further than the Massawepie tract, it has everything you are looking for in a Northern NY Adventure. 

About the signs:

Let’s face it, we humans have screwed up a lot of things and our wild places have suffered because of it.  Turn on the news and it seems like every day there is some kind of man made disaster.  If you have a love for the outdoors and a passion for wild places like I do you get very discouraged seeing these things.  That's why I’m trying to do my small part to make these places healthier.  Conservation has become a big part of my life.  I’m proud to say I’ve joined several conservation groups.  Every year I renew my membership to Trout Unlimited, The Ruffed Grouse Society and the Native Fish Coalition.  I personally feel that these groups do great work with my membership funds.  The Native Fish Coalition is the one group that I am actively, boots on the ground, working with.  Our New York state chapter was recently given a project to do for the DEC.  We have been given a list of 50 ponds in Region 6 to place signs at.  15 of these ponds are located right here in St Lawrence County. 

These signs represent one of the biggest conservation efforts in New York State.  In the 1950’s-1980’s acid rain decimated the Adirondack waterways.  Many of the rivers, lakes, and ponds became void of brook trout.  Through clean air regulations many of these places have rebounded giving these fish a fighting chance.  However in true human fashion we’ve managed to screw this up as well.  Something as simple as dropping left over bait in these ponds can quickly destroy the brook trout population.  These bait fish are typically non-native species that can outcompete the native species.  This competition can lead to the rapid decline of these native fish. 

Now I know you may be thinking, what’s the big deal? They are only fish.  Well, you are right, they are only fish.  But our brook trout are a wonderful indicator species.  Brook trout require clean healthy water to survive.  Their population increases and declines can show us just how healthy our waters and our environment is. I ask you to please do your part and keep these bait fish out of the waters they don’t belong in.  If you are interested in helping with this project I encourage you to join the Native Fish Coalition and then reach out to me.  I can help you navigate through the process of becoming an active member of the New York state chapter. We all need to do our part to make sure that there are Northern NY Adventures for future generations to come.

Aaron Hardy

Northern NY Adventures

“Make Life an Adventure”