At the epicenter of the escapee search, N.Y. town endures

As the search for the escaped prisoners goes from hot to cold and cold to hot, Amy Pulsifer wants what everyone in tranquil Mountain View, N.Y., does: Just let it end.

Pulsifer, who has managed the Trailside Bar & Restaurant for nine years, hears choppers clicking in the skies and sees police cruisers zipping up and down the road as she pulls 11- to 12-hour shifts near ground zero of the search area.

The manhunt in the Adirondack Mountains for Richard Matt and David Sweat, the two convicted killers who escaped June 6 from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, N.Y., rolled into another day Wednesday. Authorities reportedly found DNA evidence over the weekend from the duo in a seasonal cabin in Owls Head, a hamlet in Mountain View 20 miles from the prison in the northern part of the state.

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New York State Police said the search area involved a large portion of Franklin County, and it covered rural and rugged, mountainous terrain. Law enforcement officers were focusing their search efforts on seasonal camps and said they were going door to door looking for signs of break-ins or unusual activity.

Matt and Sweat were believed to have been in the hunting camps "all the way back in the woods," Pulsifer says. "Some are accessible; some are not. There are dirt roads back there."

The hunting camps are busy during deer season or turkey season, but aren't in-season now, she says.

Within walking distance of the Trailside, which boasts that it is "easily accessible" by ATV or snowmobiles, is a series of waterfalls called High Falls. Loons, ducks and blue heron can be spotted in the Indian and Mountain View lakes; the occasional bald eagle and osprey fly overhead. The area is popular for hiking, biking, boating, hunting – or just drinking up the scenic vistas.

Pulsifer, who oversees camps closer in – "very nice up-to-date Adirondack style, all on a lake" – isn't too worried that the manhunt drama will chase away renters as the summer season kicks in and the July 4 holiday week approaches.

"It's going to affect it some, but not fully," she says.

Although the Trailside closed early Sunday when word of the escapees' possible location hit fever pitch, "my usual crowds on Monday were all here." She has one set of regulars who live 20 miles away and come twice a week. That hasn't changed.

The media scrum and the heavy police presence have kept the Trailside hopping even more. For the most part, she says, people aren't scared. "It's more that people are on edge, not knowing."

Pulsifer, who lives 5 minutes from the Trailside, has had troopers escort her home. "I'm not really scared either; just uneasy," she says. "This place is usually pretty quiet. We aren't used to the publicity."

She can't wait until the day when the only buzz she hears is that from her regulars: "I miss people talking about the weather."