Bouldering near McKenzie Pond
One thing you can be sure of when you go bouldering: The names of the climbing routes (or "problems," in the sport's lingo) are going to be entertaining. By Alan Wechsler
Map
All Stories
Lake Placid’s wild side
Hikers find solitude just outside town By Phil Brown Talk about a great day. We visited two mountain ponds, climbed two peaks with gorgeous views, hiked for miles through a virgin forest and saw not a soul in our 81/2-hour journey. Thank you, Richard Hayes Phillips … I think. A geologist and acoustic musician from…
Scenic trip on Lower Osgood
‘Study river’ for 30 years By Phil Brown A few years ago, my friend Brian Mann and I canoed from Jones Pond to Osgood Pond and followed the upper Osgood River as far as we could—to a small dam, beyond which the river is un-navigable for miles. This spring we returned to paddle the lower…
A lot to Little River
Should it be included in the Wild, Scenic and Recreational Rivers System? By Phil Brown I knew the Little River was wild. I could tell that by looking at a map, where it appears as a blue squiggly line winding through a vast wetland. In the section I planned to paddle, the Little crosses under…
Sagamore Lake
Explorers paddle and hike to Sagamore By Dick Beamish It was the most blasé great-blue heron we’d ever encountered in the Adirondacks, or at least the most single-minded one, so focused on the task at hand that it didn’t notice as we coasted by about two canoe lengths away. The tall, elegant bird was poised…
Baker Mountain
A hiker’s tribute to an old friend By Phil Gallos Mount Baker was one of those places to which we’d go to play when we were kids. It was one of those places which we’d explore at least once a week: cliffs and ledges and old tote roads, quarries and dumps and intermittent streams. It…
Skiing the Seven Carries
We couldn’t have asked for a more gorgeous day. Sunny, mild, hardly a breeze. “We don’t deserve this,” Brian remarked as we glided through the unbroken snow.
Lake George
Lake George on Foot Great hikes in 4 nature preserves By Ruth Lamb Over the past 15 years, the Lake George Land Conservancy has preserved more than 10,000 acres. The purchases have protected wetlands, forests, ridgelines and lakeshore and saved habitats of great blue herons, peregrine falcons and bats, among other wildlife species. They’ve also…
Round Pond ski
It’s the end of February, but I’m skiing in a T-shirt. The sun blazes out of a bluebird Adirondack sky. The thermometer reads 58 degrees in the Sharp Bridge State Campground parking lot. Hard to believe that two weeks ago I needed four layers and a down vest to fend off the cold.
High praise for low peaks
By Dick Beamish There’s much to be said for hiking the Low Peaks—the more modest Adirondacks well under 4,000 feet. Being less traveled, these trails offer greater solitude. Looking out and up from the lower summits can be as awesome as looking down from the higher ones. Because the distances and elevations are less, these…