Gulf Brook Road

[Dave Bourque]

https://content.govdelivery.com/acco...letins/2f44e3c

[electbc]

I read that Gulf Brook Road is now finished but they did say that it was only open to Fly Pond Parking. Any updates on this? I realize that Mud gates would open around end of May.

Here is the Quote on the DEC Page:
Work on three bridges along Gulf Brook Road is complete. Due to weather conditions, the road is closed for the winter season to motor vehicles but skiing and snowshoeing is allowed. The road will be open to public motor vehicles as far as the Fly Pond Parking Area after the spring mud season, generally in late May.

[tgoodwin]

We skied to the ponds in December. This photo of a foot bridge built on top of the bridge over the dam at LaBiere Flow indicates that this bridge, just short of the parking at Four Corners, has yet to be replaced/rebuilt. This probably explains why one will only be able to drive as far as the Fly Pond (Inner Gate) parking.

[electbc]

Thank you for that info. Nice picture, must be a great trip in there on the snow. Looks like the limited access will keep a lot of folks out.

[Dave Bourque]

The slow response repairing Gulf Brook Road and its long-term maintenance issues are becoming a headache for NYSDEC. It will be interesting how this plays out.

[TCD]

Somehow Finch Pruyn kept that road serviceable for decades. What's the problem for Albany, with their 200 Billion dollar budget? Pathetic.

[Justin]

Close it. Problem solved. Or just keep it open to the Fly Pond parking area. It is only about a 45 minute walk from there, and it used to be fairly easy to cart a canoe from there. Now it is a pain in the ass with all the crushed stone they added to the road.

[electbc]

Would it be easier with wide tire carts or would any cart be cumbersome?

[2505]

Originally Posted by electbc

Would it be easier with wide tire carts or would any cart be cumbersome?

I have done it twice with carts carrying Hornbecks. Carts had touring road bike tires and were fine. I imagine mt bike tires might be good too.

Possibly the best outdoor experience I have had in 50 years of hiking and camping in the ADK. Were there right after the purchase and before road and campsite installation. Paddled for 3 days, LNT camping (just TRY and find where we camped), swam with loons...spectacular stargazing, too.

[Buckladd]

Originally Posted by TCD

Somehow Finch Pruyn kept that road serviceable for decades. What's the problem for Albany, with their 200 Billion dollar budget? Pathetic.

Exactly!

[tgoodwin]

I agree that the response to the washouts was way too slow, and somehow the DEC couldn't manage to remove, at least as of last December, all of the old culverts that had been pulled out and replaced.

However, having driven that road a few times soon after the Nature Conservancy had bought it, Finch Pruyn maintained it for logging trucks and higher clearance vehicles. It was pretty rough in places. I drove it twice during that brief period between being open to Four Corners and the Halloween storm washout, and by then it was in much better shape than it was when Finch Pruyn maintained it well enough for their purposes.