Moose population rises to 800

Moose are on the move this time of year. Photo by Larry Master, www.masterimages.org

The number of moose in New York State has risen to about eight hundred, an increase of three hundred from just three years ago, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. About a decade ago, there were just fifty to a hundred moose in the state.

“The return of the moose has been one of New York’s environmental success stories,” DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis said in a news release. “In the last four decades, moose, bald eagles, peregrine falcons, ravens and ospreys have established themselves in the North Country after long absences. … It’s wonderful to see the progress that’s been made.”

That’s the good news. The bad news is that motorists have more to worry about. Last year, the state saw ten collisions between moose and vehicles. Fortunately, there were no human fatalities.

Most moose live in the Adirondacks, and they are most active this time year—the fall rutting season. They often are on the move at dawn and dusk, when visibility is poor.

DEC offers the following advice to motorists:

• Use extreme caution when driving at dawn or dusk, especially during September and October.
• Reduce your speed, stay alert and watch the roadsides.
• Slow down when approaching moose standing near the roadside, as they may bolt at the last minute when a car comes closer, often running into the road.
• Moose may travel in pairs or small groups, so if a moose is spotted crossing the road, be alert for others that may follow.
• Make sure all vehicle occupants wear seatbelts and children are properly restrained in child safety seats.
• Use flashers or a headlight signal to warn other drivers when moose are spotted near the road.
• Motorcyclists should be especially alert for moose.             
• If a moose does run in front of your vehicle, brake firmly but do not swerve. Swerving can cause a vehicle-vehicle collision or cause the vehicle to hit a fixed object such as a tree or pole.
• If a moose is hit and killed by a vehicle, the motorist should not remove the animal unless a permit is obtained from the investigating officer at the scene of the accident.

Eagle Slide video

Photographer Carl Heilman II on the approach to the Eagle Slide. Photo by Phil Brown.

Anybody who pays attention to the photo credits in the Adirondack Explorer knows how much we rely on the work of Carl Heilman II to enliven our pages. In our next issue, we plan to run Carl’s photos of the Eagle Slide on Giant Mountain–which many people regard as the most spectacular slide in the Adirondacks.

I climbed the Eagle last month with Carl and Eli Bickford, a twelve-year-old boy who loves slides. Besides taking photos, Carl shot the video embedded below. The short clip shows me ascending a crack near the top of the slide. I advise those wondering about the steepness of the Eagle to watch it.

Just a background note: I climbed the crack twice, because the video recorder was not turned on the first time. At the start of the clip, I am getting in position for the second attempt. Also, I had badly scraped my fingers in a slip earlier in the day, so they were more or less useless at this point. I relied on my palms and my feet to get me up.

Look for a full report in the November/December issue.

Your age in mountains per day

If you walk to the end of this ridge, you'll have bagged two High Peaks. Photo by Phil Brown.

For all you strong hikers out there … I don’t know how old you are, but the ageless mountains can figure this out for me.

First, tell us how many High Peaks you can climb in a day. Any strong hiker can climb one, and we won’t believe you if you say you can climb ten. So your answer must be between 2 and 9. Now follow these steps:

1. Multiply this number by 2.
2. Add 5.
3. Multiply the result by 50.
4. If you’ve already had your birthday this year, add 1760. If you haven’t, add 1759.
5. Now subtract the four-digit year that you were born.

You should end up with a three-digit number. The first number (in the hundreds place) is the number you picked. The second two numbers are your age. (If you are less than 10, there will be a zero before your age.)

What is the source of the ancient wisdom of the mountains? I’ll reveal that in a future post or comment.

The debate that won’t die

The State Land Master Plan calls for the removal of the Hurricane Mountain fire tower.

The Adirondack Park Agency’s recommendation to keep the fire towers on St. Regis and Hurricane mountains but prohibit volunteer groups from fixing them up is unlikely to please either side in this long-running debate.

Dan Plumley of Adirondack Wild, a new environmental organization, argues that it merely ensures that the debate will continue indefinitely.

“The agency is taking a weak, muddling position,” Plumley said. “For the most part they’re choosing to punt the question.”

Plumley argues that the towers should be moved from the mountaintops to locations within nearby communities. He said the towers could become a tourist attraction. “Many thousands more people then would get to see them,” he said.

At least some of the APA board members also are displeased with the recommendation. Lani Ulrich and Bill Thomas, both of whom live in the Adirondack Park, said at Friday’s meeting that they’d rather see the towers rehabilitated and left in place.

 “People who want to save the towers are willing to raise money to do it,” Thomas said.

The board will vote on the towers’ fate at a future meeting.

The Park’s State Land Master Plan calls for the removal of both towers, which are located in the St. Regis Canoe Area and the Hurricane Mountain Primitive Area. Under the master plan, towers are not allowed in Canoe Areas. The plan contemplates reclassifying Hurricane as a Wilderness Area once the fire tower is removed. Towers are not allowed in Wilderness Areas.

Under the APA staff’s proposal, a small portion of land under the St. Regis tower would be reclassified as Primitive, while the land under the Hurricane tower would retain its Primitive classification (the rest of the Hurricane Mountain Primitive Area would be reclassified as Wilderness).

James Connolly, the APA’s deputy director, said the staff wanted to reach a balance between the competing values of wilderness protection and historic preservation. The proposal would allow the state Department of Environmental Conservation to do minor repairs to prevent the towers from collapsing, but major rehabilitation, such as replacing steps, would be prohibited. The towers could remain indefinitely, Connolly said, though the State Land Master Plan would still contemplate their eventual removal.

Those calling for the towers’ removal point out that hikers can enjoy wide-open views from both summits without climbing the towers. In fact, steps are missing from both structures, making them inaccessible. DEC estimates that fixing up the towers to allow public access would cost roughly $50,000 each.

What would you like to see happen to the towers?

The case against cairns

Earlier this week, I wrote a short item for Adirondack Almanack on cairns. Many people are fascinated by these heaps of stone often found on bare ridges and summits. Tom Woodman, our publisher, wrote about cairns in a column in the Explorer last year. Adirondack Life ran a photo feature on cairns last year. And Mary Thill wrote about cairns in an earlier Adirondack Almanack piece.

Cairn on East Dix.

Not everyone, though, likes cairns. I discovered this after posting my piece. As one reader commented, “The last thing I want to see on public land is someone else’s form of personal expression, whether it is a cross, spray painted graffiti, or a cairn built by a some hippy or Andy Goldsworthy wannabe.”

Some readers even argued that cairns constructed by the public are illegal.

It turns out they’re right.

Unless you work for the state Department of Environmental Conservation, you are not allowed to build a cairn in the Forest Preserve without a permit, according to agency spokesman David Winchell. DEC regulations state: “No person shall erect, construct, install, maintain, store, discard or abandon any structure or any other property on State lands or subsequently use such structure or property on State lands, except if the structure or property is authorized by the department.”

Does this mean you should look over your shoulder the next time you add a stone to the giant cairn on Skylight? That’s probably not necessary.

“I can’t recall any instance of someone being charged with constructing a cairn, not to say that it hasn’t occurred,” Winchell said.

In theory, though, you could be ticketed and fined up to $250.

I guess that beats busting rocks in a prison.

Davis leaving council

John Davis is stepping down as conservation director of the Adirondack Council to work for the Wildlands Network, a nonprofit organization working to preserve natural corridors for wildlife migration.

John Davis

“It has been a great five years working on conservation strategies inside the Park,” Davis said in a news release today.  “Now, I get to think about how the Adirondacks can remain connected, or reconnect, to other major conservation areas on the East Coast.”

Besides working for the council for the past five years, Davis has been a proponent of the Split Rock Wildway, a wildlife corridor that would connect the Champlain Valley with the High Peaks region. The Explorer published a story on this initiative in our January/February 2006 issue.

Davis lives in a small cabin in Westport and commutes to the council’s office in Elizabethtown by bicycle or skis. He has logged some twenty-five thousand miles going to and from work. He should be plenty fit for his Wildlands Network assignment: hiking, paddling, cycling, and skiing through the East’s largest wildlands and waterways and studying the biological connections between them.

On his treks, Davis will be accompanied by naturalists, biologists, and others. He will write about his journeys and the efforts to preserve wildlife habitat.

“It saddens us to say goodbye to John Davis,” said Adirondack Council Executive Director Brian Houseal, who hired Davis in 2005.  “He is a highly valued member of our staff, a well-respected conservationist and national leader in the area of wildlife habitat connectivity.  More than that, he has become part of our family here at the council and we will miss his companionship and his sense of humor.  We wish him the greatest success in his future endeavors.”

Davis will leave his post at the end of the year.

Rafting guides accused of reckless endangerment

Blue Ledge in the Hudson Gorge. Photo copyright by Carl Heilman II.

The owner of the Hudson River Rafting Company and one of his guides face charges of reckless endangerment for allegedly sending customers on whitewater trips without licensed guides.

Patrick Cunningham, the company’s owner, and Heath Bromley, the guide, pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges in Indian Lake Town Court, according to the Hamilton County district attorney’s office.

The charges of second-degree reckless endangerment stem from two separate incidents last month. Details of the charges are contained in court documents filed by Forest Ranger Steven Ovitt.

On August 10, Bromley “falsely” stated to Greg Kaasman, an employee of Longacre Expeditions, that the law does not require licensed guides to accompany customers on whitewater trips through the Hudson Gorge, according to Ovitt. The document says Bromley “persuaded Mr. Kaasman to permit such unguided trip by 11 children who were participating in a program sponsored by Longacre Expeditions.”

On August 12, Cunningham allegedly failed to provide a licensed guide to a customer named Robert Carson. Ovitt says Cunningham, “after being notified by Mr. Carson that he had no experience in whitewater on any type of raft, kayak or other boat, did importune Mr. Carson to attempt the trip in an inflatable kayak giving no instructions to Mr. Carson.”

In both cases, the court documents allege that the defendants engaged in reckless behavior “which created a substantial risk of serious physical injury to others.”

It could not be learned whether anyone was hurt in either incident. Both the district attorney’s office and the state Department of Environmental Conservation refused to discuss the case.

Reached by telephone, Cunningham also refused to discuss the case, though he said that customers sometimes request to captain their own rafts, “and I believe that’s legal in every river in the United States.”

Cunningham and Bromley also are charged with violating a DEC regulation that prohibits people from engaging in any activity on state land “which violates the Penal Law.”

Hudson River Rafting Company is one of the oldest rafting outfits operating on the Hudson. The seventeen-mile Hudson trip begins in the hamlet of Indian Lake and ends in the hamlet of North Creek. The first three and a half miles are on the Indian River, which has class 3 (intermediate) rapids. Rafters then enter the Hudson and eventually pass through the heavier rapids of the Hudson Gorge.

Depending on the season, Hudson River Rafting charges $80 to $105 per person. The company’s website promises “a fun, safe and exciting trip.”

Fire tower’s outlook improves

View of the High Peaks from Mount Adams. Copyright photo by Carl Heilman II.

The fire tower on Mount Adams offers one of the most breathtaking vistas in the Adirondacks, as can be seen in the above photo by Carl Heilman II. It shows the view to the northeast, including Algonquin, Colden, Marcy, and many other High Peaks.

Unfortunately, the tower has been closed to the public since a wind storm blew off the cab’s roof a few years ago. With some luck and hard work, though, the tower may soon be reopened.

The AdirondackHighpeaks Foundation has raised $5,000 to rehabilitate the tower. Besides replacing the roof, the nonprofit organization plans to install new steps and safety fencing. This summer, volunteers toted more than three hundred pounds of lumber to the Adams summit.

Scott Ireland, one of the foundation’s directors, said he hopes the work can be done this fall.

Much of the money for the project came from a raffle for a cedar-strip canoe made by Mike Tomaszewski, a frequent poster on ADKforum, a website affiliated with the foundation.

Tomaszewski spent three months and countless hours building the canoe in his garage in Schenectady and chronicled his progress on ADKforum. His posts and photographs amounted to an online tutorial on boat building. Click here to view his posts.

At the time, the forum’s members didn’t know that Tomaszewski intended to donate the canoe to the foundation.

“You could see the love and time and pride he put into it,” Ireland said, “and then to give it away was just amazing.”

The raffle earned the ADKHighpeaks Foundation $2,000.

Mike Nolan, a New Jersey resident, won the canoe. For its maiden voyage, he took the boat to Stillwater Reservoir, where he christened it Bertha. Of course, you can read all about it on ADKforum. Just click here.

Mike Nolan with the cedar-strip canoe he won in a raffle.

A hoppy meal

Luckily, a snake's stomach is bigger than its eyes. Photo by Mike Lynch.

Mike Lynch, an outdoors writer for the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, took this photo of a garter snake eating a toad near Raquette Falls last week.

On his blog True North, Mike says it took the snake about a half-hour to swallow the amphibian. He posted a later photo on his blog that shows only the toad’s legs dangling out of the snake’s mouth.

One of the northernmost-dwelling snakes in the world, the garter exists throughout New York State and is by far the most common snake found in the Adirondacks. Click here to see distribution maps of all the snakes in the state.

Scientists once believed that the garter was non-poisonous, but recent research shows that it produces a mild neurotoxin, according to Wikipedia. A bite may cause a rash or swelling in humans.  Another website says its saliva is toxic to small animals.

Garter snakes often secrete a foul whitish substance if picked up. I saw this firsthand when my excitable boy of a son, then twelve or so, found a giant garter on Pillsbury Mountain years ago.

Adirondack cliff jumping

Bluff Island on Lower Saranac Lake. Photo by Susan Bibeau.

Bluff Island is a well-known landmark on Lower Saranac Lake. It’s easily reached by a short paddle from the Route 3 bridge west of the village of Saranac Lake. Head north through First Pond and enter a channel. As you emerge from the channel, you’ll see Bluff Island straight ahead, less than a mile from the highway.

The south side of the island features a seventy-foot cliff that rises straight up from the water. Occasionally, rock climbers scale the precipice. The guidebook Adirondack Rock says of Bluff: “it’s one-star climbing in a five-star location.”

Bluff Island is probably better known for cliff jumping. In fact, the silent-movie serial The Perils of Pauline included a scene in which the heroine leaped off the cliff on horseback.

Most people don’t jump from the top of the cliff. Once you get up there, you realize that seventy feet is a long way down. You could get hurt. And people have.

Nevertheless, daredevils continue to take the plunge. Chris Knight, a reporter with the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, recently shot this video of his friend leaping from the top. We recommend that you enjoy the jump strictly as a vicarious pleasure.