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By Tom Woodman As we head to Indian Lake for our exploration of the Jessup River, weather is on our minds. The forecast calls for storms by midafternoon, but as we arrive before 8 a.m. the sun is breaking through the overcast and the thermometer reads 54 degrees. Moisture from overnight rain adds a rich…
Park’s Banana Belt is appealing! By Phil Brown I had made a date earlier in the week to go cross-country skiing with my daughter, so when I awoke to find several inches of fresh sugary powder in Saranac Lake, I looked forward to a great day. The plan was to ski to Moose Mountain Pond…
By Phil Brown
Readers of the Explorer should be familiar with the photography of Jeff Nadler. His images often appear in our pages and sometimes on our cover as well (the female cardinal on the front our November/December issue was his). As a nature photographer (especially of birds), he spends a lot of time outdoors. In a recent…
By Phil Brown
We got enough snow last week to do a little backcountry skiing. One day I skied to McKenzie Pond; on another, I skied part way up Debar Mountain. The flats were fine, but on both trails, my skis scraped rocks on the hills. Expect the cover to remain thin for a while, at least in…
By Phil Brown
We finally have enough snow to ski on some of the early-season trails, such as the road to Camp Santanoni in Newcomb, the Marcy Dam Truck Trail in the High Peaks Wilderness, the Fish Pond Truck Trail in the St. Regis Canoe Area, and the Hayes Brook Truck Trail in the Debar Mountain Wild Forest.…
By Phil Brown
Well, we didn’t get the 4 to 7 inches of snow in the forecast, but we did get a few inches–enough to make the Whiteface Veterans Memorial Highway skiable from top to bottom over the weekend. I did the road on Sunday with Ron Konowitz, one of Keene’s more prominent ski bums. When we got…
By Phil Brown
You might think climbing the forty-six High Peaks is no big deal. After all, more than 6,200 hikers have done it. But I’ve got news for you: those peaks are as big as they were when Bob and George Marshall and their guide, Herb Clark, climbed them. The Marshall brothers and Clark completed the first…
By Phil Brown
Cross-country skiers who live in or near Saranac Lake don’t have to travel far in pursuit of their pastime: Dewey Mountain, a small peak on the outskirts of the village, has ten kilometers of trails. Dewey’s lower trails are groomed by a snowmobile pulling a roller, but the trails on the upper part of the…
By Phil Brown
Trail running is a popular sport out west but not so much in the Adirondacks. I run on trails fairly often and rarely encounter another runner, so I was bit surprised to see a fellow jogger on a trail near Moss Lake last weekend. But in retrospect, I am not that surprised: The 2.5-mile loop…
By Phil Brown
Don’t expect the state Department of Environmental Conservation to reach a quick decision on the Sierra Club’s request to force landowners to remove a steel cable that stretches across Shingle Shanty Brook. In a recent letter to the club, DEC Regional Director Betsy Lowe says the department plans to provide “a comprehensive response” to the…