Adirondack Mountain Rescue, Inc of Clifton Park, New York will be holding a free winter hiking preparedness presentation on November 30th from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Clifton Park Halfmoon Library.
The number of accidents in the Adirondacks is on the rise. Each year the number of search and rescue operations performed by the NYS Forest Rangers reaches a new high while the number of Rangers hovers around 133. Some of these operations have a happy ending, however many do not. » Continue Reading.
New 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.
Waterfowl hunters who find bands on harvested game birds or have recovered a band are now asked to report it online to the National Bird Banding Laboratory. The toll-free 1-800-327-BAND system was discontinued in June of 2017. » Continue Reading.
The Grand Opening of the Sophie’s Lair and Florence Hathaway Trails in Willsboro, the newest additions to the Champlain Area Trails (CATS) network of trails in Florence Hathaway Park, has been postponed until January 2018. The event was originally scheduled for Sunday, October 29, but changed due to weather.
The Florence Hathaway Trail is a one-mile loop trail and leads to Sophie’s Lair Trail which provides for easy hikes of up to five miles on a variety of paths through a lovely forest with stone walls and beautiful old oak, hickory and pine trees. There are small creeks, seasonally wet areas, and gentle hills. Come winter, the trails will be available for cross-country skiing. » Continue Reading.
There are benefits to winter camping in a lean-to. Lean-tos are spacious; although each lean-to can be different, typically there is adequate room for five campers. The lean-to provides a level, dry platform for changing clothes, setting up a stove, mixing food, or just plain sitting. They are usually unoccupied in winter.
On the other hand, lean-to’s aren’t particularly warm in cold weather – even if you close off the open side with a tarp. Also, they are usually situated in high-use areas. They can house rodents and the sleeping arrangements can leave you lying wide awake between two prodigious snorers. » Continue Reading.
North River’s Garnet Hill Lodge is known for its full-service ski shop, Adirondack accommodations, and as a wedding venue overlooking Thirteenth Lake. Now Garnet Hill is adding Adirondack Carriage’s scenic horse-and-wagon rides for those seeking a late fall ride through the woods. Though some leaves are still hanging on the trees in North River, the mixture of deciduous and evergreen trees provides a peaceful horse-drawn outing. » Continue Reading.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers responded to 15 search and rescue incidents in the past two weeks 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.
A new trail is being added to the Champlain Area Trails (CATS) network, thanks to the efforts of 13 volunteers who recently visited the area. The Volunteer Vacationers came from Colorado, Arizona, Virginia, Michigan, New Jersey and New York in an American Hiking Society program that links people who want to spend their vacation building and maintaining trails for organizations like CATS. This is the fourth year CATS has hosted Volunteer Vacationers.
The group stayed at Camp Dudley while working under the supervision of CATS Trail Steward Bill Amadon to build a new trail. They spent a free day during the week exploring the Lake Champlain area from Ticonderoga to Rouse’s Point, including travels in Vermont to Middlebury and Burlington. » Continue Reading.
Climbing Ampersand recently, I slipped on a rock. Fine. It happens. But not that much, not to me. Lacking other things to be proud of, I at least take satisfaction in a good sense of balance. This sense of balance was learned long ago, a factual nugget I reflected upon as I continued to hike, in the way that desultory, pointless thoughts float through your mind like breeze-buffeted wisps of milkweed on long stretches of lonely trails.
Growing up in rural West Virginia, our county’s school system didn’t have a lot of spare lettuce for playground improvements, so the janitor, Mr. Ryder — a taciturn, thickly muscled man man who was not tall, and whose darkly tanned face was deeply lined from too many years of mopping up crayon induced vomit — fashioned outdoor toys from the scrap he had on hand. » Continue Reading.
This year’s Bike the Barns event took place at the Whallonsburg Grange Hall on Sunday, October 1st. Organizers say registrations for Bike the Barns doubled since the inaugural event last year. This fall, over 160 people signed up to ride.
This is the second year the Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) has hosted the event, a one-day bicycle tour that offers riders the opportunity to explore the region’s agricultural scene, meet local farmers, tour their farms and taste local food and drink. » Continue Reading.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers responded to 15 search and rescue incidents in the past two weeks 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.
My family participants in a lot of events and activities throughout the Adirondack Park. One particular family-friendly event we look forward to each year is Adirondack Kids Day in Inlet, NY. The October 7th event is unique as it pulls brings together children’s book authors and illustrators as well as outdoor recreation experts to introduce the Adirondacks to a range of people from the very young to the young at heart. » Continue Reading.
On September 26, Judge Robert G. Main Jr. overruled the entire 2016 Unit Management Plan (UMP) that would have allowed the construction of a multi-use recreation trail on a 34-mile segment of the Remsen-Lake Placid railroad right-of-way. In doing so, the judge stopped construction of both the recreation trail and the upgraded railroad from Remsen to Tupper Lake, since both state projects are linked and their funding is dependent on the UMP.
The judge based most of his ruling on what a “travel corridor” is in the State Land Master Plan (SLMP). To define a travel corridor, he used the current travel corridors inventoried in the SLMP (“1,220 miles of travel corridors, of which 1,100 are highway, 120 miles make up the Remsen to Lake Placid railroad”) and concluded that since current travel corridors are highways and railroads no other use is anticipated or permitted. But the SLMP defines a travel corridor as including “the Remsen to Lake Placid railroad right-of-way” (emphasis mine). Note that the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) did not say “Remsen to Lake Placid railroad” in its definition, as it did in listing existing travel corridors, it added “right of way”, for a reason.
TAUNY, Traditional Arts in Upstate New York, will host a lunchtime program, TAUNY Talk & Taste: “Tupper Lake Dams: The Dammedest Place” with Mike Prescott on Tuesday, October 3, from 12 to 1 pm. TAUNY’s current exhibit tells the stories of the dams and powerhouses built along the Raquette River in the 1950s and more recently.
One alternate plan for the river would have left much of Tupper Lake as we know it under thirty feet of water. Raquette River guide and historian Mike Prescott will give a presentation on the other river – the other Adirondack geography – that might have been. Guests will also have the opportunity to enjoy a specially crafted meal by Big Spoon Kitchen, inspired by the granola, power bars, water, and fruit that Mike usually takes on a paddle. Big Spoon’s “paddle lunch” will include a healthy wrap, an apple, and their signature chocolate peanut butter power balls. » Continue Reading.
The New York State Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) will host a Public Informational Meeting at the Conference Center in Lake Placid, on Tuesday, October 3, at 6 pm.
Mike Pratt, ORDA president/CEO, will present to the public the Authority’s plans for upgrades to the facilities at Whiteface Mountain, Gore Mountain, the Olympic Sports Complex at Mount Van Hoevenberg and the Olympic Jumping Complex. » Continue Reading.
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