The High Stakes of Upstate Day Trips for the Nature Deprived

  |  June 24, 2013
fahnestock-state-park

The dawn of summer means good things for upstate: strawberry picking, farmers’ markets, swimming holes (if anyone will tell you where they are) and, yes, tourism. This weekend, some nature-deprived New Yorkers took to the road in search of a short hike and a lake: woods and water, please.

The goal was a shortish drive — less than an hour and forty-five minutes — for a big reward. Two of the three lakes at Harriman State Park were closed, and the one that remained open had received a poor review from Upstater pals, who likened it to Jones Beach on a holiday, sans waves.

So the destination was Fahnestock State Park, conveniently located seconds off the Taconic. Everything about it was easy, including the $7 vehicle fee. But perhaps the visiting downstaters had invested too heavily in the vision of nature fulfillment. The lake was, well, a disappointment: a tiny bit of it roped off for swimming use, and thus crowded with toddlers (water gently warmed, we assume, by the amount of urine in that tiny section). The tree-rimmed edges of the lake were suffering with dead wood, and it somehow just didn’t feel like nature, exactly. There was no sense of being away. (We did have this sense last year at Lake Superior, in Bethel. Doesn’t fit the criteria for close by, though).

So what are part-timers to do? Keep expectations low; be willing to venture further afield; or research their destinations much more carefully before they invest in a days travel with a carful of screaming kids? All three, perhaps? Or maybe you readers know the secret lake getaways that will satisfy nature-hungry New Yorkers?

Read On, Reader...