Bald
(Rondaxe) Mountain Notes from 2019
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Bald Mountain Fire Tower Several of the Friends of Bald Mountain Fire Tower volunteers hiked up to the Bald Mountain Fire Tower early this past Christmas morning - and lo & behold, found Santa made the trip up that morning too! We received a report that a video of his visit is out there on the internet & has had some 18,000 viewers in the past few weeks. What an awesome experience for so many of the tower's visitors to view the beautiful Fulton Chain of Lakes near Old Forge at this time of year.
Our FoBM
volunteers continue to do our best to maintain the tower & we've had
several work days up on the summit this past year. Ron Walker especially
was helpful scrubbing out the graffiti in the cab BUT also did an
amazing job removing old paint from the rocks just beyond the stairs.
Ron sells these amazing cleaning products and they sure worked for us on
the old paint and marker graffiti in the cab. Workday in June 2019 Bald Mountain Fire Tower Cab Lights UP in August For the second year, several volunteers and about a dozen others climbed to the summit in late August to participate in the Light Up the Towers project. Friends of Stillwater Fire Tower took part again but for the first time, a light shone from the Woodhull Fire Tower south of Old Forge near McKeever. We're not sure who was there as it is quite a hike to get to the summit. Our thanks to those who participated on all our area towers. According to Laurie Rankin, Director of the NY Chapter of the Forest Fire Lookout Assoc., there were 20 towers shining bright in the night light this year. Parking Situation Three FoBM volunteers attended the DEC's UMP for the Fulton Chain of Lakes meeting here in Old Forge in June. The UMP for this area was last updated in 1990 and this meeting allowed participants to express ideas that DEC may consider implementing for our region. The 1990 plan made note of 20 parking spaces at the Rondaxe Rd. trailhead! Of course, we were the first to speak on the hazardous parking situation at the Rondaxe Rd. trailhead - that visitors exit their cars, haul our gear, grab their kids and dogs, and have to walk long distances up the roadway when the parking area is full. It makes local traffic on the Rondaxe Rd. dangerous and impedes the response time for emergency vehicles to get to property owners or to do rescues on the Bald Mt. trail. The meeting was conducted by DEC Senior Forester Michael Marsh who has worked with FoBM for several years. FoBM notified our Town Supervisor (who attended) and our local Fire Chief to add their voices to this opportunity to request an expansion of the parking area. In his slide presentation, Mr. Marsh noted that there were over 30,000 REGISTERED visitors to Bald Mt. in each of the past three years. And we know there are far more hikers that fail to register. Scores of school-age kids on bus field trips and hundreds of summer camp campers from all over the world learn about how the fire towers and observers helped to protect our great forests and our small Adirondack hamlets. And how we need them to be stewards of our beautiful park for generations to come. HOPEFULLY our voices will be heard in Albany, and thanks to our DEC reps that were here and understand the situation first hand and know it is an important update desperately needed in our region. A Look Back at our GREAT HISTORY Harriet
"Hattie" Rega - Summit Observer: Recently, I discovered these NYS
employment cards on the internet for one of our former summit observers.
Hattie was born on December 12, 1894 in According
to Bill Starr, a fire tower historian and former observer on Pillsbury
Mt., Harriet Rega on Mount Electra (Rock Lk Mtn) from 4/28/1924
until 4/24/1930 before transferring to Rondaxe (Bald) Mtn where she
served as the observer from 5/1/1930 - 10/31/1936. That made her
the first woman observer in Emily's marriage did not work out and by 1930, she moved back to Old Forge to their camp on Garmon Ave. That summer she took Hattie's former job on Mount Electra. Hattie continued to trap coons, minks and muskrats during the winter months. Emily invested in several rental properties which she managed until the late 1940s when both decided they wanted to move to the west coast. Harriet Rega died in Granite Falls, Washington in June 1982. Emily, her friend for nearly six decades was at her side. She died two years later in July 1984. Volunteering to help the FoBM committee is a very rewarding experience. We work in one of the most beautiful places in the Adirondacks and meet the nicest people. You don't need to live here in Old Forge to help. A simple form needs to be filled out and filed with the DEC office in Herkimer to be covered by workman's comp. Send us a note and we'll provide the form and details and notify you of scheduled workdays. Reminder: PATCHES SOLD OUT Thanks for
Visiting our Site! |