The only independent, nonprofit news organization solely dedicated to reporting on the Adirondack Park.
Following a disappointing winter for skiing, I came into May looking forward to the next season of outdoor enjoyment. But spring turned out as contrary as winter, with the first days of warming sun followed by spells of bone-chilling cold.
Eight environmental groups want most of the Boreas Ponds Tract added to High Peaks Wilderness, but local officials have other ideas. By Phil Brown In 1936, the conservationist Bob Marshall made a list of forty-eight forested areas in the United States that exceeded three hundred thousand acres and that remained roadless—that is, relatively pristine. Evidently,…
By Phil Brown
You may have seen the photos on Facebook this week of a bunch of hikers having a keg party on top of Phelps Mountain. The photos sparked a lot of comments. Many people (not all) condemned the hikers. In researching the matter for the next issue of the Adirondack Explorer, Mike Lynch discovered that the guy…
Iowa Pacific’s plan to store empty tanker cars on tracks near the High Peaks alarms environmentalists and sets state lawyers to scrambling. By Phil Brown The Iowa-Pacific rail company took state officials and environmental activists by surprise in July when it unveiled a plan to store hundreds of drained oil-tanker cars on its tracks near…
By Phil Brown
Last winter Carol Fox and I skied from Averyville outside Lake Placid to Oseetah Lake outside Saranac Lake, following an old woods road that constitutes part of the northern boundary of the High Peaks Wilderness. We had a great time. You will be able to read about our adventure in a forthcoming issue of the…
Three hikers set out on one of the most arduous and spectacular hikes in the Northeast—a traverse of the Great Range—but encounter a thunderstorm just a half-mile short of Marcy’s summit. By Alan Wechsler We had been on the trail for nearly eleven hours when the storm hit. We were so close to success, so…
The hike from Elk Lake to the state’s highest summit is not the most popular, but it is one of the most rewarding. By Lisa Densmore Ballard It was necessary to perform the whole journey on foot, the trail lying through the wildest and most inaccessible forests of the Adirondacks, portions of which were almost unknown.…
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.
Around the mountains Cyclists enjoy stunning views and a variety of adventures on a three-day circuit of the High Peaks. By Ethan Rouen WE HAVE HAD the breath ripped out of us by the beauty of the High Peaks as seen from the tops of mountains and on twisty roads as we sped by in our…
By Phil Brown A wall of rock 1,200 feet high and a quarter-mile wide tends to stand out. Indeed, the North Face of Gothics is one of the most conspicuous landmarks of the High Peaks, drawing the eye whether you’re in downtown Lake Placid or on top of Mount Marcy. Yes, the North Face…