Posts Tagged ‘Guidebooks’

Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Adirondack Mountain Club publishes new guidebook to honor centennial year 

ADK (Adirondack Mountain Club) has released a new addition to its authoritative collection of hiking guidebooks entitled Peaks and Ponds, Adirondack Day Hikes.

Authored by Cat Hadlow and Bobby Clark—two ADK staff members—this brand-new collection of thirty-seven classic and lesser-known trips honors ADK’s 100-year legacy of teaching people how to explore and protect New York’s public lands and waters. It interweaves snippets of ADK history as it leads hikers to beautiful and remote spots throughout the park—places such as Moss Lake, Catamount Mountain, Tirrell Pond, and Kipp Mountain.

» Continue Reading.


Tuesday, March 2, 2021

ADK releases updated edition of best-selling High Peaks guidebook

High Peaks guidebookChanges reflect new zoning, recent additions to the High Peaks Wilderness

The brand-new 15th edition of High Peaks Trails, the flagship of ADK’s (Adirondack Mountain Club’s) comprehensive Forest Preserve Series of guidebooks, has just been released. The volume is edited by longtime Adirondack adventurer Tony Goodwin, who has been writing and updating guidebooks for over 30 years.

Since the 14th edition was published in 2012, 47,000 acres of Forest Preserve have been added to the High Peaks Wilderness Area. Its boundaries have been redrawn, and new regulations governing use of these areas are anticipated. The new 15th edition addresses the significant zone changes that have been implemented by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, as well as new acquisitions, new trails, reroutes, restored and altered trailheads, and parking regulations.

» Continue Reading.


Monday, August 10, 2020

ADK releases 2nd edition of Kids on the Trail guidebook

ADK’s long-popular Kids on the Trail! Hiking with Children in the Adirondacks, by Rose Rivezzi and David Trithart, has been released in a second edition. Seventy-one hike descriptions are accompanied by distance and elevation data, color maps, and color photos.

Almost 40 percent of the hikes are new to the book, and nine descriptions have been added since the first edition.

Representing a variety of destinations across the Adirondacks, this guide encourages readers to visit lesser known locations as they enjoy the beauty of the Park. Anecdotal asides, observations, and logistical advice are interspersed.

» Continue Reading.


Thursday, October 10, 2019

Advocates Offer Guide To Better Land Use Decisions

Pathways to a Connected Adirondack ParkAdirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve will make free hard copies of its guidebook Pathways to a Connected Adirondack Park available during its Keene Valley meeting on Saturday, October 12, 2019 at the Keene Valley Congregational Church.

The illustrated guidebook, authored by conservation biologist Dr. Michael Klemens, was written to de-mystify the process of ecologically-informed land use and development for a general audience. It defines and describes the threat to people and wildlife of fragmentation of large contiguous areas in the Adirondack Park by being broken up into ever smaller, isolated patches of land. The publications describes ten strategies for localities and for regional entities like the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) to adopt which can lead to better land use decisions that avoid or minimize fragmentation, reduce the ecological footprint of development and still accommodate vibrant human communities, working forests and outdoor recreation. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, June 6, 2019

New Edition of Adirondack Paddling Guide Published

adirondack paddlingIn 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. » Continue Reading.


Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Orra Phelps: With Us on Every Trail

In the passages below, excerpted from a 1942 article appearing in a regional newspaper, there is a glaring error. Can you spot it?

“Dr. Orra A. Phelps, Fort Plain School Physician, was the principal speaker at the initial meeting of the Burroughs Nature Study Club…. He spoke on Guide to Adirondack Trails. In his talk, Dr. Phelps outlined various trails leading to the most picturesque spots in the upper Adirondacks from information gleaned first-hand by the speaker, who is an enthusiastic mountain climber.

“He called particular attention to Mt. Colden, located between Mt. Marcy and Mt. McIntyre, one of the few points, he said, that has been preserved in its original state and which he characterized as the heart of this wilderness of nature. Dr Phelps also described the scenic beauty discovered on a visit to the Ausable Club in the vicinity of Keene Valley. The speaker is chief author of the book, Guide to Adirondack Trails.” » Continue Reading.


Thursday, August 2, 2018

Eastern Trails Adirondack Guidebook Updated

ADK Eastern TrailsADK (Adirondack Mountain Club) has announced the release of the fifth edition of its popular trail guide, Eastern Trails, which is part of a substantial reconfiguration and revision of the Forest Preserve Series of Adirondack and Catskill guides.

Eastern Trails highlights some of the most popular and widely used trails in the region and provides the most updated information about entirely new trails, particularly on new Lake George Land Conservancy preserves. Eastern Trails was last issued in a new edition in 2012.

 

» Continue Reading.


Sunday, December 3, 2017

Keene Valley Region Waterfall Guide Published

keene valley region waterfall guideGuidebook author Russell Dunn’s new guidebook Keene Valley Region Waterfall Guide: The Search for Cool Cascades in the Heart of the Adirondacks (Black Dome Press, 2017), leads the way to more than 100 waterfalls in the High Peaks Region of the Adirondacks, from North Hudson to Keeseville, and from St. Huberts to Lake Placid.

The book includes 145 full-color photographs, three maps, and a foreword by Neil Burdick, editor of Adirondac. » Continue Reading.


Saturday, September 16, 2017

Saranac Lake Native Reissues Hiking Guidebooks

Lisa Densmore Ballard wrote in Hiking the Adirondacks in 2010 that “writing a guidebook is really an excuse for an adventure.” Ballard has not given up seeking adventure: this year, she released an expanded edition of her guidebook.

A native of Saranac Lake, she also has released a new edition of her shorter guidebook, Best Easy Day Hikes Adirondacks, which at 110 pages is small enough to slip into your back pocket. As the title suggests, Best Easy Day Hikes is aimed at casual hikers and families with young children. The second edition is little changed from the first.

In contrast, the second edition of Hiking in the Adirondacks is much different from its predecessor. All of the photographs and maps are now in color. Also, the maps are now topographical, with contour lines for visualizing the terrain.

Read more about these guides at the Adirondack Explorer website.

 


Sunday, June 25, 2017

New Lake Champlain Blueway Trail Guide Now Online

Paddling along the Palisades A recreational water path that extends along the Lake Champlain shoreline between Rouses Point and Whitehall, the Lake Champlain Blueway Trail is a guide for paddlers of more than 90 points of interests — such as parks, wildlife viewing spots, geological curiosities, historic sites, museums, and campgrounds.

The online travel guide weaves historical information, recreational opportunities, paddling tips, boat launches, docking, and marinas. » Continue Reading.


Monday, June 19, 2017

New Northville-Placid Trail Guide Released

adk northville placid trail guideADK has released the fifth edition of its Adirondack Mountain Club Northville-Placid Trail in time for the Northville-Placid Trail’s 95th anniversary. The newest edition in ADK’s Forest Preserve Series of Adirondack and Catskill guides, this volume marks the relaunch of the series.

Edited by Jeff and Donna Case of Mattydale, Onondaga County, the volume has been revised and redesigned, including a return to a smaller, more convenient size. When they conclude this year’s trip on the NPT in May, the authors will have hiked the trail twenty-eight times.

The new edition’s arrival is a celebration of another sort as well: the text includes a detailed description of the long-awaited reroute of the Northville-Placid Trail’s (NPT’s) southern approach completed in 2015 that eliminated about 10 miles of road walking. Originally 132 miles long, reroutes and trail changes have extended the NPT to 138.6 miles. » Continue Reading.


Wednesday, February 1, 2017

ADK’s Western Trails Guidebook Coming Soon

adk mountain clubWestern Trails, the fourth of six volumes in Adirondack Mountain Club’s (ADK) Forest Preserve Series is set to release the beginning of February.

The guidebook includes 7 Wilderness areas, 13 Wild Forest Areas, the extensive St. Regis Canoe Area, 1 Primitive Area, and 2 state forests. Also included is the relatively new Cranberry Lake 50, a 50-mile hiker’s challenge that falls within this region. » Continue Reading.


Sunday, November 20, 2016

New Guidebook: 12 Adventures on New State Lands

12-adventures-on-ny-state-landsChances are good that you’ve never seen Pine Lake. Or OK Slip Falls. You can now. Pine Lake and OK Slip Falls are two natural gems of the Adirondack Park that until recently had rarely been visited by the general public. New York State’s historic purchase of sixty-five thousand acres of former Finch, Pruyn & Company timberlands from the Nature Conservancy has put them into the public domain.

But how do you get to them? What can you do once you get there?

Phil Brown has the answers. 12 Adventures on New State Lands: Exploring the Finch, Pruyn Tracts is the latest in a series of guidebooks by Brown, editor of Adirondack Explorer. » Continue Reading.


Saturday, May 14, 2016

Adirondack Park Gets Its Own Bouldering Guidebook

Aaron Newell_Tower of Power_V2Years ago I often saw a line of cars parked along McKenzie Pond Road outside Saranac Lake and wondered why they were there. There was no trailhead, no house, just nondescript woods.

Eventually, I learned that those woods harbored a collection of giant boulders and that people would drive for hours to climb them. Not just any people, but hard-core climbers willing to abrade their fingertips on tiny crimps, strain their biceps on overhanging rock, and curse the sky as they labored up routes that often are less than ten feet long. That is, boulderers. » Continue Reading.


Sunday, October 4, 2015

12 Short Hikes Near Keene Valley

Keene Valley coverKeene Valley was, the first time I saw it, jaw-droppingly astounding. All those peaks and ridges, jagged, monumental, stretching high into the sky, more and more dramatic as we drove up from the south.

It was a beautiful day, many years ago, and a friend and I had a vague idea about scaling a mountain or two. Maybe we’d go over The Brothers to Big Slide and down.

Well, we hiked and climbed a long way, but we were greenhorns, rather unprepared, and we never made it all the way around. One of us injured a leg; the other had an unfortunate encounter with a toxic plant. We had to turn around and go back the way we came. » Continue Reading.



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