OK Slip Falls

[GrandWazoo]

Yes. i remember back in the early eighties when the strip mine at Tahawus wasn't full of water. It was definitely the deepest hole in the ground i have ever seen. I have a few pictures of Adirondac when the buildings were in much better shape. Even McNoughton cottage still had a porch on it. Very cool area.

Steve

[L_G_D]

Last time I was up there, they were trying to save the McNoughton cottage, but the rest of the buildings were in very bad shape.

[bigcarp]

I am looking for public fishing access places in this area. Does somebody know?

[anddidthesefeet]

I was able to visit OK Slip Falls a couple of times as a kid, when I was a camper at Northern Frontier. The camp just purchased 168 acres around OK Slip Pond this week:http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.co ... 36344.html and I assume will maintain control over who can use the road into the camp. But the falls and the whole area on either side of the river will be open sometime this summer, according to the papers.

It also sounds like the DEC is considering the best way to put a trail in to the falls and the other "attraction" in the areas, Blue Ledge. Once they open up the property, bushwhacking around the camp's land would be A-OK and eventually there may be an official trail as well. It's really a fantastic spot and great that after 150 years (according to some of the papers' accounts), the public will be able to look at the falls up close.

[L_G_D]

That article doesn't really explain which pieces of land they are buying, but it appears to say that public access to the falls will be allowed, so that is a good thing. Blue Ledge was always visible from the river if you hiked in, so I guess they mean access to the top of it from the other side of the river?

From what I understand with my last communications with the Northern Frontier people was that it was Finch's policy to keep people out, not theirs, and they only really use the area in the summer, so I can imagine hiking access in their off season might be possible. Though I can understand if they don't want a horde of people wandering around their camps all the time when no one is using it, so if they keep people out for security reasons, I wouldn't be surprised.

I'll talk to my friend at Finch in May most likely, see what his take on it is.

[L_G_D]

Here's a new PDF from the DEC:

http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/lands_forest ... ecfull.pdf

Well, new to me, anyway. The second map shows the OK Slip area with the proposed access road and parking area with trails to the falls and the river. I talked to my friend at Finch over the weekend and he says it will take some improvement to get that road up to a condition where you can drive a car on it, as it's a pretty rough 4WD road right now. He's not even sure how Northern Frontier even gets in to their camp on it. My speculation is that the state will get it passable to normal traffic up to the point where it splits off and one road goes to the camp and the parking area will be at the end of the old wood road where you can hike the trail from there. That is, if the plan is approved. No timeline on it yet either, the text in the PDF mentions the falls, but pretty much only in passing, as part of the proposed Hudson Gorge area. Most of the PDF is concerned with the Essex chain lakes area and boating access.

What I'm wondering is, will access be allowed on October 1st of this year, even if the road isn't passable by car? I wouldn't mind parking at the end and walking in.

[George]

Also this approach gets you to the top of the falls, but the best view will be from the bottom. Any word if there is a viable trail down to the river, or is it just a line on paper? I wonder if this will be like T Lake Falls, where a traditional and dangerous route to the bottom will be abandoned. I've heard that the best approach to the falls is from the river, but there is a concern for a fragile wetland there.

[L_G_D]

The map looks like it follows the old road at least up to the falls, I don't know about a trail down to the river from that side, but I do know Northern Frontier has at least one trail leading down to the river on the north west side of the gorge, at least that's where they were fishing when I was there. My friend at Finch told me the same thing about the fragile area at the bottom of the falls, and that most likely the river rafting companies will waste no time in stopping at the mouth of the stream so their riders can walk upstream to the falls. He didn't have much hope that the area would remain pristine for long after that starts happening. Though, it isn't a convenient spot on the river to pull up large rafts, so maybe that will deter them a bit. I do know that my canoe guide for the area says to stop there and walk upstream to look at the falls, so kayaks and canoes are another matter.