Casey Gerrish, an experienced hockey player, referee and area league commissioner, has been brought on as head hockey coach at Paul Smith’s College.
Gerrish has played at the Junior A level in the US, as well as Juniors in Canada, and has assisted in coaching since he was 16. He also brings 21 years of refereeing experience and three more as commissioner for the Northern Adult Hockey League, the top non-professional league in northern New York. » Continue Reading.
New York State public campgrounds are managed under what is called “Intensive Use” rules. These lands are the most developed (least restrictive of development) public lands in the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan. “Wilderness” is the most restrictive. Interestingly, when it came to establishing management plans for Moose River Plains Camping Area, special guidelines were agreed upon to preserve its unique version of primitive/public campground. The Department of Environmental Conservation may not “upgrade” the area with features found in regular campgrounds. “Keep it simple” is what the people wanted. » Continue Reading.
This weekly report of outdoor recreation conditions in the Adirondacks is compiled each Thursday afternoon and fully updated by Friday afternoon.
Contribute Your Knowledge: Add a comment below, or send your observations, corrections, updates, and suggestions to adkalmanack@gmail.com.
Learn and practice the seven Leave No Trace principles. Carry out what you have carried in. Do not leave gear, food, or other items at lean-tos and campsites. Do not litter. Take the free online Leave No Trace course here.
BE PREPARED! Start slow, gain experience. Always carry proper safety equipment – including plenty of food, water, flashlights, space blanket, emergency whistle, first aid kit, fire making tools, extra clothing layers and socks, and a map and compass – inform someone of your itinerary, and be prepared to spend an unplanned night in the woods in cold temperatures. Just before entering the backcountry or launching a boat check the National Weather Service watches, warnings, and advisories here. Follow Adirondack weather forecasts at Burlington and Albany and consult the High Elevation, Recreation, or Lake Champlain forecasts.
It’s really okay that Veterans Day doesn’t get its own kitschy candy, slogan, or costume. Veterans Day highlights medals, honor, and sacrifice. It doesn’t come dressed up like a princess and it doesn’t slide down your chimney to fill your stockings. It comes each November 11, a holiday dedicated to American veterans of all wars.
Veterans Day was first celebrated as Armistice Day to commemorate the November 11, 1918 temporary truce, hence the term armistice, between the Allied Nations and Germany during the first World War. The name was changed in 1954, after the second World War and the Korean War, to honor all American war veterans.
NorthWind Fine Arts is set to present “Musical Translations” on Friday, November 2 from 5 to 7 pm.
NorthWind’s artists have created artistic interpretations of some of their favorite songs, and will share them with the public.
NorthWind Fine Arts will also celebrate the debut of local middle and high school students’ work being exhibited at the gallery.
The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) recently wrapped up a public hearing on proposed changes to the 18,950-acre Long Pond Conservation Easement located in the Town of Colton, St. Lawrence County. The state purchased this easement for $1.667 million in 1999 and the taxpayers of New York State have paid the state’s share of all local taxes on the property since then. The DEC held this public hearing because it wants to rewrite this conservation easement to allow 15 leased residential camps to remain on the property in perpetuity.
At the time that the state purchased the Long Pond Conservation Easement in 1999 there were six camps that were allowed to remain on the tract in perpetuity due to special deeded rights. At that time there were nearly three dozen other smaller hunting and fishing camps on the property that were grandfathered and given exclusive hunting and fishing rights for 15 years. The 1999 easement purchase included blanket public recreational rights, but they were deferred until 2014 to keep the peace among the club members and local politicians. » Continue Reading.
The Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts, located at 3446 State Route in Blue Mountain Lake, is set to celebrate the last day of the week-long Day of the Dead Mexican holiday, Día de Muertos, on Friday, November 2 from 4 to 6 pm.
The festivities will include art-related Mexican traditions, such as decorating sugar skulls and skeleton masks and face painting. Traditional Mexican snacks and drinks will also be served. Local photographer Al Pouch will share some of his photos taken at a Day of the Dead event in Oaxaca, Mexico. This event is free and open to all ages. » Continue Reading.
Historic Saranac Lake has been awarded a grant to support the Cure Porch on Wheels project in 2019. The New York Council on the Arts (NYSCA) has approved $16,000 to support programming on Historic Saranac Lake’s oral history booth and mobile exhibit space.
This is the latest of a number of grants that have supported the project. In 2018, a NYSCA Museum Program grant supported the construction of the Cure Porch on Wheels.
The Cure Porch on Wheels project is modeled on the cure porches of Saranac Lake, where tens of thousands of people from around the world came to take the “fresh air cure” for tuberculosis. » Continue Reading.
The Altona Flat Rock is a rare and spectacular site I’ve referenced here in the past, and was the subject of my first book written long ago (it was updated in 2005 with new glaciology information). Besides details on the unusual topography, glacial remnants, an incredibly persistent fire, and one of the world’s largest dams when it was built in the early 1900s, there was also a human history to tell.
The forbidding landscape, similar to expanses in Maine, was conducive to the growth of blueberries, the harvest of which evolved into a phenomenon. Entire families established temporary villages of tents and shacks on the Flat Rock from July into September, picking thousands of quarts for sale to local customers and East Coast markets, including Boston and New York City.
A similar business was conducted at the same time on what today is known as Fort Drum in Jefferson County. It was originally known as Pine Camp, located on a several-thousand-acre area that historically bore the name of Pine Plains. While the Altona site in Clinton County was known locally as the Blueberry Rock, Pine Plains near Watertown was known for producing great quantities of huckleberries, a close “cousin” fruit that provided the nickname for our subject, Charles Sherman. » Continue Reading.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC Region 6) Potsdam offices will be unavailable to the public through October 31, 2018, while the offices are relocated from Route 11 to 190 Outer Main Street, Suite 103, Potsdam, NY.
This is a permanent move. The public is asked to call the Watertown headquarters during this time of transition at 315-785-2263 during the hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. » 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.
Gore Mountain has announced International Ski Federation (FIS) homologation certifications for four of its Nordic courses at the North Creek Ski Bowl. These certifications mean that the courses have been inspected and are found to be in compliance with FIS standards.
Gore Mountain is one of just 29 FIS venues in the United States, and one of two in New York State. The certifications are for the 2.5K Distance Course, the 3.3K Distance Course, the 1.2K Sprint Course, and the 1.6K Sprint Course. » Continue Reading.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced the completion of three new bridges in the Essex Chain Lakes Complex in the towns of Newcomb and Minerva, Essex County.
The bridges provide safer public motor vehicle access to the Essex Chain Lakes Primitive Area and sections of the Blue Mountain Wild Forest, and are accessible from the end of mud season to first snowfall. » Continue Reading.
TAUNY is set to host a variety of programs during the St. Lawrence County Arts Artists’ Studio Tour November 1st to 3rd. The community is invited to stop by The TAUNY Center and to meet local artists and see art-making in action.
These programs will begin on Thursday, November 1st with a 3-day barn quilt making workshop led by Ruth McWilliams. On Saturday, November 3rd, the next Folkstore Artist Spotlight exhibit featuring the work of Susan Robinson will open with a Meet the Artist Opening Reception from 1 to 3 pm. Visitors can drop by The TAUNY Center throughout the day that Saturday to see Folkstore Artists Mary Harding, Tina Charbonneau, Debra Monteith, and Elaine Boots demonstrating their skills in the TAUNY Gallery. » Continue Reading.
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