The only independent, nonprofit news organization solely dedicated to reporting on the Adirondack Park.
By Tom Woodman For many of us memories of growing up in the Adirondacks are filled with time spent at the local ski hill. Unlike the mega-mountains that dominate the industry today, these community ski areas were scaled for homey, family-style outings. Kids would troop onto buses at the end of the school day for…
Local officials see mountain biking as an economic boon and want to expand opportunities for riding in the Forest Preserve. By Phil Brown The Adirondack Park Agency’s promise to consider allowing mountain biking in the Essex Chain Lakes Primitive Area has generated a broader discussion—with much disagreement—of the place of bikes in the Forest Preserve.…
Public remains split over the best use of 80-mile corridor running through wild lands. By Phil Brown After four public meetings on the future of the eighty-mile rail corridor between Big Moose and Lake Placid, the public seems as divided as ever, and the state now must make a decision sure to leave many people…
By Mike Lynch
Wildlife advocates say the state should prepare the public now for the possibility that mountain lions will be back in the future. By Mike Lynch Darcy Wiltse, a veterinarian, was driving on Route 458 near Meacham Lake one night early last winter when she saw a large animal crossing the road. She’s convinced it was…
Purchase of MacIntyre West Tract opens up Lake Andrew as a destination, though the state has yet to mark the route. By Phil Brown After writing about the state’s acquisition of the MacIntyre West Tract for the last issue of the Explorer, I was eager to explore it, and Lake Andrew seemed like the logical…
By Mike Lynch
DEC bolsters the Adirondacks’ shrinking population of spruce grouse by bringing in specimens from Maine and Canada. By Mike Lynch Once abundant in the Adirondacks, the spruce grouse has struggled for much of the past century, but now scientists are trying to bolster the dwindling population by importing birds from out of state. The state Department of Environmental Conservation released three spruce grouse…
If you’re heading up St. Regis Mountain, bring your skis and your snowshoes. By Phil Brown Last winter, my daughter Becky and her fiancé, Joe, wanted to climb one of the Saranac Lake 6, so we snowshoed up St. Regis Mountain. Although I like St. Regis—with its marvelous views of ponds and lakes—I am not an enthusiastic snowshoer. I mean, snowshoeing is…
By Mike Lynch
Experts and officials look for ways to reduce the use of road salt, which can persist in the environment for many years. By Mike Lynch Standing next to a small, unnamed stream near where it empties into Mountain Pond on a cool September day, scientist Dan Kelting reads a sensor he just dipped in the water to measure…
The state bought OK Slip Falls from the Adirondack Nature Conservancy in 2013, opening the trail the following summer. The conservancy acquired the falls in 2007 when it bought all of Finch, Pruyn & Company’s 161,000 acres for $110 million. The OK Slip parcel is now part of the Hudson Gorge Wilderness Area.
Around 2 a.m. on a stormy night in August 2013, vicious winds from a microburst exploded onto the southeast shoreline of Upper Saranac Lake, directly onto the property of Mary Watson. The winds ripped trees into piles along a swath next to a 120-year-old main camp building. Just up the shore, in a home on the Watson property Sonny Young heard the…