Brandy Brook Flow - Fishing Shacks

[MikeT]

Paddled to end of Brandy Brook Flow on Cranberry Lake today. Felt a bit disorineted until I realized that all the fishing shacks that I had been seeing for the last 20 years were gone. Late November 2007, the last time I paddled Brandy Brook Flow, nothing had changed.

Checking with local people in Cranberry Lake I determined that the DEC had removed them this winter and spring. The floating dock foundations of most shacks have yet to be removed as they were encased in ice in the winter. However, the plan is that everything will eventually be removed.

Knew that this was in the works, but it sure looks different; and I must say better overall. Seem to remember an interview with Clerance Petty talking about his years as a Ranger at Cranberry Lake, and he had spoken about his trying to get the fishing shacks removed back then.

[pondhopper]

The DEC had a big push to remove structures in the region. They also, removed the Greggs lake & Trailzend camps in the town of Webb & Croghan, respectively. And Spring Pond camp's in the works (town of Webb, near Croghan line)...along with returning to Greggs to pick up camp wreckage lost through the snow of last winter's project.

FYI. Info via crew workers.

[Bill I.]

I heard they were busy recently at Madawaska Pond near Paul Smiths. Last year they removed quite a few from the Round Lake tract near Sabattis Road.

I have to say, it's better than the days when they burned the camps and left all the metal behind.

[chairrock]

Well I think it is a shame that a part of the lore and history has been lost. Admittedly the floating camps were starting to look a bit ramshackle, but what can you expect when the STATE is threatening you with eviction....Some were in better shape tho, did they raze all of them?

[pondhopper]

^ don't know how many are left. Someone else may know; I could find out by this evening, if not.

I just wanted to add that I don't know how cost effective removing some of the camps was. For example: the DEC awarded removal of Gregg's Lake camp to outside party for $1000. The contractor used a skidder w/snow plow attached to break the road open & drag large trash bins filled w/remains back & forth from camp to Berggrens for truck transfer. It's over 12 miles of normally, unplowed road one way....unfortunately, the road wasn't allowed to "freeze in" and the DEC now has to replace a number of crushed culverts, as well as some substantial road repair on the section way up between Tide Lake & the Private lot to the southerly. Also, there's a substantial amount of artifacts to clean up @ the campsite, which was left. Here's a pic with a small sample that I took this spring....I hiked up from Berggrens tracing the old routes for a daytrip; there's a lot more stuff around, besides what the photo shows; I tried to find a pic of the standing camp from a day's ski trip from the Moshier power station last winter, for comparison, but can't find it @ the moment:

[Bill I.]

Well I think it is a shame that a part of the lore and history has been lost. Admittedly the floating camps were starting to look a bit ramshackle, but what can you expect when the STATE is threatening you with eviction....Some were in better shape tho, did they raze all of them?

Of course, you could argue that the floating camps were squatters on public property, which was why the state forced them out...

[chairrock]

Of course, you could argue that the floating camps were squatters on public property, which was why the state forced them out...

Bill,
What is the early history of the "floating camps?"
Were they always recreational camps or is there truth to what I have heard that they were logging camps before the land became public?
Is it speculation that they were "unofficially" officially "grand fathered in" for several years before they were brought back on radar because of the attempt to build a new one?
I can't imagine they were "outlaw camps" for that long.

[Bill I.]

I dug out my copy of the Cranberry Lake Wild Forest UMP from 1985. Flipping through it quickly, I found this under the heading "Trespass":

The presence of floating camps on Cranberry Lake is a remnant of a squatter tradition which has long existed in the area. Most of these are located in Brandy Brook Flow ... .

As the lake bottom is not within the jurisdiction of DEC, these structures are free from DEC regulation as long as they are not tied up to the State shoreline. Over the years they have been the cause of trespass on State lands, but the severity of the problem has diminished in recent years.

There was an article on the camps in the Sept/Oct 2007 issue of the Adirondack Explorer. It says the camps were preexisting when the state acquired the land 90 years ago. There was an agreement to allow the original owners to keep the camps, but that ownership couldn't be sold or transferred. So when the owners died, that was it.

Beginning in the 1940s, district ranger Clarence Petty began to question their existence, but nothing was done. Perhaps because, as quoted above, the state thought that it lacked jurisdiction.

In 2005, something prompted the APA to look into the matter. Their staff attorneys concluded that this was a state land issue, since the state owns Brandy Brook Flow. Not only does the state own the shoreline but the bottom of the lake too, meaning that the camps were occupying public property.

Last summer, DEC levied a $48,800 fine against Walter French, who rebuilt one of the camps that had sunk. The article said that DEC "ruled that French violated the law by illegally erecting a structure on state lands, illegally erecting a structure in navigable waters and illegally camping on state lands." Half the fine would be waived if French removed the camp.

[chairrock]

My guess there were a bunch of really old guys in there....thanks for the report Bill.

[MikeT]

To answer Chairrock's question, when I paddled to the end of Brandy Brrok Flow on Saturady May 24th, I observed that all the structures had been removed.

What was left were the floating docks moored to the shoreline that had been the foundations of those structures. One floating dock had washed up onto a small island, but except for the odd barrel on the shoreline, the site looked nothing like the picture of a different DEC clean up operation that pondhopper has posted.

I spoke with a DEC employee that had been involved in removing the structures over the winter, and he said that the docks that were moored to the shore would also be removed. The reason that the docks were not removed earlier was that in the winter the docks had been encased in ice.

Bill, thank you for digging out that article from the Adirondack Explorer. I remember now that the article was the source of Petty's comments on the floating camps.

Everything changes. When my wife's family began logging in the Cranberry Lake area in the 1900's (Emporium Lumber Company) they approached the land with the outlook of their time; and times change. It makes me is sad to see a part of our history gone, and some of those structures definitely needed to be removed.

I also spoke with one of the owners of the floating camps; and like most things in life there are at least two sides to any story.

Mike

[stripperguy]

Mr Mike T,
I've only been on Cranberry a few times, and your talk of Brandy Creek Flow has got me looking at that section of water more closely. It sounds like you are a frequent paddler in that piece of water. Where do you typically put in? I know that Cranberry can get pretty breezy sometimes, great for sailing, not so great for open canoes. Do you normally loop under the state campground? And do you, or anyone else, have any photos of that flow?

Thanks in advance,
Mike T.

[MikeT]

Stripperguy,

Check out page 2 of this message board, my responses to "Cranberry Lake" post by Yakker.

Also on paddling.net "Places 2 Paddle" dial up Cranberry Lake, New York" - there are pictures on this one of Cranberry Lake, but not specifically of Brandy Brook Flow.

Also get ahold of the Adirondack Explorer article on floating camps on Brandy Brook Flow referenced by Bill on this thread - it has pictures of Brandy Brook Flow.

Hope this helps.

MikeT

[MikeT]

Stripperguy

My mind was working no better than the internet last night. I pointed you in the direction of much information, but did not answer your question. My experience with canoes on Cranberry Lake, while extensive, has been limited to paddling large lake canoes like Wennonah Minnesota II's and III's. Don't know if you plan to paddle a solo canoe, but the following would be the way I'd paddle any canoe to Brandy Brook Flow.

Pick a day when little wind is predicted. Put in at Cranberry Lake State Campground day use swimming beach. Depending on conditions you might want to keep close to shore until you get to Union Point where there are many rocks in the water. Follow the shoreline to Campsite #3 and Burnt Rock; now you are in Brandy Brook Flow.

If I had to deal with wind paddling a canoe, I would prefer to be dealing with wind with a Nothern motief (Bear Mountain protects you once you've turned Union Point) rather than wind than a Southern, as a Southern wind leaves you exposed most of the way until you actually enter Brandy Brook Flow.

While you're in the Brandy Brook Flow area, take a look at Bear Mountain Flow. With many little coves and bays to explore, as well as much wildlife, it would be a great place to canoe also.

As regards time of day, paddle early; and pick a day with less predicted wind. That said, whatever the weather report, you can often count on afternoon winds on Cranberry Lake.

See you on the water.

MikeT

[Swamp Booger]

Stripperguy,
If you get into Brandy Brook flow, take a fishing rod. I was there with a friend in a tandem canoe on Memorial Day weekend a couple of years ago when he landed a 38" Northern Pike. He caught it on a trout spinner with no wire leader!

[stripperguy]

Thanks guys,
I did check out the sites and posts that you suggested, Mr. Mike T, but your info from this morning was exactly what I was looking for.