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Trail around pristine lake appeals to hikers, runners, and equestrians and is featured in the Adirondack Explorer’s new guidebook. By Phil Brown When I suggested to my girlfriend Carol that we jog around Cascade Lake in the Pigeon Lake Wilderness, she endorsed the idea without hesitation. Not only is Carol a trail runner, but she also…
With the acquisition of the MacIntyre East tract near Tahawus, the public now owns 12 miles of shoreline along the upper Hudson and the Opalescent. By Phil Brown Brian Mann and I had been on the water for several hours when we came to a fallen tree stretched across the river. We pulled over to…
Nature photographer finds much beauty during a short hike on the Oregon Trail. By Gerry Lemmo My wife Lynne and I pulled into the small parking area on a mild morning in June. We had been here before to hike to Cod Pond in the Wilcox Lake Wild Forest, but today we had a different destination: the…
Human history and wild nature coexist peacefully in the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness. By David Thomas-Train The Adirondack Mountain Club’s Guide to Eastern Trails describes the Sucker Brook Horse Trail east of Schroon Lake as a long, lonely, and little-used route, with farm ruins and a brook named Desolate flowing through a “dark, dank” valley. Although I…
The hike from Elk Lake to the state’s highest summit is not the most popular, but it is one of the most rewarding. By Lisa Densmore Ballard It was necessary to perform the whole journey on foot, the trail lying through the wildest and most inaccessible forests of the Adirondacks, portions of which were almost unknown.…
Lives of crime Backcountry fastnesses—mountains, forests, canyons—have always been havens for those who take proper behavior with a (sometimes very large) grain of salt. Think the Wild Bunch (also known to moviegoers as the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang) or the Hatfields and McCoys. Closer to home, we have the likes of French Louie and Noah Rondeau, individualists who operated on the fringes of society and…
As the state continues its phased-in acquisition of former Finch, Pruyn & Company timberland, much attention is on how the state classifies and manages different tracts of land. In choosing what lands will be classified Wilderness, Wild Forest, or Primitive Areas, the Adirondack Park Agency shapes the character of the Park. Clearly, these are key steps in the state’s management of public lands…
When you chat with Addison Bickford, standing perhaps next to a sap evaporator, steam swirling through the shack, you come to understand that making syrup is an in-the-moment kind of enterprise. Sure, there’s some advance work to make sure all the taps are in place, the tubing is strung, and the new vacuum pump is ready to go. But that’s about…
Are Californians braver, smarter, more mature, and more tolerant than Easterners? Apparently so, if you believe Peter Nye’s argument against bringing cougars back to the Adirondacks [“It’s Debatable,” January/February 2015]. As a Californian (since 1976) and an Adirondacker (a camp on Piseco Lake, and a family history in the Adirondacks from the 1700s), I have a unique perspective on this silly (and…
Thanks to Tony Hall for his Viewpoint [“Mario Cuomo’s legacy” March/April 2015], citing Governor Mario Cuomo’s vital role in creating the Environmental Protection Fund. I appreciated Tony’s mention of Bob Bendick and myself as participants at the state Department of Environmental Conservation. I would like to elaborate a bit on events of that time. In 1986, DEC created a committee of…