The Adirondack Explorer is a non-profit newsmagazine devoted to the protection and enjoyment of the Adirondack Park.
September/October 2010
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Three guys dressed in moss green and shouldering black shotguns are given wide berth on High Peaks trails. Hikers' eyes widen as they let the men file past on the well-trodden path from Adirondak Loj to Marcy Dam on a summer evening. The last one in line gets the most questions. "Bears¿" "Are you going after bears¿" "Are there bears here¿" "Are you gonna shoot them¿"
It's late afternoon, and the big sky over the High Peaks is thick
and gray. The dark clouds could crack open any moment and spill their
cold rain.
But artist Paul Matthews doesn't mind. In his studio
high above the hamlet of Keene, he's been painting since early morning.
Even on a dim day, the north light streams through an expanse of high,
sloping windows and onto the unfinished landscape of mountains and
clouds on his easel.
Surrounded by woods, Matthews' studio is about a quarter-mile up a
narrow, bumpy dirt road from his house. When he works an eight-hour
shift, he often takes a cat nap on a simple wooden bed in the studio.
It can be a leisurely six-hour trip, starting a block from our office in Saranac Lake village. Or, if you're a champion paddler and like to make waves, you can churn through this eleven-mile loop in an hour and a half, which is just about the winning time each May when canoeists and kayakers compete in the Round-the-Mountain Race.On this weekday in early July, we choose to be leisurely. Rachel and I in our kevlar tandem, and Adirondack Explorer designer Sue Bibeau in her twelve-foot solo canoe, set off from the state boat launch on Lake Flower. We soon leave the traffic noise on River Street (NY 86) behind as we follow up what is essentially a flooded Saranac River (dammed long ago to create Lake Flower, hence the name "River Street") through the narrows into Oseetah Lake, with its wild marshlands and mountain setting, and a mile later onto the actual river where it drops about three feet in a cascade coming toward us. We enter a lock at this point, under the cheerful management of the lockkeeper.
Soon our two canoes and a party boat are hoisted to a higher level, above the cascade, as water surges into the lock. READ MORE
For the casual and experienced paddler alike, one of the great joys of
canoeing in the Adirondacks is to ease your way along a flat,
meandering stream through open country.Though maybe not as well known as some northern routes with similar character, a stretch of the West Branch of the Sacandaga River in the Silver Lake Wilderness offers the joys of a low-key float, combined with easy access and a comfortable paddling distance. [READ MORE]
Editor Phil Brown paddles through private land to assess the navigability of Shingle Shanty Brook and connecting waterways. If open to the public, the route would enhance the trip from Little Tupper Lake to Lake Lila. [READ MORE]
I'm hiking with two professional photographers, and I've come to the conclusion that photographers are not like other people. They see things we don't.Like the way the late-afternoon light strikes the bud of a striped maple. Or the beauty in the wet leaves at the bottom of a mud puddle. Or the geometric angles in a pile of timber slash. [READ MORE]
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