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Photos by carl Heilman |
The view north and
east from Mount Adams, looking toward the MacIntyre Range,
Mount Colden and Mount Marcy.
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Land deal puts vista in jeopardy
Mt. Adams fire tower probably will be dismantled
after the state purchases 6,200 acres near Tahawus.
By Phil Brown
The fire observer who staffed the tower on
Mount Adams must have been one lucky fellow. The 3,540-foot mountain
sits smack dab in between the eastern and western High Peaks, affording
an intimate perspective on both sectors of the Adirondack Park’s
largest wilderness.
Mount Marcy lies less than six miles to the east. Santanoni Peak
is just five miles to the west.
If you look toward Santanoni and let your gaze sweep clockwise,
your eye passes over, among other summits, the Seward Range, the
Sawtooth Mountains, Wallface (looming over Indian Pass), Marshall,
Iroquois, Algonquin, Colden, Cliff Mountain, Marcy, Skylight and
Allen.
“Some people say it has the most spectacular view of all the
towers,” said Marty Podskoch, who is writing a two-volume
history of Adirondack fire towers.
Mount Adams has the potential to be one of the best short hikes
in the Adirondacks. It’s only two miles from the trailhead
in Tahawus to the summit. Along the way, you cross the upper Hudson
River on a steel suspension bridge and the northern tip of Lake
Jimmy on a bridge of floating planks. The path up the mountain,
though no longer maintained, is easy to follow, and unlike more
popular trails, it retains a wild feel. You don’t have to
wade through sloughs of mud on this route.
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| The view from inside the
firetowers cab. |
Yet the chances are good that hardly anyone will want to climb Adams
a few years from now. After the state acquires the peak from the
Open Space Institute (OSI), perhaps as soon as next year, Mount
Adams likely will be added to the High Peaks Wilderness. Because
most man-made structures are prohibited in Wilderness Areas, the
fire tower would have to be removed. And without the tower, Mount
Adams has no view to speak of and hence little appeal to hikers.
It’s possible that the state Department of Environmental Conservation
(DEC) will close the tower, by removing the lower steps, even before
taking it down. The High Peaks guidebook published by the Adirondack
Mountain Club (ADK) describes the tower as unsafe to climb, which
helps explain why DEC stopped maintaining the trail years ago. Some
floorboards in the cab are missing and so are some steps just below
the cab. Nevertheless, hikers continue to go up the tower.
Several hikers who post messages on the “Views from the Top”
Web site contend that the tower, built in 1917, should be restored
and maintained after the state purchases the mountain. None of the
posters argued that it should be removed. In a typical message,
a hiker who identifies himself as “Stickman” wrote:
“Mount Adams is one of the best secrets in the Adirondacks,
and I think that all efforts should be taken to not only keep the
tower but also to re-maintain the trail.”
“I’ve climbed Mt Adams 32 times,” said another
poster. “It’s the first hike I do each year . . . and
I have always said that it is and has the best view in the Adirondacks.
It would be a terrible shame to see [the tower] removed.”
Not surprisingly, Podskoch sides with those who want to keep and
restore the tower. “I’d love to see as many of these
towers saved as possible,” he said. “It’s part
of history. It’s a great destination for hikers.”
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Map by Nancy Bernstein |
Theoretically, the tower could stay if the
land were classified as Wild Forest rather than Wilderness. But
most environmentalists favor the Wilderness classification, not
only because it offers stronger protection, but also because that’s
the classification of the abutting state lands.
All told, the state plans to purchase 6,200 acres from OSI, which
has reached a deal to buy 9,600 acres from the current owner, NL
Industries. The state tract, including Henderson Lake, the Preston
Ponds and Mount Adams, will become a part of the Forest Preserve,
bordered on the north, west and east by the High Peaks Wilderness.
The land to the south will be protected by conservation easements
that prohibit development.
“This is a natural addition to the High Peaks Wilderness Area,”
ADK attorney Neil Woodworth said of the parcel the state will buy.
“I really don’t think we should give this land less
protection than it deserves just to save the fire tower.”
A Wild Forest classification could allow uses prohibited in a Wilderness,
such as mountain biking and snowmobiling. “Do you want to
see the town of Newcomb pushing to open this area to snowmobiles?”
Woodworth asked.
In fact, Newcomb already has asserted that it has a right of way
through another section of the NL tract that it could lawfully open
to snowmobiles—a position disputed by Woodworth.
Newcomb Supervisor George Canon said he would like to see the tract
classified as Wild Forest, but he holds out little hope. “I’d
love to see the tower remain,” Canon said. “It’s
a piece of history. Having said that, I cannot imagine that land
being classified anything but Wilderness. It’s almost a foregone
conclusion.”
It’s up to DEC to decide how to classify the land, subject
to approval from the Adirondack Park Agency. Spokesman Mike Fraser
said DEC will look at all the options, but “most likely it
will be classified as Wilderness,” in which case, he added,
the tower would become “a non-conforming structure.”
The state built dozens of fire towers in the Adirondacks following
massive forest fires that burned more than a million acres in the
early 1900s. They were staffed by observers who usually lived in
cabins on the mountains. Although DEC now uses airplanes to spot
fires, the towers remain popular with the public. ADK published
a guidebook on fire-tower trails two years ago, Views from on
High, and now offers a sew-on patch to anyone who visits at
least 18 towers in the Adirondacks and five in the Catskills. The
club encourages the restoration of towers in Wild Forest Areas,
especially on summits that lack a natural view. Volunteer groups
have sprung up to refurbish towers on several Adirondack peaks.
What’s the appeal? “The hiker likes a destination, and
a fire tower is an ideal destination,” said Jack Freeman,
author of Views from on High. “When you get there,
you always get a view—assuming the weather is good.”
The Mount Adams structure is just one of several endangered towers
in the Adirondack Park. A few years ago, DEC planned to dismantle
those on St. Regis Mountain and Hurricane Mountain. (The towers
have won a reprieve until the agency completes management plans
for the regions in question.) Unlike Mount Adams, these summits
offer stupendous views without the towers. In fact, both are popular
destinations even though DEC has closed the towers by removing the
lower steps.
Wakely Mountain near Indian Lake offers a closer parallel to Mount
Adams. It, too, has a wooded summit that offers scanty views, yet
from its tower hikers enjoy a stunning panorama of forested peaks.
The fate of the Wakely tower also will depend on the land classification.
Wakely, however, sits on the border of a Wilderness and Wild Forest,
so a good argument can be made for either classification.
Both ADK and the Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks
favor keeping the tower on Wakely, a position that puts them at
odds with the Adirondack Council. When it comes to the Mt. Adams
tower, however, ADK and the council agree that it should go. (At
press time, the Residents’ Committee was still undecided.)
“There are lots of attractive vistas from mountains in this
section of the Park,” said John Sheehan, the council’s
spokesman. “You don’t need a tower on top of this particular
mountain to get a great view.”
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IF
YOU GO
Caveat: The Adirondack Mountain Club considers
the Mount Adams fire tower unsafe. The wooden steps are old and
spongy. Some steps near the top are missing, as are some floorboards
in the cab. If, despite the danger, you do go up the tower, stay
below the cab.
Trailhead: From Northway Exit 29 in North Hudson,
drive west on Blue Ridge Road (County 2) for about 20 miles and
turn right onto Tahawus Road. After 4.4 miles, the Tahawus Road
forks. Bear left and drive 3 miles to a parking lot on the right
(just past the old blast furnace).
The hike: You begin on the maintained trail that
leads to the Opalescent River and the Flowed Lands. In a few minutes,
you cross the Hudson River on a steel suspension bridge. At 0.6
mile, you cross the tip of Lake Jimmy on a long bridge of floating
planks. Shortly after, you’ll pass a cabin on the left. (The
old jeep track next to the cabin is not the trail you want.) Continue
on the main trail another minute or so and look for a cairn on the
left. This is the start of the Mount Adams trail. Although no longer
maintained, the path is easy to follow. In many places it’s
marked by surveyor’s tape. Toward the top you’ll see
red disks placed by the state in days gone by. From trailhead to
summit, you’ll ascend 2,760 feet in two miles. The last half-mile
or so is quite steep. Adams is the 87th tallest peak in the Adirondacks.
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