The High Peaks Wilderness has grown to 274,000 acres, absorbing the Dix Mountain Wilderness, Boreas Ponds, and other adjacent lands. A new map reflects those additions.
E-bikes charge into the Adirondacks
In 2017, some 34 million e-bikes were sold around the world, mostly in Asia and Europe.
Should we stop rescuing people in wilderness?
I was intrigued by the essay “The Case Against Search and Rescue,” by Robert Kruszyna, a New Hampshire resident. I later learned he is a physicist who has climbed mountains all over the world and helped write guidebooks to some of the Canadian ranges.
Park officials seek comments on backcountry ski trails
The APA proposes to adopt guidelines for three types of trails: ski touring trails, for rolling terrain; backcountry ski trails, for steeper terrain; and skin tracks, for accessing slides and other skiable terrain (often using climbing skins). Currently, few trails in the Adirondacks are designed for backcountry skiing.
Adirondacks Walk of Fame: who’s who, who’s missing
The new Adirondack Welcome Center off the Northway in Queensbury honors 21 people in an Adirondacks Walk of Fame. They include artists, inventors, athletes, an escaped slave, and a vice president of the United States.
Wild ideas for the park
Wilderness areas are meant to offer an escape from modernity and its hubbub. They are places to nourish your soul, venture deep into the natural world, or test your physical limits.
Check the ice before skiing on ponds
All was not lost in recent thaws. We went pond skiing in the St. Regis Canoe Area three days last week and found the conditions ideal: a few inches of fluffy snow over solid ice. The carry trails between the ponds had just enough snow to ski.
Adirondack Park poised to allow wider ski trails
The Adirondack Park Agency has tentatively approved new criteria for ski trails intended to enhance the experience of backcountry skiers in the forest preserve.
Adirondack Wild says snowmobile trail illegal
DEC is proposing to build a “community connector” that will enable snowmobilers to travel between the hamlets of Raquette Lake and Long Lake without crossing frozen lakes. About four miles of the trail would pass through the Blue Ridge Wilderness.
Retired DEC scientist wins award for book on reptiles, amphibians
The Snake and the Salamander is a wonderfully illustrated book about reptiles and amphibians, by a veteran New York Department of Environmental Conservation herpetologist.
