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Skriven 2011-06-17 08:10:00 av NANCY BACKUS (1:261/1381)
Ärende: Picnic 2011 Announcement
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The 2011 Picnic is being planned to occur at Boyd Pond, a kidney-shaped
lake, about a mile or so long, and about a half-mile wide (depends on
where one measures it, of course), nestled next to an edge of the
Adirondack Park Preserve, in the town of Russell, St. Lawrence County,
NY, where I own camp property.  We will be renting a cabin from my
friend Linda as the actual picnic venue.  My camp is rather rustic, so
less appropriate as a venue.  We are on the same private (dirt/stone)
road, easy walking distance, probably less than a 1/4 mile.  One comes
to my camp first, coming down the private road from the paved road.
[I-81 gets one well into the region, Rts 3 and 11 will get one close.  We
aren't all that far from Fort Drum, in fact the routes in either skirt
or cross it.  The actual getting all the way in to the camp gets a
little convoluted, but isn't at all impossible... (G)]  We are well into
woods, one side of the pond is still "forever forest", and there are
about 50 camps around the pond.

Dates for the picnic are August 7-14 (or some portion thereof).  The
cabin is rented from Sunday to Sunday... My plan is to have the Picnic
proper from Sunday (7th) to Wednesday (10th) or Thursday (11th), with
the option to stay until the rental runs out on Sunday (14th).

I expect this to be a fairly low-key picnic, mostly staying at the Pond
and doing things there.  There is fishing on the Pond (more details
below).  We will be planning at least one grocery shopping trip into
Canton for supplies.  Other activities I'm planning include a possible
visit to my friend's family-owned dairy farm in Lisbon, and a meal at
the Asian Buffet in Canton (one of the few anywhere that are well above
average). 

The rates are $100 per person for the week, and she needs a minimum of
$700 for the cottage for the week.  If we have less than 7 persons, the
price per person goes up accordingly; if more than 7 persons in the camp
it would still be $100 per.  The cottage sleeps 11, it has 3 bedrooms (1
with 2 twin beds, the other 2 each have a double bed), a sleeper in the
living room, and a sleeper and a daybed on the screened porch. 

Signed up so far are Dale and Gail Shipp (who have put dibs on the twin
beds), Michael Loo, and Carol with daughter Charlotte.  I'll be staying
at my own camp just a few camps away.

Amenities:
Basic linens are provided (if one tends to be cold all the time, one
might want to pack some extra blankets).  There is a bathroom with a
shower, the kitchen is fully equipped and she has some larger pans and
baking pans that she'd make available for us if we request them.  She
did suggest that if one had favorite cooking equipment that it would be
good to bring that along, but as she lives next door to the cabin she
rents (for all but the winter months, when they are in FL), and does
some cooking herself, she does have some things that she'd be glad to
make available to responsible renters (that I'm vouching for [g]). 
There's a gas stove and a large refrigerator.  The table has leaves to
make it seat more... plenty of room for us.  Outside, there are 2 gas
grills, 3 picnic tables, an outdoor fire pit with wood supplied; plenty
of lawn chairs, a rowboat with electric motor, a dock, a floating dock. 
AT&T cell phones work there, but Verizon does not (that applies to the
whole pond area).

Alternatives:
Linda has another camp across the road, a loft over garages, which will
likely be available.  She was quoting me a price of $75/night for that
(I will need to clarify with her, but I think that would be for the
space, not per person, and that her 4 nights same as one week rule would
hold.) if we needed or wanted the extra space.  That one also has a
bathroom and kitchen area.
Linda also has some self-contained camper space available.  Electric is
available, but one should bring their own extension cord.  Her price for
that would be $50/night up to 4 nights, with nights 5-7 free (with prior
reservation). 
My neighbor (my camp is 4 camps down, he's on the other side of me from
the rental) has said he is willing to let us use one or both of his two
camps, one nicer than the other, both have flush toilets.  The camp he
uses has a full bath including shower, and as long as he doesn't have
family using it, he wouldn't mind if it got used, too, if we have more
than enough people to fill the camp we are renting for the picnic.
Also I could take some overflow in my camp, although it only has a
bucket-flush toilet (fill the bucket in the Pond) and as I've said, is
likely the most rustic on the Pond.
There's room for air mattresses and such as well, in all the locations.
A little further out, there's a B&B in the area (maybe 5 miles away?).
I've only seen their sign on the road so don't know anything about it
really.  I could ask the locals, if anyone is interested.  The closest
motels are more like half an hour away, whether in Harrisville,
Gouvernour, Canton or Potsdam.  

Additional information:
I'm pretty sure that there is wi-fi available up in Canton at the
college bookstore/cafe, and probably other places as well... :) 

In Canton is a Price Chopper (used to be a P&C, but they bought it out).
It's probably equivalent to Krogers, Acme, and the like.  It does have
a decent selection of fresh fruits and veggies, reasonably decent meats,
etc.  I wouldn't expect anything much exotic, though.  Also in town is a
smallish but nice Natural Foods store, which has been a good source for
that sort of foodstuffs.  I'm told there is also a food co-op, I think
in Potsdam (10 miles further up Route 11).  One can get staples (milk,
bread and such) in the village of Russell, about 10-15 minutes away. 

On the way to Russell are a couple of diner-type bar-restaurants.  Po'
Ole Satch is one of those, and across the street is another.  Nothing
special, but an alternative.  

Fishing on the Pond... there is bass, perch, trout, pike, bullhead.  The
Association has stocked some over the years, some have been there for
ages.  Some of the campowners are avid fisherfolk, though I'm not.  The
Pond is spring-fed, no inlet, but with an outlet that flows eventually
to the Grasse River (which flows into the St. Lawrence River).  It has
some fairly deep spots that stay quite cool, the surface warms up nicely
with good warm sunny days.  Fishing licenses aren't needed as it is
considered private property.  

ttyl        neb

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