Observers say more money is needed to repair and maintain an antiquated network of hiking routes. By MIKE LYNCH When many of the High Peaks’ trails were cut more than a century ago, the work was done by guides and hired hands. Keene Valley’s Orson “Old Mountain” Phelps created the first trail up Mount Marcy in 1861; Verplanck Colvin’s survey workers cut routes up Algonquin and Dix in the late 1800s; and Henry Van Hoevenberg developed a trail system for the Adirondack Lodge (as it was then spelled). The early trails opened up the High Peaks to more people and laid the groundwork for today’s trail system, but some of the original trails continue to >>More
Beyond peak capacity
A sharp rise in hikers climbing some of the region’s highest mountains leads to the degradation of natural resources and raises a variety of other issues. By MIKE LYNCH The number of hikers in the High Peaks has been steadily increasing in recent years, especially near Lake Placid and Keene Valley, raising concerns about safety and degradation of natural resources. “I think that we’ve got a serious overuse of some of our places in the High Peaks,” said Neil Woodworth, executive director of the Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK). “Clearly, Cascade and Pitchoff are just getting a very large number of >>More
A walk in the sky
Hordes climb Algonquin each year, but far fewer hikers continue along the ridge over Boundary Peak to Iroquois. Most people don’t know what they’re missing. By Phil Brown Carol’s friend Emily wanted to do a big hike, something spectacular. It didn’t take me long to hit on the idea of climbing Algonquin Peak and Iroquois Peak and returning by way of Avalanche Lake. We would go over the summit of the second-highest mountain in the state, follow a mile-long open ridge with breathtaking views, descend a steep but beautiful trail, and scramble along the shore of a lake whose sublimity >>More
Taking a new hike
Purchase of MacIntyre West Tract opens up Lake Andrew as a destination, though the state has yet to mark the route. By Phil Brown After writing about the state’s acquisition of the MacIntyre West Tract for the last issue of the Explorer, I was eager to explore it, and Lake Andrew seemed like the logical place to start. In early December, my friend Carol and I hiked the 4.7 miles to the lake and, on the way back, took a side trip to a spectacular view of the Twin Slides on Santanoni Peak. Although the state has yet to mark >>More
Journey to OK Slip
New trail leads to a spectacular view of one of the Adirondacks’ highest waterfalls and to the Hudson River Gorge. By Phil Brown Carol Fox had visited OK Slip Falls three times—twice in fall, once in winter— but not on the state’s new hiking trail and never with some guy jotting down every word she said. I advised her everything would be fine if she said clever and witty things. Mainly, though, I wanted to get her impressions of the trail and the falls, one of the highest in the Adirondack Park. Of course, she could describe the 250-foot cascade from her earlier trips. “I love how you turn the corner >>More
Four ponds and a peak
A family spends a delightful two days paddling and hiking in the St. Regis Canoe Area—and, best of all, there were no long carries. By Lisa Densmore Ballard SOMETIMES my choice of canoe-camping adventure in the Adirondack Park is based on the lowest chance of family mutiny. My husband Jack and our three teens, Parker, Dom, and Zoe, still reeled from the memory of a 1.25-mile carry around Raquette Falls during a two-nighter down the Raquette River a year ago. Loaded down with heavy boats and an overabundance of unorganized gear, we had grossly underestimated the portage distance and the ferocity of >>More
Amazing Grace
Four hikers pay tribute to an Adirondack legend while climbing the peak newly renamed in her honor. By Susan Bibeau Shortly after moving to the Adirondacks in 1996, I climbed Giant Mountain. Not only was it my first High Peak, it was the first time I’d climbed anything higher than the hill in the back yard where I grew up. While incredibly rewarding, the hike was harder than I had imagined even though I was a fit, thirty-year-old marathon runner. It was humbling. Nevertheless, like many others before me, I was hooked on the Adirondack Mountains, and I wanted more. That same year Grace Leach Hudowalski >>More
Stiff hike cures cabin fever
After days of rain, a family beats the blahs by climbing Debar Mountain, a former fire-tower peak in the northern Adirondacks. By Lisa Densmore Ballard SOME DAYS I need to go hiking. I don’t want an epic outing, just some time in the woods to clear my head, enough of a climb to exercise my body, and a decent view at the top to rejuvenate my spirit. After five particularly soggy days, cooped up inside our smallish house on Chateaugay Lake with four antsy kids—Micah, age eighteen; Dominic and Parker, both sixteen; and Zoe, eleven—and my outdoorsy sweetheart Jack, I needed >>More
A good day on Goodnow
Climb to a fire tower near Newcomb rewards hikers with a breathtaking vista of the High Peaks By Lisa Densmore I GLANCE AT MY WATCH. 11:22 a.m. It feels like 7 a.m. on this early September morning. The first hint of fall is in the invigorating fifty-degree air. Goosebumps cover my legs below my shorts, and my breath exhales in faint misty tendrils as I start up the sun-dappled Goodnow Mountain Trail. Some days it feels good to go hiking. This is one of them. I’ve hiked Goodnow Mountain only once before, while working on my guidebook Hiking the >>More
Hiker stabs bear in face
Forty-Sixer says three bruins followed her for a mile on the Northville-Placid Trail. By Leigh Hornbeck SMART HIKERS know what to do when they come upon a black bear in the woods: wave your arms, yell, and stand your ground. Yet that didn’t work for Amy Stafford. Stafford, who is twenty-two, was forced to stab a bear in the face when it charged her in the woods on the Northville-Placid Trail. “The whole time I kept thinking, if this bear wanted me, it could have me in a heartbeat. I considered throwing things at it, running at it, but I >>More