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Environmental groups claim DEC’s management plan for new state lands violates State Land Master Plan and other regulations. By Phil Brown Two of the Adirondack Park’s major environmental groups are suing the state over the management plan for the Essex Chain Lakes region—a large tract of forest, ponds, and streams that the state acquired from the…
Skiers head to Tug Hill in search of snow and enjoy breathtaking views while touring around the rim of Whetstone Gorge. By Phil Brown This winter showed us, once again, that the snow in the Adirondacks is unreliable. A backcountry skier needs to have a backup plan. Mine is to go west. To Tug Hill.…
Despite agency’s vote, train supporters say the long battle over the state-owned rail corridor is not over. By Phil Brown The Adirondack Park Agency voted 9-1 in February to approve a controversial proposal to split a state-owned rail corridor into a rail segment and a trail segment, but the debate over the best use of the corridor is…
How to climb an 85-foot wall of ice and keep your cool By Phil Brown More than thirty years ago, Don Mellor was in a plane flying over the High Peaks region, taking photos for his rock-climbing guidebook, when he spotted a large streambed in Chapel Pond Canyon. He returned the next winter with Steve Wisenand, one of…
The Adirondack Mountain Club completed a segment in the summer of 2015, realizing their goal of bringing the Northville-Placid Trail closer to the trail’s southern terminus. By Bill Ingersoll I knew we were going to have no problems fording West Stony Creek the moment I saw it from the summit. The waterway snaked its way…
Novice skiers can enjoy breathtaking scenery at a wild pond north of Saranac Lake. By Phil Brown My daughter Martha used to love going down hills on cross-country skis. If she fell, she’d herringbone back up the trail and try again. That was before she took up indoor track in winter, before she enrolled in college, and before she went off to…
Coney, Adams, and Treadway reward snowshoers with spectacular views for only moderate effort. By Spencer Morrissey Snowshoeing in the Adirondacks has a long history. Originally a means of travel, it is now a popular recreational pastime. The French called snowshoes raquettes because the paddle-shaped contraptions of earlier times resembled rackets. They were used by hunters and…
With snow scarce in much of the Adirondacks, two skiers head to the Cranberry Lake region for a day of backcountry adventure. By Phil Brown As usual, we were chasing snow. In the High Peaks, we didn’t have enough base to ski the backcountry, but we were hoping that a recent lake-effect storm had dumped…
As navigation-rights case heads to the state’s Court of Appeals, both sides get help from interested parties. By Kenneth Aaron For five years, a group of Adirondack landowners has engaged in a legal battle with the editor of the Adirondack Explorer and the state Department of Environmental Conservation over navigational rights on a remote waterway…
By Mike Lynch
Warmer climate bodes ill for Adirondack businesses that rely on winter tourism. By Mike Lynch The most profitable months for the tourism-based businesses in the Adirondacks are without question July and August. This is when families take their summer vacations, the weather is warm, and the bugs are tolerable. But while summer is crucial for small businesses,…