The only independent, nonprofit news organization solely dedicated to reporting on the Adirondack Park.
By Mike Lynch
The state Department of Environmental Conservation has been grappling with how to deal with the increasing number of hikers in the High Peaks in recent years. I wrote a series of articles about the subject last year, and we will continue to report on the issue again this summer. Above are some photos that illustrate…
By Mike Lynch
In late May, I joined Explorer publisher Tracy Ormsbee and Brendan Wiltse for a hike to Cobble Lookout in Wilmington. During the 2.2-mile round trip hike, Tracy interviewed Brendan for her new Trailblazer column that features people around the Park who are taking leadership roles related to important causes. Brendan is a scientist and an…
By Phil Brown
With this year’s publication of Western Trails, the Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) completed the most recent overhaul of its Forest Preserve Series of hiking guidebooks—and the club is already hard at work on the next edition of the series. ADK’s hiking guidebooks used to divide the Adirondack Park into six regions. The club has pared…
By Phil Brown
Have you ever taken in the vista from Iroquois Peak? Paddled up the Opalescent? Skied across frozen ponds near Fish Creek? Followed Don Mellor on an ice climb above Chapel Pond? You can read about all those adventures and more in the forthcoming Adirondack Explorer’s Annual Outings Guide, an anthology of recreational stories from past…
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…
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…
By Phil Brown
The Adirondack Explorer has published a multisport guidebook to the former Finch, Pruyn lands to let people know of the many recreational opportunities on tracts that had been off limits to the public for more than a century. 12 Adventures on New State Lands: Exploring the Finch, Pruyn Tracts has something for everyone: the hiker, the paddler, the…
By Phil Brown
The Adirondack Explorer‘s November/December issue is in the mail, but Mike Lynch’s story on deteriorating trails in the High Peaks is already gaining attention on the Adirondack Almanack, the Explorer‘s online journal. The article, headlined “Trails showing their age,” notes that a combination of poor design and heavy use has led to severe erosion on trails.…
By Mike Lynch
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…
By Mike Lynch
A sharp rise in hikers climbing some of the region’s highest mountains has lead to the degradation of natural resources and raises a variety of other issues.