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By Phil Brown
You know we’re in between seasons when you go backcountry skiing one day and canoeing the next. Last Friday, I skied Mount Marcy with Ron Konowitz. It was so warm than I stripped down to my T-shirt on the ascent. On the summit, we met Keith Kogut, a music teacher in Saranac Lake, who was…
By Phil Brown
Those of you who have been following the saga of Shingle Shanty Brook may be interested in an article that appears in the latest newsletter of the Sierra Club’s Atlantic chapter, written by Charles Morrison, the former director of natural resources at the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Morrison and two other Sierra Club members…
By Phil Brown The Brandreth Park Association is digging in its heels against those who contend that the public has the right to paddle through private land to avoid a mile-long portage between Lilypad Pond and Shingle Shanty Brook in the William C. Whitney Wilderness. Judson Potter, the association’s president, says in a letter to…
By Tom Woodman As we head to Indian Lake for our exploration of the Jessup River, weather is on our minds. The forecast calls for storms by midafternoon, but as we arrive before 8 a.m. the sun is breaking through the overcast and the thermometer reads 54 degrees. Moisture from overnight rain adds a rich…
By Phil Brown
Don’t expect the state Department of Environmental Conservation to reach a quick decision on the Sierra Club’s request to force landowners to remove a steel cable that stretches across Shingle Shanty Brook. In a recent letter to the club, DEC Regional Director Betsy Lowe says the department plans to provide “a comprehensive response” to the…
By Phil Brown
In a post yesterday, I reported that Heartland Forestland Fund would donate 2,661 acres to the state under a plan to modify a conservation-easement agreement in order to allow hunting camps to remain on timberlands in the northern Adirondacks. I now have a map of the lands in question, shown above. Most of the land…
The Saranac River and adjoining lakes create a delightful paddling trip. By DICK BEAMISH It can be a leisurely six-hour trip, starting a block from our office in Saranac Lake village. Or, if you’re a champion paddler and like to make waves, you can churn through this eleven-mile loop in an hour and a half,…
By Phil Brown
I had been wanting to paddle the Deer River Flow for some time, so when my friend, Phil Blanchard, came with his family to the Adirondacks for vacation, I suggested we take a trip there. Unfortunately, Phil got ill on the morning of our scheduled outing, so his son, Ben, and I did the trip…
By Phil Brown
Most people who canoe the Bog River start at the Lower Dam and paddle upstream to Hitchins Pond. From there, they can carry around the Upper Dam to enter Lows Lake. But there is another flatwater trip on the Bog that doesn’t see as much traffic. About a half-mile above the falls,we passed under an…
Lazing along the West Branch of the Sacandaga River. By TOM WOODMAN For the casual and experienced paddler alike, one of the great joys of canoeing in the Adirondacks is to ease your way along a flat, meandering stream through open country. Though maybe not as well known as some northern routes with similar character,…