Sunday, October 6, 2019

Time To Reconsider An Old Idea, A High Peaks Permit System

Credit goes to the Department of Environmental Conservation and its Region 5 facilitators for including a “break-out” session on Permits at its late July High Peaks-Route 73 stakeholder meeting at the Keene Central School. After all, the very word “permit” has been an electrified “third rail” (hazardous, indeed) topic for years.

That was not always the case, however.  In 1978, the first draft of a High Peaks Unit Management Plan included a section on “individual user controls” with eight alternatives along a spectrum ranging from mandatory registration and reservation permit systems, to no controls at all. Alternative C, reservation or permit systems, stated that “through past experience the U.S. Forest Service has found that a permit system is one of the best ways of gathering user information concerning an individual management area.”

The 1978 draft UMP went on to recommend that a “free permit system should be initiated in the eastern High Peaks with no effort to limit numbers of people using the area for at least three years. Data will be analyzed. If at some time in the future it is determined that numbers of people using the area will have to be controlled, even just for certain high use weekends, the mechanism will already be in place to do so.” » Continue Reading.


Sunday, October 6, 2019

Chainsaw Safety Course Offered For Landowners

Mike Burns instructs a Chainsaw Safety Course provided by CCE Warren CountyCornell Cooperative Extension of Warren County is set to hold a chainsaw safety workshop on Monday, October 21st.

Mike Burns will present an instructional program for the occasional chainsaw user on safe operation and risk mitigation. The workshop will cover the anatomy of a chainsaw, maintenance of a chainsaw, what safety gear to wear, proper cutting of standing and laying trees, and more. » Continue Reading.


Friday, October 4, 2019

Guide Ticketed For Hunting Without A License, Improper Firearm

2019-2020 Canada Goose Season MapDepartment of Environmental Conservation Environmental Conservation Officer (ECO) Jennifer Okonuk reported that on September 21, she encountered several migratory bird hunters in Northern Franklin County during the early goose and youth waterfowl hunting seasons.

ECO Okonuk said one group of hunters from Maine was guided by a licensed guide outfitter, but three of the hunters failed to have their required New York Harvest Information Program (HIP) number. The licensed guide also failed to possess a valid hunting license, she said. None of the hunters had their guns plugged as required, and the guns were all capable of holding more than three shells according to ECO Okonuk. » Continue Reading.


Friday, October 4, 2019

BETA Bike and Ski Trail Volunteer Days Scheduled

BETA Bike and Ski Trail Volunteer DayBarkeater Trails Alliance has announced fall volunteer trail days, the first set for Sunday, October 6th, from noon to 4 pm.

During this half day project volunteers will clean up a new trail corridor on the new Cobble Hill Trail System, above the golf course in Elizabethtown. Work will mostly involve pulling stumps and cleaning up the cleared corridor for winter use . » Continue Reading.


Thursday, October 3, 2019

ADK’s High Peaks Volunteer Program

High Peaks Information Center volunteer host provided by Adirondack Mountain ClubAdirondack Mountain Club (ADK) has partnered with Glens Falls National Bank and Trust Company, to fund the High Peaks Information Center (HPIC) volunteer host program.

Located at one of the most popular trailheads in the Adirondack High Peaks, the HPIC is a major thoroughfare for hikers to get on the trail and begin their trek.  In 2017, from the beginning of July through the end of August, there were 27, 251 registered hikers at the Heart Lake Property trailheads located at the HPIC and Adirondack Loj. ADK reports that each year around 35% of these visitors are new to the area. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, October 1, 2019

Adirondack Rangers: Woman, Dog Rescued; Lower Saranac Body Recovery

forest ranger logoNew York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents in the Adirondacks. Working with other state agencies, local emergency response organizations and volunteer search and rescue groups, Forest Rangers locate and extract lost, injured or distressed people from the Adirondack backcountry.

What follows is a report, prepared by DEC, of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers in the Adirondacks. » Continue Reading.


Monday, September 30, 2019

Battles Over Boreas Ponds Brought Access to Wild Lands

four corners parking area sign provided by peter bauerJust after Labor Day weekend this year, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) completed its work to fully open up public access to the Boreas Ponds, in the southern High Peaks Wilderness Area. These beautiful ponds are now easily accessible for people to either canoe or to hike.

New state facilities were constructed over the past two years to rehabilitate the six-mile-long Gulf Brook Road, build parking lots, public education kiosks, a canoe carry and canoe launches to make this extraordinary natural wonder fully accessible to the public.

The reconstructed road and new access points opens a new southern gateway to the High Peaks Wilderness Area and makes easily reachable one of the most scenic and visually dramatic areas in the Adirondacks. Paddling through the network of three inter-connected waterways gives one the sensation of paddling through mountaintops. » Continue Reading.


Sunday, September 29, 2019

2019 State of the Adirondack Park

2019 state of the parkThe Adirondack Council’s 2019-20 State of the Park report is subtitled “Challenged by Success,” noting that the success of state tourism campaigns is straining the park’s lands and waters, as record numbers of hikers climb the state’s tallest mountains and as recreational boating and off-road vehicles gain popularity.

The challenge is especially noticeable in the High Peaks Wilderness Area, but can be seen in popular locations throughout the park, the report notes. State of the Park is the organization’s annual comprehensive assessment of the actions of local, state and federal government officials. This 38th edition rates 106 separate government actions. » Continue Reading.


Friday, September 27, 2019

Featured Trail: Village Trail, Boquet River Nature Preserve

willsboro village trail courtesy adirondack atlasThe Adirondack Chapter of The Nature Conservancy has opened a half-mile trail connecting Willsboro’s Main Street with the Boquet River Nature Preserve’s existing trail network.

The trail provides convenient access to the Conservancy’s 120-acre preserve, and gives a further boost to the village’s ongoing downtown revitalization. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, September 26, 2019

Rangers Stop Wildfire, Make Several Rescues

forest ranger logoNew York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents in the Adirondacks. Working with other state agencies, local emergency response organizations and volunteer search and rescue groups, Forest Rangers locate and extract lost, injured or distressed people from the Adirondack backcountry.

What follows is a report, prepared by DEC, of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers in the Adirondacks. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, September 26, 2019

How Gore Mountain Got The Name On Its New Logo

Gore Mountain Ski Area Map With Gore It IS Named After (Courtesy Adirondack Atlas)When the earliest Adirondack maps were drawn, Gore Mountain’s true summit could not be clearly identified. As colonial surveyor Verplanck Colvin put it “the highest point always seemed to disappear in the intricate group of peaks of which the mountain was composed.”

As the area around the mountain was increasingly surveyed, a “gore” developed between two large tracts of land, Hyde’s Patent, and the southeast line of  the Totten & Crossfield Purchase.  It was in or near this gore –  a surveyor’s term indicating an unmapped triangular or tapered area between two surveyed areas that does not connect (or close) along a common line – that the mountain sat. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, September 26, 2019

Amy’s Park Trail Race Set For Saturday

2019 amys adventureThe Lake George Land Conservancy’s (LGLC) NextGen Committee is set to host its third annual Amy’s Adventure Race for the Lake (Amy’s Race) at Amy’s Park located in north Bolton on Saturday, September 28th.

The race, a true trail run, is a rugged 4.5 miles/7.2 kilometers in length, is entirely off-road, and goes over brooks, up hills and through the scenic marshes of the 500-acre preserve. All ages are welcome to compete, and friends and family are encouraged to attend to cheer on the competitors. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Locator Beacon Activation Leads To Adirondack Rescue Mission

Osgood River RescueDEC Forest Rangers say a 41-year-old Albany man and a Wilmington woman, also 41, launched a rescue mission after setting off an emergency locator beacon north of Paul Smiths.

DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch said they received call on Wed., Sept. 18 at 10:46 p.m., from an international rescue coordination center advising that a locator beacon had been activated. » Continue Reading.


Saturday, September 21, 2019

Color Remote: Adirondack Bushwhacking Photos

Color RemoteErik Schlimmer’s new book Color Remote: Bushwhacking the Adirondack Mountains (Self Published/Beechwood Books, 2019) looks back at his nearly 1,000 peaks and more than 10,000 miles hiked in the Adirondack Mountains through

Schlimmer grew up in Poughkeepsie until 1985, when he was 12 years old.  “At the time,” he says, “moving to the North Country seemed like a very bad idea. I thought I was being dragged to the Tibetan plateau.”

» Continue Reading.


Saturday, September 21, 2019

Featured Trails: Whiteface-Lake Placid Hiker Shuttle Stops

Lake Placid Hikers Shuttle Stops Map Courtesy Adirondack AtlasThe free Whiteface-Lake Placid hiker shuttle has two departing locations in Lake Placid, the Golden Arrow Lakeside Resort (Shuttle stop 1) and Mirror Lake Park, across from the High Peaks Resort (Shuttle stop 2).

The shuttle runs every Friday through Sunday from September 13 – October 6, and for the four-day Columbus Day Weekend. Shuttles are scheduled approximately every 60 minutes. The last shuttle leaves Lake Placid from Mirror Lake Park at 2:47 pm. » Continue Reading.



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