Town works to minimize problems at Big Deep

The town is wrestling with sanitation and safety issues at the popular Big Deep swimming hole.

At a Town Board meeting Tuesday, Councilman Richard Heppner said there has been some improvement in conditions during the past week at the swimming hole, which is part of the Saw Kill, but also that it’s clear prohibitions against fires and leaving trash are being ignored.

“We were down there Sunday morning and it wasn’t bad,” he said. “There were two spots where people had either left bags or the bears had gotten to them. Equally as bad, maybe even worse ... there were two or three fire pits. If you were a neighbor, I don’t think you’d want people having fires next to you, especially in this dry season.”

Woodstock resident Cynthia Carlaw lives downstream from Big Deep and said neighbors are having problems with visitors, including the theft of rocks from a stone wall and people relieving themselves.

Carlaw said the town needs to adopt fines for the listed prohibitions.

“I went in [Monday] and took a picture ... of this big pile of empty beer bottles,” she said.

Woodstock Supervisor Bill McKenna said the town is trying to have people take out the items they bring in.

“We did take the garbage cans away, and it seems like people were making a little bit of a better effort to haul things out of there,” he said. “So I think that probably not having the cans there is better than having them.”

Town officials say problems have increased this year because a sign has been erected on state Route 212 identifying where Big Deep is located.

“The problem is that the neighbors asked for it,” McKenna said. “When the sign is down, then people are going down all the driveways looking [for Big Deep] ... so we did it for the neighbors.”

Several residents noted efforts to keep the swimming hole clean have not been helped by online articles that identify it as a way for people to beat the summer heat. Among the articles being blamed is a July 24, 2013, New York Times story, “Heading Upstate in Search of a Watery Eden,” which featured photos of happy visitors jumping from rocks at Big Deep and other nearby swimming holes.

“I think we have to ... close it for a little while until the word gets out downstate that you don’t come here anymore,” resident Ed Allyn said.