In time for Celebrate Paddling Month in the Adirondacks, the Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) has released a new and expanded edition of Adirondack Paddling: 65 Great Flatwater Adventures. The book describes paddling day trips throughout the Adirondack Park, including on new state lands acquired since the first edition was published in 2012.
Written by Phil Brown, the expanded edition includes four new trips made possible by the Finch, Pruyn conservation deal: Boreas Ponds, Essex Chain Lakes, Blackwell Stillwater, and County Line Flow. Brown also added a chapter on Jabe Pond, in the hills above Lake George.
Adirondack Paddling contains over 150 color photos of waterways, wildflowers, and birds. Each chapter also includes color maps, GPS coordinates, and a statistical overview of the trip. ADK published Adirondack Paddling in partnership with Brown’s Lost Pond Press. The price remains $24.95.
Brown retired last fall after 19 years as editor of the Adirondack Explorer, a nonprofit magazine with focuses on environmental conservation and outdoor recreation. In the introduction to Adirondack Paddling, he writes of his love of paddling wild rivers and ponds.
In addition to the textual changes, the second edition features many new shots from some of the park’s best photographers, including Carl Heilman II, Nancie Battaglia, Brendan Wiltse, Mark Bowie, Larry Master, Daniel Way, and Mike Lynch.
The book was designed by Susan Bibeau of Beehive Productions in Saranac Lake. The maps were created by Matt Paul, also of Saranac Lake.
The first edition of Adirondack Paddling described 60 trips for canoeists and kayakers. Starting in 2012, however, the state began buying tens of thousands of acres from the Adirondack Nature Conservancy that had once been owned by the Finch, Pruyn paper company. These acquisitions created spectacular new opportunities for paddlers. The two that received the most publicity are Boreas Ponds, with its breathtaking views of the High Peaks, and Essex Chain Lakes, a series of interconnected ponds in the central Adirondacks.
The Finch, Pruyn deal also opened up Blackwell Stillwater, a quiet stretch of the upper Hudson, and County Line Flow and its charming inlet, Fishing Brook.
Adirondack Paddling: 65 Great Flatwater Adventures (softcover, 288 pages) is available at ADK stores in Lake George and Lake Placid, through mail order by calling (800) 395-8080, and online. It also is sold in book and outdoor supply stores.
For more information on ADK, call (518) 668-4447 or visit their website.
Lost Pond Press has published or co-published several other books, including Adirondack Birding: 60 Great Places to Find Birds; Bob Marshall in the Adirondacks; and two Adirondack novels by Michael Virtanen, Within a Forest Dark and The River’s Tale.
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