Happy Thursday!
This past week in a nutshell… unseasonably warm! Wonderful! Most of this past week temperatures were above 70 during the day – got chilly at night though, and frosty, frosty mornings quickly became BEAUTIFUL DAYS! Hiker/bushwhacker up from Stillwater Reservoir commented on WARM donut-hole sized moose scat on the south side of Partlow Mountain. Bugs flying around in the sunshine. VERY white and buoyant snowshoe hare hopping around South Shore just past the sewer leech field. Outstanding sunrise Veterans Day Morning! WEAR ORANGE IN THE WOODS… Regular hunting season began Oct 24th and continues through most of December!! Supposedly someone got a buck up on the hills above the Moore Trail. Will the Ranger School Dubar Forest Property re-open to the public when students leave for their TWO MONTH holiday break? We'll see!
Old(ish) but relevant: Town of Fine - St. Lawrence County - Wilderness Search: On Oct. 29 at 5:32 p.m., DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch received a call from a hunter reporting an overdue member of his party. The caller stated that a 24-year-old man from Brooktondale left to hunt at 9 a.m., and should have been back at their campsite by 11 a.m. Forest Rangers Benzel, Shea, Morehouse, Hogan, and Baldwin responded to the High Falls trailhead in Wanakena with two, six-wheel ATVs to search the area. At 8:20 p.m., Ranger Benzel advised dispatch that Ranger Shea had located the hunter and brought him to the group’s campsite.
Here’s a shot of some goofballs who parked ON the beach this past weekend while they canoe-camped out on Cranberry Lake. They stopped into Otto’s on their way out and were very pleasant SLU students. Their parking performance was not discussed. Perhaps the unsightly log someone laid town at the beach this past summer is misleading and confusing folks.
Upcoming… Weather forecast says… a rain-less weekend with more seasonable weather conditions; plus or minus 40s by day and plus or minus 30s by night. Wetter conditions arrive Sunday evening bringing rain and possibly turning into a few inches of SNOW Monday into Tuesday. Temperatures around 30 and getting colder!!!! Folks have begun asking about WHITEOUT WEEKEND… our vote is YES. No matter what there will be some sort of WHITEOUT-TYPE OUTDOOR event via Otto’s Abode this Presidents Day Weekend. Perhaps we'll call it: "ICE JAM". This weather forecast is brought to you by Wanakena’s own PATTIJACKNAN weather team – a Wanakener garage pole mounted weather station and crew. THANKS, TEAM! This weather station can be found at: https://www.wunderground.com/weather/us/ny/wanakena/KNYWANAK8 - Also, always beautiful photography at the Wanakena Tracks facebook page.
Bridgework continues… Plastic is OFF the bridge. tAsphalt has been laid! Big news! The new intersections have come to life and you can now see how the approaches have been designed. A large excavating machine was seen loaded up on a flatbed truck being hauld out of town! Next-up are the guard rails. Someone said the temporary bridge is rented by the week! That means it makes sense to get it taken apart and out of there as soon as possible! Cha-ching!!! And as they say around Wanakena: WE’LL BE DRIVING OVER THAT NEW BRIDGE IN NO TIME!!!!!!
FIRST COVID CASE IN TOWN OF FINE reported this past weekend. There are no further details. This is a reminder to stay vigilant when it comes to wearing face masks, practicing social distancing, etc… Covid numbers are on the rise just about everywhere. It wont be fun, but lets do the right thing to flatten the curve. This graphic is from the St. Lawrence County’s website where they have very informative and up-to-date information regarding Covid-19 in the county. https://www.stlawco.org/covid-19-daily-update-center
WANAKENA STORY GOES TO PRINT... this past week the new digital-only "Wanakena Story" which was in the news a couple weeks ago ( https://www.newyorkupstate.com/adirondacks/2020/10/wanakena-in-the-adirondack-wilderness-a-sense-of-community-endures.html ) was run IN-PRINT in the Syracuse Post Standard. Some friends sent messages commenting that "we are in the newspaper!" and a customer even came into Otto's Abode - after the two-hour drive from Syracuse - immediately after they had read the story; they said "how could we NOT come and check the place out!". Still, the small influx of crowds the article may draw to our hidden hamlet is NOTHING compared to the THOUSANDS of people that were here a hundred years ago.
Speaking of newspapers.... the WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES, which WAS for sale on the front porch via quarter vending machine has put up a note - WITHOUT WARNING! - saying: THIS BOX IS SHUT OFF YOU CAN FIND PAPERS AT CIRCLE K IN STAR LAKE STONE MANOR ON CRANDBERRY LAKE OR U-BS IN OSWEGATCHIE THANK YOU. Although we are disappointed we no longer have papers for sale on the porch, this is a direct response to a new procedure the WDT has enacted here in Wanakena (and other places, most likley) where Wanakena residents can receive a paper in their mailbox instead of dealing with the machine. Hopefully the paper machine will be back ONLINE in the summertime! One less stop for the delivery driver we suppose. Although we wonder... where the heck is Crandberry Lake?!?!?!
Down at the Abode… FRESH PERRY'S ICE CREAM DELIVERY! MARTIN'S PRETZELS BACK IN THE SHOP! We met a wonderful artist/hiker a couple weeks ago - a painter from Keene Vally. We're working with her to get an exhibition of her paintings up on the walls! There is a small section of the interior space set aside to allow a coffee drinker to remove their facemask and sip the good stuff. This is pretty big. Those who may remember will recall The Abode is a place where you can settle in and take a load off in a rocking chair or at the bar. With COVID going on we had to ditch the chairs. Well, a few of them are back. While you’re here take a peek around the shop. There’s LOTS MORE to look at; art, maps, historical displays, and MORE! Perhaps you’ll go home with something you did not realize you needed. Perhaps you’d find a perfect gift for someone. Perhaps you’ll go home with ingredients for a DELICIOUS dinner. You’re purchases down here at Otto’s Abode help keep us open and going all year long. Don't wait for 'shop local day' to support LOCAL, YEAR-ROUND businesses! Establish LOCAL shopping habits, NOW! Take some time out of your day, to go out of the way! Thanks!
WANAKENA’S BLACKWATERS CAFÉ AND TRADING POST FALL/WINTER hours/menu/etc. announced! Breakfast and baked goods at B-Dubs returns! Dinner on Fri and Sat night. Hours are: Tues+Wed+Thus: 8am-3pm and Fri+Sat 8am-7pm. Call to make DINE-IN RESERVATIONS! 3153094040!!!! Open for pick-up/take-out too. Gifts and groceries and more via The Trading Post.
WANAKENA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION has been hard at work actualizing the WANAKENA HISTORY CENTER. Here is a message from their website: Five equal partners (made up of groups of families and friends) are forming an LLC (Limited Liability Corporation) each pledging $25,000 for a total of $125,000 to own, renovate and restore one of the original Rich Lumber Company houses at 21 Second Street to its original facade. Their dream and intent are to provide a location for a Wanakena History Center where the WHA can continue its mission to encourage greater knowledge of the history and to display and make available for study: artifacts, relics, books, manuscripts, papers, photographs, and other records and materials relating to the history of the State of New York and particularly of Wanakena and the surrounding area.
RANGER SCHOOL IS IN SESSION, BUT THE CAMPUS IS CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC!!! That means no hunting. Here’s a message from the Ranger School: The Ranger School's James F. Dubuar Memorial Forest will be closed to the public for an indefinite amount of time beginning Saturday, August 15, 2020. The Cranberry Lake 50 trail, which passes in front of the school, will remain open. This action is necessary to protect students and staff as they begin a new academic year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but it is a critical precaution as we work to ensure the health and success of the Class of 2021. Thank you for your cooperation. Here’s a story about it all: https://www.nny360.com/news/stlawrencecounty/property-sales/article_eeec3094-901a-531a-8a18-ab1b991b3a79.html
WESTERN ADIRONDACK PRESBATYRIAN CHUCH zoom-zooms every Sunday at 10:45 using meeting #6663654813 and every morning at 9am for a Morning Prayer. WANAKENA CEMETERY ASSOCIATION announced that Cremation Remains burial has gone up from $150 to $250. Also, there is no longer a backhoe charge for cremation burial because they don’t use a backhoe for cremation burials any longer.
Important information from the other end of CRANBERRY LAKE: Stone Manor Diner and Motel open, The Clifton Community Library and Tooley Pond Duck Decoy Showroom in Cranberry Lake are open! The Clifton Community Library is open FIVE DAYS PER WEEK plus Wednesday evenings by appointment. Call 3158483256 or clklib@ncls.org for an appointment. Curbside pick us is also still available. At the Clifton Community Center, Cranberry Lake, NY 12927. ALSO, a message via their Facebook Page: Our grant from the Foundation for Rural Service has ended, and so we have shut down our wireless hotspot in Newton Falls. We hope the community made good use of it and enjoyed it there. If you have any feedback, please don't hesitate to let us know. Thank you to the fire department for partnering with us to provide this resource for the past 18 months! LAKESIDE GENERAL STORE IN CRANBERRY LAKE IS CLOSED FOR THE LONG WINTER SEASON. Check out the Cranberry Lake Boat Club and The North Shore Hub online, too!
OUT WEST: Coffee Fever, Todd Hardware, Adirondack Pharmacy and Circle K in Star Lake are open! Mountain Gate Redemption near Benson Mines is open! The Clifton-Fine Municipal Golf Course is open seven days a week. Hillside Diner, UB’s Mercantile, Green Pinkly Farm and Adirondack Rustics in Oswegatchie are open! Both Twin Lakes and SOS in Star Lake got a fresh paint job but remain temporarily closed since March 2020. Word on the street is Twin Lakes is re-opening SOON!
Kim’s Lost Dog Report: As of today, there are NO lost dogs in Wanakena. No lost dogs... but here's a shot of a SUN DOG over the footbridge this past Monday afternoon!
All for now!
Any questions, comments, concerns, trail condition inquiries, legends, jokes, animal sightings, etc… feel free to email otto@ottosabode.org or call 3158483008 or pop-in the shop! Wanakena Weekly archive here: http://www.ottosabode.org/p/wanakena-weekly.html
"Genius develops in quiet places, character out in the full current of human life." - Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749 - 1832)