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By Phil Brown
May 14, 2018
Visitors to Saranac Lake this summer will be greeted by an unpretty sight: six hundred feet of green fencing, construction cranes, and a giant temporary storage facility on the shore of Lake Flower. The state Department of Environmental Conservation plans to remove tons of sediment in Pontiac Bay contaminated with coal tar, coke, and ash…
By Phil Brown
May 11, 2018
The Adirondack Park Agency board voted Thursday to fast-track a number of proposals for the High Peaks Wilderness and Vanderhacker Wild Forest, including tens of thousands of acres of newly acquired state lands. Some environmental groups contend the agency is moving too fast. Among other things, the proposals call for parking lots that would allow…
By Phil Brown
May 8, 2018
Several years ago we skied two High Peaks in spring with Ron Konowitz. We did a few laps in the bowl on Algonquin Peak, climbed over Wright Peak, and descended the Wright Peak Ski Trail. The Wright Peak trail is one of the few trails designed for down-mountain skiing in the Adirondacks. It was built…
By Phil Brown
May 7, 2018
Soon after the state purchased the MacIntyre East Tract, Brian Mann and I explored it by paddling the Hudson and the Opalescent rivers. We launched our canoes beneath a bridge over the Hudson and took out at a spot where the river abuts the Tahawus Road. From the bridge we paddled down the Hudson through…
By Phil Brown
May 5, 2018
Chapel Pond Slab is one of the most popular rock-climbing venues in the Adirondacks, in part for its long, moderate routes, in part for its easy access. However, parking can be a problem. Most climbers park just off the shoulder of the often-busy Route 73. The state Department of Environmental Conservation aims to fix things.…
By Phil Brown
May 4, 2018
Hikers will be able to drive to within a tenth of a mile of Boreas Ponds, but most probably will have to park farther away, under a draft management plan written by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The Boreas Ponds parking area is just one of numerous proposals for other parking areas, trails, canoe…
By Phil Brown
May 1, 2018
After we got six inches of snow in Saranac Lake this week you could understand why people were wondering if winter would ever end. Never fear: summer is on its way, and Green Goat Maps can help you make the most of it. Green Goat recently published its “Lake Placid and Saranac Lake Cycling Map”…
By Phil Brown
April 6, 2018
The controversy over the use of a thirty-mile rail line in the central Adirondacks got a lot more interesting in recent weeks. The railroad that has been storing empty tank cars on the line–to the consternation of state and local officials–now wants out. Ed Ellis, president of Iowa Pacific Holdings, told Warren County supervisors in…
By Phil Brown
March 30, 2018
I try to ski Mount Marcy every year around my birthday (March 30), and so I did the trip Thursday with Brian Mann of North Country Public Radio. It was the first time I skied the summit in a whiteout. The weather was mild and overcast when we started up the Van Hoevenberg Trail from…
By Phil Brown
March 27, 2018
Syracuse University Press recently sent us one of its new books, Graves of Upstate New York by Chuck D’Imperio. The book provides brief biographies of one hundred notable personages buried in upstate New York, which the author defines as all of the state north of New York City. It also describes how to get to…