Wilson Hill Wildlife Management Area

I was driving on Route 37 towards Massena when I saw a sign for the Wilson Hill Wildlife Management Area. I had spare time, so turned left toward the St. Lawrence Seaway. All along the left side of the road were incredibly beautiful wetlands:

I saw this observation deck so I parked and walked over for a look:

The sign told me all about the area:

I climbed up the observation tower and took pictures of the views:

The St. Lawrence is often called America's Fourth Coast and this scenery made it clear why:

I continued on until I saw this sign. Of course I turned down the road to take a look:

I passed the boat launch and continued onto the Wilson Hill Causeway, with scenes like this on both the left and the right. It was a warm day, but overcast and with cool breezes. It felt very much like being on Cape Cod - but without the salty, fishy smell:

There was a manicured nature trail, which you can see on the left of this photo as it meanders off into the woods:

And there was more scenery by the nature trail. The causeway took me to Wilson Hill, a very nice settlement on an island. It would make an interesting and scenic blog post. Well, maybe the next time I'm in the area:

The road to Wilson Hill was a dead end, so I turned around and began crossing the causeway back the way I'd come. I stopped at this fisherman and asked if I could snap his photo. He said OK but I think he was relieved that I wasn't going to hassle him about having caught his line in the rocks. He was trying to free it, but I pretended not to notice:

And just after I snapped a picture of the fisherman, a couple more fisherman came by in a boat, headed for the public boat launch. They were farther out in the water and I had to use the zoom lens, but you can use your imagination to enhance this photo:

And then I returned the way I'd come, passing by more wetlands and snapped one last photo along the way. I was headed into Massena after that, so I put my camera away and focused my attention on not getting lost:

Discovering The St. Lawrence Seaway, Part 2

I'd made a driving tour of the town of Massena and then to Coles Creek State Campground where I was checking out the mighty St. Lawrence Seaway:

Most of the shoreline was rocky, but there were a few sandy beaches available to the campers. This, however, was late November and the park was closed:

I had the park to myself and got to walk undisturbed along the shore. The day was cold and the winds were howling fiercely:

Even my little red car seemed to shiver as it endured the cold winds:

When I'd seen all there was to see, I returned to the park entrance to make my exit, driving around multiple large piles of snow in the entrance road, perhaps put there to keep people out(?):

I left Coles Creek State Park and drove back toward Massena on Route 37. But of course I had to turn in at Wilson Hill Wildlife Management Area to take a look. The roads were tiny dirt lanes filled with water and potholes. Also, it was hunting season, so I soon abandoned that effort and returned to the highway:

Route 37 at that point was very rural and somewhat upscale, with very nice old restored farm houses:

There was a large farm full of friendly horses who regarded my stopped car with great interest:

More horses came out the barn door to see who was stopped along the road:

But then I saw a road leading north on Willard Road toward the St. Lawrence and turned. It took me to the Wilson Hill Boat Launch:

On the shores of the  mighty St. Lawrence Seaway:

A causeway led across the water but I didn't take it. Later, I learned from my map that the causeway would have taken me to a large island with more state land. Well, I'll drive there next summer when the weather is more pleasant: