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Hikers take in the view from the top of Noonmark. Photo by Barry Lobdell Circled by High Peaks, accessible Noonmark offers big views By TOM WOODMAN A hike up Noonmark Mountain offers the experiences of a Great Range expedition in a compact, half-day excursion. You ascend through the mixed hardwood forest of the lower elevations,…
By Phil Brown Perhaps you’ve heard of Richard Louv’s best-selling book Last Child in the Woods, in which he laments that modern kids grow up cut off from the natural world. Makes you wonder who that last child in the woods will be. I think I found him. His name is Eli Bickford. He’s twelve…
By Phil Brown
Anybody who pays attention to the photo credits in the Adirondack Explorer knows how much we rely on the work of Carl Heilman II to enliven our pages. In our next issue, we plan to run Carl’s photos of the Eagle Slide on Giant Mountain–which many people regard as the most spectacular slide in the…
By Phil Brown
For all you strong hikers out there … I don’t know how old you are, but the ageless mountains can figure this out for me. First, tell us how many High Peaks you can climb in a day. Any strong hiker can climb one, and we won’t believe you if you say you can climb…
By Phil Brown
Earlier this week, I wrote a short item for Adirondack Almanack on cairns. Many people are fascinated by these heaps of stone often found on bare ridges and summits. Tom Woodman, our publisher, wrote about cairns in a column in the Explorer last year. Adirondack Life ran a photo feature on cairns last year. And…
By Phil Brown
In the July/August issue of the Explorer, I describe a short hike to the Stillwater Mountain fire tower. Once the tower is rehabilitated, this will be a nice outing for the general public, but the state Department of Environmental Conservation warns that the tower should not be climbed in the meantime. DEC spokesman Stephen Litwhiler…
By Phil Brown
I’m sure many of you have heard about the hiker who died following a snowstorm in the Catskills last weekend. He and his partner had weathered a night in a snow cave. The next morning, he left to get help but never made it. He was found dead on Blackhead Mountain a short distance from…
By Phil Brown
This afternoon I went up Baker Mountain, a small peak outside Saranac Lake, to test a pair of crampons (Black Diamond’s Sabretooths, pictured here). I thought the crampons would be overkill on the trail, but it turned out I needed them. Thanks to all the rain on Monday, followed by subfreezing temperatures, parts of the…
By Phil Brown
You might think climbing the forty-six High Peaks is no big deal. After all, more than 6,200 hikers have done it. But I’ve got news for you: those peaks are as big as they were when Bob and George Marshall and their guide, Herb Clark, climbed them. The Marshall brothers and Clark completed the first…
By Phil Brown
There’s snow in the High Peaks now, so if you plan on hiking to a summit, you’d be smart to pack a pair of Yaktrax, MicroSpikes, or similar grippers for your feet. On Sunday, my daughter Martha and I encountered snow and ice on the trail from Crow Clearing in Keene to Hurricane Mountain, which…