Beds at Boreas Ponds?
Environmental groups are alarmed by a conceptual proposal floated by the Cuomo administration to establish lodging facilities near Boreas Ponds—in an area they believe should be classified as “untrammeled” Wilderness.
Outdoor Recreation
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Wakely Tower Closure Raises Questions Anew
By Phil Brown
The state Department of Environmental Conservation’s closure of the Wakely Mountain trail once again raises questions about the future of the fire tower on the summit. DEC closed the tower in December because of structural defects and this week closed the hiking trail too, lest the tower collapse and injure someone. “The condition of the…
Negro Brook Has It All: Thickets, Blowdown, Rapids
By Phil Brown
The Bloomingdale Bog Trail starts near Saranac Lake and ends eight miles later near Onchiota. Following an old railroad bed, it is ideal for jogging or mountain biking. I recently went to the trail with a different purpose in mind: canoeing. This is an idea I had for a while. Negro Brook flows under the…
Enjoy The Appalachian Trail From Your Armchair
By Phil Brown
Interested in a really long hike? The Adirondack Park has the Northville-Placid Trail (133 miles) and Vermont has the Long Trail (272 miles), but these are mere steppingstones to the granddaddy of long-distance routes, the Appalachian Trail. The AT, as it’s known, stretches 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine, traversing 14 states. That might be…
Royal Robbins And The First Ascent Of Half Dome
By Phil Brown
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the early life of Royal Robbins, the legendary American rock climber who died last month. At the time of his death, I had been reading To Be Brave, the first volume of his autobiography. It ends when Robbins is still a teenager. His second volume, Fail Falling, covers…
Paddling (And Spelling) An Adirondack River
By Phil Brown
With the arrival of spring, the Adirondack Explorer is shifting its recreational focus from skiing and snowshoeing to paddling and hiking. The May/June issue, which we are finishing this week, includes my account of a canoe trip on the Grass River that Carol MacKinnon Fox and I did last year. Or were we on the…
Adirondack Ski Season Draws To A Close
By Phil Brown
On Sunday I spent the day skiing in the backcountry. On Monday I hiked up Baker Mountain looking for wildflowers. Yep, it’s mud season. Although I had two good ski days last weekend, my season is at an end. I skied the Whiteface Memorial Highway on Saturday and several trails in the High Peaks on…
The Early Life Of Legendary Climber Royal Robbins
By Phil Brown
Royal Robbins, one of the country’s legendary rock climbers, died last month at age 82. He made his reputation climbing big walls in Yosemite and influenced the sport’s history with his promotion of climbing ethics. It so happens that I was reading To Be Brave, the first volume of Robbins’s autobiography, when he passed away…
St. Regis Mountain
Snowshoers can enjoy a wild panorama from the newly restored fire tower on St. Regis Mountain. By Mike Lynch As we neared the summit of St. Regis Mountain this past January, the conditions changed dramatically. Tree limbs—caked in snow and ice—hung down over the trail, and as we walked crouched through the tangle of branches,…
The wild is near to their hearts
Bucking the region’s aging demographic, young adults who love wilderness choose to settle in the Park. By Mike Lynch In 2015, Old Forge native Tyler Socash decided to take the money he had been saving for a car and spend it on something more experiential: three long-distance hiking trips. Starting in August, he ended up…