Such Cute Little Fireworks

Bear Creek is a little business at the junction of Route 23A and Route 214, east of Hunter, west of Tannersville. The proprietors try hard to entertain the local families and the summer visitors, giving them something to do in the evening when the Sky Ride and Zip Line at nearby Hunter Mountain close for the day. There's a restaurant and bar, mini-golf, a driving range, horseback rides, a kiddie playground.  They tried paint ball, they tried go-karts.  To their credit, they keep trying things to attract a few bucks and make a living.

Last night, they lit up a fireworks show, and boom!  As they do every time, fireworks worked.  People in the GNC love their  fireworks and hundreds converged on Bear Creek to watch.  The extravaganza went on for thirty minutes, featuring all your favorite pyrotechnic effects and ended with a patriotic display of red, white and blue sparkles in the night sky. Everyone left feeling quite American, I'm sure.  Good Job, Bear Creek.

About 3am, Mother Nature decided she would show Bear Creek how to put on a show.  Lightning lit the sky as if it were high noon; thunder rocketed through Stony Clove, echoing from peak to peak and rattling my window panes.  The sky threw furious rain at the GNC. (Still is, as I write this Sunday morning.)

We sat on our deck last night, watching the fireworks rise just over the treetops, impressed by the effort Bear Creek had put into producing the show. We awoke this morning thinking how cute those little firecrackers were.  If you really want to see a brilliant show, wait for a lightning storm in the GNC.

Start at Alpine Garden in Windham...

...proceed north for a short distance on Route 296.  Make a left onto Route 23 and drive a short distance to County Route 21,  Mitchell Hollow Road. Turn right and enjoy the scenery as Mitchell Hollow rolls up for two or three miles, past homesteads, horse farms, fields of wild flowers and abandoned shacks. Make a left onto County Route 10 and catch your breath, because you will become breathless over the next few miles.  County Route 10 skirts Mt. Pisgah State Forest,  then Ashland Pinnacle State Forest, then Huntersfield State Forest before it meanders down into Prattsville. Go slow the entire distance on Route 10 so as to appreciate all that is around you. Likely yours will be the only car, and thus you will be likely to surprise the contented critters along the road.

You'll drop into Prattsville, the western-most town in Greene County before you cross into Delaware County, where the GNC begins to undulate into more agricultural terrain.  Make a left onto Route 23.  You'll now be heading south then east, toward Ashland.  (Be careful -- just past Pratt's Rock Route 23 veers east; if you miss the turn, you'll be on Route 23A, heading toward Lexington.) Stay on Route 23 and continue in awe of the beauty of the GNC. Glance at Batavia Kill (on your right) a few times as you drive; there are small falls here and there, and on the left is a small, very old, one-room chapel, in case you want to get married or give thanks.

If you're hungry, there are a few places in Windham to stop for lunch or dinner, some with a view of Windham Mountain Ski Area, or you can continue through town (slowly - cops!), up cemetery hill (as the locals call it) and back to Route 296.  Make a right, and shortly you will be back where you started at Alpine Garden.  (There's no garden there -- it's all around you.)

You can cover this circuit by car in about an hour.  I did it on a bike and it was my quads that screamed at me to blog this.

Chillin' with Art

In the GNC, on a quiet stretch of Route 23A, West of Lexington, East of Prattsville, on the Eastbound side, there is a shady parking area with a water-level view of the Schoharie.  Mr. Art Flick spent many hundreds of hours at that spot in the Creek, perfecting his practice of trout fishing, researching the efficacy of various stream insects as bait and writing a bible on the subject. He died in August 1985 and the Catskill Mountains Chapter of Trout Unlimited wasted no time in installing a stone memorial there to the "great but humble" man who helped make trout fishing a joy for many others.


Now, Art's spot is a perfect rest stop for me as I bicycle Route 23A toward Hunter after breakfast at the Prattsville Diner.  State Troopers like the spot too, as do young couples and beer-drinkers of all ages.  No one at all is there today in this wonderful weather when I pull in for a short break and gulps of warm Gatorade. Well, I mean no one is there except Art who presides over the oasis with greatness, humility and patience as if waiting for an overdue fishing buddy.  After a few minutes, the Gatorade was consumed and I was saddling up to continue my ride home when Art said, "What's your hurry?".  


No hurry, Art. Think I'll just sit here and chill awhile.

                                                                                    Aug. 3, 1904 – Aug. 30, 1985