Pharaoh Lake on skis
By Adirondack Explorer
Exploring the beauty of Pharaoh Lake on skis, gliding through quiet backcountry trails in the heart of the Adirondacks.
Adirondack Explorer
The Adirondack Explorer is a nonprofit magazine covering the Adirondack Park's environment, recreation and communities.
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Long trail proposed: over 20 summits
By Adirondack Explorer
Tony Goodwin’s short, powerful legs are churning up a steep, 1,000-foot trail to Brown Mountain in the Tongue Mountain Range above Lake George. Perspiration dapples his wind-burned brow. Yellow and orange maple leaves rustle in the wake of his battered, split-at-the-seams leather hiking boots.
Goodman Mountain
By Adirondack Explorer
You can reach the 2,178-foot summit of “Goodman Mountain” by an easy bushwhack. Start at the unpaved parking area for Lumberjack Spring, on the east side of Route 30 a few hundred yards south of the right turn for County Route 421 (the road to Bog River Falls and Horseshoe Lake).
Double dose of adventure
By Adirondack Explorer
When the Explorer asked me to write about two of my favorite ski trips, I didn’t have to rattle my brain long before I hit on the two gems below. Both should be great skiing in late winter, when there is (or should be) lots of snow. If you love the winter wilderness and enjoy backcountry skiing, you won’t be disappointed with either of these trips.
Hudson’s wild ride
By Adirondack Explorer
You think you’re physically ready, braced for the worst. But no matter how many times you’ve clung anxiously to a raft catapulting and careening down the wild upper Hudson River during spring runoffs, there’s no way to be really prepared for that first heart-stopping plunge into a wall of frigid water.
Adirondack snowshoe trips to get you through the winter
By Adirondack Explorer
Carl Heilman knows snowshoes. He made and sold them for 15 years, always out of hand-split ash, and he’s used them for much longer. Although he got out of the business a few years ago to devote his energies to photography, he still goes out on snowshoes two or three times a week when conditions permit.
Four favorite ski trips
By Adirondack Explorer
By Phil Brown Back in 1979, Almy and Anne Coggeshall published 25 Ski Tours in the Adirondacks, the first guide to cross-country skiing in the North Country. They dedicated it to John Apperson, an ardent conservationist and the first person to climb Mount Marcy on skis.
Joys of the Jackrabbit
By Adirondack Explorer
This is how it was meant to be. The wax is holding firm as we ascend the mild uphill behind Pitchoff Mountain and settle into a comfortable kick and glide through the still woods, slow enough to maintain conversation but fast enough to know we’re getting somewhere. By Rick Karlin
Skiing the high country
By Adirondack Explorer
By Jeff Schmidt The roller-coaster ride through the krummholz was exhilarating and unlike any skiing I’d ever done. I had just come through the Romper Room, a magical section on the shoulder of Mount Marcy that epitomizes the best in Adirondack trail skiing. The trail rolls, dips, turns and twists. Blind corners lead to blinding…
Garnet Hill’s a jewel
By Adirondack Explorer
Comforts of home in a wild setting By Robin Ambrosino The first person I spoke to at Garnet Hill Lodge’s ski shop said, “Oh, no. You’re not going to tell everyone about our little spot, are you?” She was joking, for the most part, but this place does have the feel of a well-kept secret.…