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.