Watkins Glen, Seneca Lake
A day off?? What a slacker, what with country breakfasts and
gourmet dinners and curling up in a downy blankie in geo-cooled comfort at Jake
and Karen’s.
Go easy, Gentle Reader, go easy. I’m paying my dues today on
this monster lake, 20 miles in by noon and now chilling with a coupla Cokes,
prepping for 20 more. It’ll be a 40 miler, and when I start crowding into other
septuagenarians doing this, then I’ll blush for my temporary sloth. But for
now, I’m loving it.
Jake and Karen are Lake People Extraordinaire. Jake leads
the Seneca Lake Association, and an evening with him is a primer on the
environmental, political, philanthropical, and administrative labyrinth of such
an organization. Seneca Lake is a huge gem of a lake that faces big
challenges, particularly agricultural runoff, the thermal loading of a huge
Bitcoin mining operation in Dresden, as well as intensified recreational and
residential uses. Karen is up on all this, too, and to listen to them talk is
to witness responsible, informed, and engaged citizenship at its best. You guys
rock!!
And Louie, their new King Charles Cavalier pup, patrols the
shore like a lake steward in training, all eyes and ears and nose.
I just rowed the west side of the lake from Himrod/Dresden,
a shoreline very sparsely populated compared to Canandaigua and Conesus and
Keuka. Lots of vertical shale cliffs plunge into 100-200 feet of water, and
where the bottom precludes aquatic vegetation, the water is as clear as a bell.
Jake speculates that the Bitcoin operation is leading to increased and
undesirable plant growth, but the DEC has yet to follow through on the
obligated research to find the facts. The Bitcoin mining facility here has
spawned a bit of a divide … environmental vs tax revenue, a sad contest not uncommon
across the country. But here in this beautiful place, a gorgeous lake and ecosystem
is at stake, and the ‘issue’ being Bitcoin makes it, to me, especially tragic
.. .even criminal.
Well, I’m burnin’ daylight and will soon be back in the
boat, headed north to Maura’s house, which I’ve of course never seen but hope I
can find. The thing is, it’s easy to find stuff at 4 mph.
Maybe another blog tonight if I get ashore early enough …
and if my hands can grip a pencil.
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