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Oswego County Treasures Part 1

NYS Gazetteer Page 83 (mostly)

 Well, it’s finally here; snowin’ and blowin’ and slippin’ and slidin’...time to escape back into some of our summer adventures and share our ideas for fun places to put on your upcoming schedule.  You’re gonna love them!

It could have been really easy to develop a less than rosy attitude this summer...there was a bumper crop of moss on almost every square inch of our gardens’ soil; the north-facing roof looked like there was fur growing on it; most of my flowers rotted before blooming, and a remarkable fungus grew out of our wooden patio door.   Ever the optimists, we decided to make the most of our first summer as “retirees” and as it turned out, we really lucked out with gorgeous weather whenever we hit the road.  We visited some favorite old haunts and found some incredible new ones. 

Time:  last week of August. Occasion:  Alice’s annual birthday trip.  Destinations:  New York State Fair, Rainbow Shores Hotel just north of Port Ontario, Lakeview Wildlife Management Area, Black Pond area, El Dorado Nature Preserve...  The area immediately north of Oswego is rich with places to explore.  Follow Route 104 east out of Oswego then pick up 104B north through Texas until you come to Route 3 north and just keep going. 

Ethan made reservations at Rainbow Shores Hotel (Rainbow Shores Road, off Route 3 about 2 miles north of Port Ontario), one of our all-time favorite places to stay and the food is absolutely divine. Owner Linda and chef Joyce have become good friends and always give us such a warm welcome.   www.pulaskiny.com/rainbowrestaurant.htm.

The plan was to hit the State Fair then blast up Route 81 to get to Rainbow Shores for dinner and settle in for the next few days.  The hotel is a great “home base” from which to explore countless close-by destinations.     As we approached the fairgrounds, something seemed really odd; the parking lots were empty and when we tried to give the fellow at the gate 5 bucks to park, he informed us, “There’s no charge ‘til Thursday - that’s when the Fair opens.”  Oh. Tee Hee!  Guess I should have done some more research at the Empire Expo web site (where, by the way, you can find a calendar of events happening all year long at the Fairgrounds - (http://www.nysfair.org).  

After exchanging a couple of sheepish glances and chuckles it was time to launch “Plan B”:  head north and have a whole extra day in front of us. We’d be back to the Fair the following week...it’s a lot more fun when it’s open! 

Stepping back...in early August we towed the wee boat to Rainbow Shores for a few days of fishing and ended up discovering a whole lot of way big cool new places to explore, thanks to Tom Jones of Jones Marina on Sandy Pond.  The marina is a family business on County Road 15 that caters to small boats; it’s low key, low traffic, and a great spot to launch...but beware! Their wooden ramp is one of the slipperiest places on earth.  Tom is a local environmental activist, member of the Nature Conservancy, and avid supporter of the sand dune preservation efforts.  He emerged from his small office with a handful of brochures, one of the most impressive published by The Ontario Dune Coalition that not only provides details of lakeshore areas to hike, but also provides knowledge of the wetlands and dunes and how to best protect them while visiting.  The “El Dorado Nature Preserve - A Migratory Bird Rest Stop” immediately commanded our attention and the next day we set out to find it, only to discover that we came to what looked like a dead end in the road with a dirt path continuing.  With the boat in tow decided to scrap the mission, investigate later... 

Fast forward.  Now that we were on “Plan B” for the Birthday-Fair-Trip-Gone-Awry, we seized the opportunity of traveling sans trailer for a change and immediately headed back to find the El Dorado Nature Preserve.  Route 3 north of Port Ontario always has so many fun things to offer:  there’s a huge flea market on weekends; we picked up some of the best-ever home grown onions at Ted’s This and That Market; T.C. Brewster’s Bar and Grill serves up an awesome chicken BBQ weekends all summer; Ferguson’s Decoys and Nautical Gifts; a shop that sells fabulous concrete statuary; the beautiful Elms Golf Club.  We stopped at the Alexander Corners Market to double-check directions to El Dorado. The market is an oasis in literally the middle of nowhere and there’s a remarkable park honoring our country’s veterans right next to it, thanks to the Don Rounds American Legion Post 586.  Set among beautifully landscaped gardens there’s a tank and recently-acquired US Army AH-1F Cobra attack helicopter, and a marker with the simple inscription “Dedicated to the men and women who have served their country during times of war and peace.  Lest we forget.”  You can get a sub and salads at the market’s deli, park at a picnic table, and spend some time in the shadow of these awesome machines that served our country’s soldiers so well. 

Directions confirmed, we headed west on County Route 152 a short distance north of the Alexander’s Corners market, then turned on Grandjean Road.  At pavement-end, the left fork of the narrow dirt road leads to a clearing where there are signs to park to enter the El Dorado Nature Preserve.   A well worn footpath invites you into the 360 acre preserve that was established by the Nature Conservancy in 1968.  The trail loop is a just a little over one mile and passes through a red cedar forest, mixed woods, and summer-sweet open meadows that were alive with all kinds of late-summer-singing-and-flying-things.  Boardwalks take you over swampy areas and you arrive at the lake shore where there’s a bird watching blind overlooking a beach that’s made up entirely of shells.  Looking southward, there’s a breathtaking view of the sand dunes at the adjacent Black Ponds Wildlife Management Area; they’re the tallest dunes in the northeastern United States outside of Cape Cod.  You can also gaze down the pristine, limited access beach that runs for nearly 20 miles south through the Lakeview Wildlife Management Area, with the ever-present sand dunes protecting the marshland from Lake Ontario. 

The Lakeview Wildlife Management Area offers a lifetime of opportunities for exploration and great family outings. For hiking you’ll find the Black Pond Trail, Lake Ontario Dune Trail, the Meadow Trail, and the South Sandy Creek Trail.  For canoes or kayaks, try the Lakeview Pond Boat Route; Floodwood, Goose, North and South Colwell Ponds are awesome; South Sandy Creek and Deer Creek offer paddling opportunities that are second to none.  The North Skinner Road Trail offers mountain biking opportunities, and you can spend the day at unbelievable beaches at Southwick Beach State Park or Sandy Island Beach County Park.  More on all of these later...I’m working on finding additional on-line sites to share.  In the meantime, just take a drive, look for DEC signs, get out and take a hike!

Coming up...hiking at the Salmon River Falls, sand dunes, and touring the Salmon River Fish Hatchery at Altmar!