Originally posted by Hard Scrabble
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I am in no way disagreeing with anything that you mentioned, nor am I suggesting creating "wilderness".
I apologize if my post came across that way. That certainly was not my intent.
The ranger station is a couple years before my time, but I do remember the ranger's horse stable (the concrete footings are still there), and the twin lean-tos where lean-to #1 currently stands, and the single lean-to atop Watch Rock Point.
I can honestly say that I've witnessed things change for the negative at Pharaoh Lake since the early 80's.
Yet, in the early 90's, my high school buddies & I never had a problem finding an unoccupied lean-to, and very rarely had any issues with seeing trash left behind, cut trees, old beat-up row boats & canoes, or finding plenty of dead & downed firewood. It wasn't until after 2000 when I started to notice a HUGE difference in the amount of people there, and the resulting negative impacts. I partly blame info shared on the internet (myself included), and the fact that back then there was never a Ranger or an Assistant Forest Ranger to be found anywhere!
Thankfully, in recent years the AFR has been a steady presence in the area (during peak season), as well as Backcountry Stewards, and I've even ran into Forest Ranger Mark St. Claire in the area a couple times also. I've personally met AFR B. Jackson a few times now, and I must say that he has been doing a great job, and a very difficult one at that!
I realize marked trails & lean-tos are not what most people think of as "Wilderness", but I think we can all agree that things will never get any better at Pharaoh Lake until the DEC starts by closing the road....Either that, or they re-open the entire road for motor vehicle use all the way to the lake again, rebuild the ranger station, and keep a full-time Ranger on duty 24/7...which we all know is not going to happen!
In the end, I don't think complaining about the past will do much good. Instead, we should focus on what we can do now and in the future, and to me, closing the road at the "Pharaoh Lake Wilderness" boundary makes perfect sense as a good place to start.
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