We left two nuts and a sling and two biners to make it safe. Please do not take them

We will go back up tomorrow, Friday 10/28/11 with a permanent link to make it safe.

Member cards on the bulletin board

For 10 years now, the Minnewaska Distance Swimmers Association or “MDSA” has offered one of the best swimming experiences in Ulster County.  On Sunday, July 31 at 5:30pm, you will have your final opportunity of the summer to get in on the fun–the last swim test will be given that day at the Rosendale Community Pool .   What’s so special about it?  Read on…

MDSA certification entitles you to swim at the luxuriously long (400 yd loop), uncrowded, deep water swimming area located at the far end of Lake Minnewaska.  The water is clean, cool and the area is open only to people that have passed a swim test and paid an annual dues of $20. The reason for the swim test is that there are no lifeguards at the MDSA beach.  Swimmers are require to have “buddy” in order to swim, but a buddy can be any other swimmer at the beach (in the water or out) who will keep an eye on you.

A typical "crowd" at the MDSA Beach

Because swimmers have to be at least 16 years old (if accompanied by a guardian) and the beach is far from the upper parking lot, the area is free from the clamor or the postage-stamp sized swimming area at the other end of the lake.  The MDSA beach is serene.

A typical afternoon at the Minnewaska Public Beach

Each afternoon as I take the 12 -15 minute stroll out to the beach,  I’m always expecting to find the place overrun with people.  Yet somehow the distance and the need to take the swim test winnows the crowd to just an handful of dedicated, appreciative souls.

The test for certification is straightforward,  here are the details from the MDSA website:

The test requires 500 yards continuous swimming: 25 yards crawl, 25 yards free style back stroke, 25 yards breast stroke, 25 yards side stroke and 400 yards additional swimming any stroke plus 3 minutes of treading water. THERE IS NO TIME LIMIT. Most people complete the test in under 30 minutes, but you can take as long as you need.

So if you find yourself in the Hudson Valley and want to take advantage of one of it’s great, wet pleasures, get yourself over to the test on Sunday (7/31).  You only have to take the test once, and you’re good for all the years following.  If you miss it, the tests will start up again in the middle of June in 2012.

The swimming season at the beach runs from mid-June to Labor Day.

Lake Minnewaska State Park is located on Rt44/55 in the town of Rochester, about 2 miles past the Mohonk Preserve’s West Trapps Parking area.  The park has an $8 per carload admission fee, but you can buy an Empire Pass for $65 that allows unlimited entry (of one specific vehicle) to all New York State Parks.

Minnewaska State Park is the ‘sleeping giant’ of the Hudson Valley. Within it’s bounds lay some of the finest recreation opportunities to be found in this or any state. Beyond recreation, the Park’s vastness offers a rare opportunity for visitors to leave a busy world behind, and discover unaccustomed solitude, beauty and peace.

Yet all too often, we’ve found the Minnewaska experience blighted by policies that have limited our enjoyment, often without apparent reason. For years, we’ve known Minnewaska as the Park that says “NO”. “No” to swimming on 90 degree days after Labor Day. “No” to climbing on the most spectacular cliffs in the Park. “No” to taking home the blueberries we pick….

TO: Fred Williams, Deputy Director, Palisades Region, NYS OPRHP
Thomas B. Lyons, Director, Resource Management, NYS OPRHP

RE: Minnewaska State Park Master Plan

Minnewaska State Park is the ‘sleeping giant’ of the Hudson Valley. Within it’s bounds lay some of the finest recreation opportunities to be found in this or any state. Beyond recreation, the Park’s vastness offers a rare opportunity for visitors to leave a busy world behind, and discover unaccustomed solitude, beauty and peace.

Yet all too often, we’ve found the Minnewaska experience blighted by policies that have limited our enjoyment, often without apparent reason. For years, we’ve known Minnewaska as the Park that says “NO”. “No” to swimming on 90 degree days after Labor Day. “No” to climbing on the most spectacular cliffs in the Park. “No” to taking home the blueberries we pick.

All too often we’ve seen Park policies that seems to want to “herd” users into small activity areas and then inundate those areas with rules that are required by the small area provided (ex. swimming & climbing). While we recognize and support the Park’s mission to preserve the natural environment, we feel that past policies have summarily barred or severely restricted many activates without considering their actual impact.

But in this new Master Plan, we see the first rays of light that encourage us to believe that Minnewaska can live up to it’s vast potential.

Though financial resources for this Plan will be difficult to find in the current environment, we feel that the Park can still make substantial progress by working more openly with established community resources. There is a wealth of experience, labor and enthusiasm in user groups such as the Gunks Climbers Coalition, Gunks Mountain Biking Association, Fats in the Cats, Minnewaska Distance Swimmers Association, NY-NJ Trails Conference, just to name a few, that can be used in lieu of state dollars. In addition to providing development help, these organizations’ members can supply the Park with invaluable eyes and ears for areas that a small staff would be hard pressed to cover.

It would be a tragedy to have the Park’s treasures locked away from our friends, neighbors and children for another 12 – 15 years because of financial decisions made a world away, when the resources to open the Park are available here in our community.

With this view in mind we advocate for the following projects as top priorities in the Minnewaska Master Plan:

1. The construction of the Shawangunk Gateway Campground should be a priority 1 objective. The current plan call only for completion of design in the first 5 – 10 years of the Master Plan.
2. The Distance Swimming Program should be allowed to operate without a lifeguard on duty. The lifeguards are too far away to be of assistance in an emergency, and the MDSA has proven that it can manage its beach to keep unaffiliated swimmers out of the water. With the ubiquity of cell phones (and service) at the park, help is now adequately available by phone should it ever become necessary. A distance swimming program at Awosting should be developed.
3. We agree that traffic mitigation at the main Route 209 entrance must be a priority in the plan. The current set up encourages visitors to block the highway waiting to enter, or make U-turns in the areas where visibility is limited. This situation unnecessarily encourages “road rage” between drivers, and causes regular delays to Kerhonkson, Accord and Ellenville residents.
4. Rock climbing should not be limited to any specific areas under the Master Plan. The proposed expansion to Dickie Barre is not regarded as an enhancement to climbing by the climbing community. Instead the Park should continue to develop a separate Climbing Management Plan that would ideally develop both rock and ice climbing areas in the finest crags of the park. The park should work closely with the GCC and Access Fund to reproduce successful programs that are in place across the country.
5. We support development of a single track trail in the Awosting Reserve section of the Park, but would hope that the trail system would be connected to the existing carriage road system. The number of mountain bikers far exceeds the proposed lot capacity at Awosting Reserve, and this would encourage illegal parking and other problems.
6. Cross Country Skiing needs to be better supported under the Master Plan. More regular grooming, including maintenance of a connection to the Mohonk Preserve’s trails is an opportunity to make the ridge the premier destination for x-c skiing and snowshoeing in the Northeast.
7. The Park needs to open it’s doors earlier 2 days each week. The current 9am opening on weekdays precludes hundreds of users the opportunity to run, bike, hike, ski or bird watch in morning.

Thank you for considering our views. We stand by ready to assist you in any way we can.

Sincerely,
Evan Marks
Gunks.com, webmaster

• New Visitor Center/Park Office at the Phillips House
• New Roads and relocated gatehouse to reduce congestion on Rt. 44/55
• Open the long awaited campground on Rt. 299 to replace the raucous and unwieldy DEC Multi-(ab)use Area
• Renovate Tilson Lake Boat Launch
• Develop Trails in the newly acquired Mine Hollow area
• Build  new/renovate  lots at Stony Kill Falls, Awosting Reserve, Minnewaska (upper and lower), Jenny Lane & Peter’s Kill
• Construct a trail so that visitors do not have to walk the road from the lower Awosting to Upper Minnewaska lots
• Develop climbing at Dickie Barre
• Install new roof and pave floor of Maintenance Facility, screen building from view using landscaping

It’s an ambitious and expansive list.  That is, until you realize that all of it is going to take money that the state is quite unlikely to come up with (in the middle of a serious recession).  If you dig a little deeper into the Master Plan document, you’ll see that quite a few of the improvements in the current Plan are leftovers from the 1993 Plan.  So what exactly is going to get done during the span of this Master Plan.  Well, dear reader, much of that is up to you!

The Master Plan requires the State to collect and then respond to the comments that you make.  You can submit comments by email or snail mail.  Here are the addresses:

email:  minnewaska.plan@oprhp.state.ny.us

US Postal:

Fred Williams
Deputy Director
Palisades Region
NYS OPRHP           <—-that’s Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation
Bear Mountain, NY   10911

You can also use a handy web-based letter generator located at the Access Fund Site.

As long as you comments arereceived by Friday, November 13th, your voice will be heard.

So knowing that there’s not a lot of money to go around, what projects are going to get funded?  Well, the Master Plan contains an Implementation Priority List in Chapter 6 show level 1 priorites that are expected to be completed in the first 5 to 10 years:

• Complete the design and construction of the Preserve office and visitor.
• Complete the design and construction of the Lake Minnewaska entrance area reconfiguration.
• Complete the design and construction of restroom facilities in the Lake Minnewaska picnic area to include potable water, flush toilets, heat, water, electric and sewer systems; the construction of a water plant, if needed, including piping from the lake or construction of a well if quantity and quality are supported; construction of waste water plant,
  including a new sewer collection system from the visitor center and restrooms to the waste water treatment plant.
• Advance the implementation of the historic carriage road restoration project to the next phase of design and engineering and begin rehabilitation of carriage roads.
• Rehabilitate the existing maintenance facility.
• Repair the Lower Awosting Causeway (75% FEMA Reimbursement).
• Complete the design of the Shawangunk Gateway Campground.
• Implement the Trails Plan recommendations for the Mine Hollow and the Awosting areas using volunteer labor.
• Implement the Shawangunk Ridge Fire Management Plan.
• Continue implementation of the Invasive Species Management Plan.
• Implement the Shawangunk Ridge deer management strategies.
• Improve interpretive kiosks and trail head signage.
• Begin the restoration of historic vistas.
• Facilitate the creation of a Friends group and develop partnerships with user groups.
• Pave and improved the drainage of the main entrance road.
• Initiate the design of the Stony Kill Falls area.
• Re-establish a satellite Park Police base.

Does this list reflect your priorities as a park user?  Here are some activity-specific  issues that you might consider mentioning when you comment on the Master Plan:

Climbing:  If climbers in California’s Yosemite Valley were limited to climbing in the parking lots, I think they would understand how climbers in NY feel about Minnewaska State Park.  Minnewaska has an un-paralleled abundance of climbable rock.  Spectacular routes with views over the Hudson Valley have stood untouched for years, as climbing in the park is prohibited with the exception of an unremarkably small set of low cliffs in the Peter’s Kill area.  Gertrude’s Nose, Millbrook, Castle and Hamilton Points are all inspirational to climbers–but are off limit in the new plan (and the plans before it).

There has been rock climbing at Peterskill for almost 10 years now.  The program (which was started as a test program for climbing) brings in significant revenue to the park each year, as climbing permits are one of the few revenue streams that the park gets to keep.  It does not have to send the funds back to a state-wide general fund as is done with revenue from say gate receipts.

The current version of the Master Plan proposes to expand climbing to the Dickie Barre area.  An equally small and uninspiring cliff a short distance from the Peter’s Kill.

Granted, opening up the entire park to use by climbers would be an overwhelming task for a small park staff.  But should that mean that the best climbing in the park (and maybe even the entire Northeast United States) be closed for a half-century or more?

Climbing should not be specifically limited by the current Master Plan.  Instead, the park should continue to develop it’s separate Climbing Management Plan (due in 2010).  A Climbing Management Plan would allow the park to be flexible in its approach to climbing.  With careful planning and support from advocacy groups like the Gunks Climbers Coalition and The Access Fund, the park can identify, develop and manage a world class climbing destination that would draw visitors from the world over.

Ice Climbing:  The current Master Plan continues to bar ice climbing within the park, even though the plan calls for better access to the Stony Kill Falls area, where most of the climbing is desired.  Each year, ice climbers are ticketed in this area for climbing.  Wouldn’t it make more sense to collect fees from all the climbers, rather than to penalize a few?

Swimming:  The lakes of Minnewaska State Park cover almost 170 acres.  Yet swimming is only allowed in 2 small “pens” on Lakes Awosting and Minnewaska (and the Distance Swimmers lane).  The “swimmable” are of the park represents only 1/10th of 1% of the available acreage.

What’s worse, swimming is only permitted when a lifeguard is on duty.  But lifeguard coverage only runs to Labor Day, often leaving no swimming opportunities in September when temperatures can still get into the 90s.  Compounding the problem, lifeguard hours have already been reduced  by half an hour in the evenings and the size of the swimming area at Awosting has shrunk in each of the past 2 season.

Distance Swimming:  The distance swimming program at Minnewaska has been a great example of how the park can work with user advocacy groups.  In 8 (incident-free) seasons the Minnewaska Distance Swimmers Association (MDSA) has overseen a program that allows members to swim a 400-yd loop at the Southern end of Minnewaska.  But the program is hamstrung by a provision that requires that a lifeguard to be on duty–at a beach over half a mile away.  So this program has also seen it’s hours cut back by 1.5 hours each day and it’s season also ends (on Labor Day) when the weather is still hot.

Judy Mage, founder of the MSDA program pointed out at the original reason for having a lifeguard available was to provide assistance should non-members attempt to use the MDSA swimming area (MSDA members sign waivers and take a swim test to protect the park from liability).  Judy’s suggestion (and we wholeheartedly agree) is that the MDSA program should be de-coupled from the lifeguard requirement.  MDSA swimmers have proven that they can look after themselves, and the threat of unauthorized swimmers has never materialized.

Swimming Recommendations:

• Re-instate lifeguard hours until 7:30p in the summer
• Restore the original size of the Awosting Swim Pen
• De-link the  distance swimming program hours from those of the lifeguards hours at far-away beaches
• Establish a distance swimming area at Lake Awosting

Mountain Biking:  Minnewaska has always been a terrific place to bicycle.  The seemingly endless carriage roads run along ridge lines with goregeous views of New Paltz and Gardiner in the east to the Catskills in the West.  But for serious riders, the carriage roads can get a little boring–There is little (if any) technical challenge.

Fortunately, the Master Plan addresses this issue by proposing to build a single track trail (map) at the newly acquired Awosting Reserve property.  What’s even better news is that the area has an enthusiastic population of mountain bikers who are eager to begin building the trails.  Perhaps the one downside in the plan is that the trail is proposed as a “multi-use”, whereas horseback riders, hikers and mountain bikers would be expected to share the same trails.  Clearly a recipe for conflict between user groups.

Cross Country Skiing/Snow Shoeing:  This is one of the difficult activities facing the park.  Like so many of the activities mentioned above, the ridge line trails and superb views make for a terrific X-C or Snowshoe experience.  But people will only come to the park to ski if the trails are groomed, and groomed consistently.  But the park has difficulty committing the significant resources required to groom unless people are coming consistently.  A true chicken and egg conundrum.

But if the park here from enough of us (and there were many X-C skiers on hand for the Public hearing in October), perhaps we can tip the balance so that more grooming will be done, and more people will continue to come out in the winter months.

One obvious step the park should take is co-ordinating trail grooming with the Mohonk Preserve.  Skiing the entire ridge line from Minnewaska to the Trapps is a winter-time experience like no other.  The variety of terrain would draw large numbers of skiers at a traditionally sleepy time of the season.