LOCALadk Magazine

54 Fall 2014 Stillwater By Anne Brewer The "bumpy road" is 10 miles of dirt that without fail made me car sick around mile number eight. As hard as I tried to concentrate on what was at the end of the road, we always had to pull over so that I could get out. Despite how I felt though, the drive was worth it. It led us to Stillwater Reservoir, where we launched our boat and made our way eight miles down to the boat dock at Grassy Point. From there, we piled into our old beat up truck, "The Bomb," and drove the mile to our camp in Beaver River. When we finally arrived, we experienced a sense of freedom that was only possible at camp. Camp meant seeing friends that we only connected with over the summer; it meant playing and exploring all day as long as we all showed up when my mom rang the big iron bell on our deck. The bell signified feeding time for us kids and a time for my mom to make sure all seven of us were safe. These are my childhood memories from when my family "headed up north" for our summer vacation. It's been 43 years since my folks bought a small camp on a point of land on Norridgewock Pond. It's still my favorite place to be, so much so that I got married there this past August. Beaver River is one of two historical settlements on the Reservoir; it is one square mile that is surrounded by state land. Today the only access is by boat, snowmobile, or foot and it is comprised of 100 or so seasonal camps and two businesses, the Norridgewock Hotel and the Beaver River Lodge. The saying goes, "it's a hard place to get to and an even harder place to leave." Stillwater Reservoir is 13 miles long, a mile wide, and is the largest man-made lake in New York State. It is a 6700-acre body of water with about 120 miles of shoreline and 46 state designated and DEC maintained first come first serve campsites. The campsites have names like Kettle Hole, Twin Pine Point, Dead Man's Curve, Hemlock Knoll and Fox Island. The Reservoir was created in 1924 with the completion of the current dam; an earlier wooden dam had been built in 1850 which was then upgraded to concrete in 1894. This body of water is paradise if you like to fish or hunt, paddle, motor boat, camp, view wildlife, practice photography, or simply enjoy exploring a gorgeous Adirondack Lake. However, one of my favorite things to do is paddle around in the fall in search of a low bush that contains small red berries: delicious wild cranberries! October is a special time of year to explore Stillwater because the water level has been brought down to a level that exposes long sandy beaches, there are no bugs, and the cranberries are ripe. I paddled out to a campsite last year for a solo night and had the whole Reservoir to myself. The water was glassy, the sunset was put on just for me, and the warm campfire made for the perfect night out under the stars. Cranberries exist in the Adirondacks but can be hard to find. They grow in wet, acidic soils, often in bogs or swampy areas. One reason they can be found in Stillwater is because the level of the Reservoir fluctuates from spring to fall so the cranberry bushes are flooded during the spring. When the water level drops in the summer small flowers appear, some even grow under water. The plants themselves Painting by Madeleine Bialke Anne Brewer

• Cover