The only independent, nonprofit news organization solely dedicated to reporting on the Adirondack Park.
By Phil Brown
The spiny water flea, an invasive species, has been found in Lake George, just weeks after its discovery in the Champlain Canal, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. A native of Eurasia, the flea feeds on crustaceans and other zooplankton, putting the invader in direct competition with native fish and other aquatic organisms.…
Writer Sue Bibeau takes on the 90-Miler canoe and kayak race with boatbuilder Allison Warner.
Author discovers a hidden treasure not far from her hometown. By Lisa Densmore I grew up in Saranac Lake and have been hiking in the Adirondacks for much of the last four decades. However, until this spring, I had not hiked up Jay Mountain, actually Jay Mountains, plural. My hiking calendar always seemed to omit…
By Phil Brown
Following is the Forest Ranger report for late winter and spring from the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Region 5. ESSEX COUNTY Town of North Elba, High Peaks Wilderness On Saturday, March 10, at about 3:30 p.m., DEC Dispatch in Ray Brook received a report from a DEC Forest Ranger regarding an injured woman at…
By Stephen Williams The Capital Region forecasters were predicting a high of thirty-five degrees, meaning this day would rival the warmest in six weeks. So my son Nicholas and I debate: ski pants or blue jeans for our snowshoe trip? Nick, a college student who spends most of the winter in Potsdam—where it can be fifty…
By Phil Brown
An article on Backpacker Magazine’s website lists “America’s 10 Most Dangerous Hikes.” The one closest to the Adirondacks is Mount Washington in New Hampshire. The mountain is infamous for its fickle and sometimes extreme weather. “Known as the most dangerous small mountain in the world,” Backpacker says, “6,288-foot Mt. Washington boasts some scary stats: The…
By Phil Brown
Just when you’ve thought you heard it all: five hikers from Florida who got lost in the High Peaks reportedly urinated on each other to keep warm. The Albany Times Union first reported this tidbit earlier this week, and the state Department of Environmental Conservation confirms that this is what the hikers told forest rangers.…
By Phil Brown
Now we know spring is here: Ron Konowitz has stopped skiing. Most skiers probably think last winter was a lousy one, but not for Ron Kon. He skied 161 days, all in the Adirondacks. That’s every day for more than five months. “I had a good year,” Konowitz said today. “I definitely didn’t get into…
By Phil Brown
How bad was this winter for backcountry skiers? It ranks as one of the worst, according to the Adirondack Ski Touring Council, which maintains the twenty-four-mile Jackrabbit Trail between Saranac Lake and Keene. Tony Goodwin, the group’s executive director, says the entire Jackrabbit was skiable for only twenty-five days this winter—by far the worst…
Should the state bill careless backcountry users for searches? By Kelly de la Rocha When Stephen Mastaitis of Saratoga Springs started a winter hike up Mount Marcy, he never dreamed he’d be coming back down in a helicopter. The fifty-eight-year-old lawyer and three others began the day hike bright and early on a February morning,…