The only independent, nonprofit news organization solely dedicated to reporting on the Adirondack Park.
John Caffry and state file court papers in defense of the public’s right to paddle through private property. By Kenneth Aaron A state appeals court is expected to hear arguments this fall in a trespassing lawsuit filed against Adirondack Explorer Editor Phil Brown after he paddled through private land on a remote waterway that connects…
ON ONE OF the first warm days of May, Penfield Homestead Museum President Joan Hunsdon and her colleagues were cheerily undertaking some spring cleaning in advance of opening for the summer. Leaves required raking, photos had to return to their places on the walls of the entry parlor, and virtually every room of the house…
Adopted fifty years ago, the Wilderness Act reflects the nation’s growing appreciation of unspoiled lands. By Philip Terrie On a warm September day in 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed what is now recognized as one of the most significant legislative acts in American environmental history. This was the national Wilderness Act. Before then, federal lands,…
After days of rain, a family beats the blahs by climbing Debar Mountain, a former fire-tower peak in the northern Adirondacks. By Lisa Densmore Ballard SOME DAYS I need to go hiking. I don’t want an epic outing, just some time in the woods to clear my head, enough of a climb to exercise my body,…
Roaring Brook Falls is just one of many superb routes to be included in a new book on Adirondack climbing. By Phil Brown IN SOME RESPECTS, Roaring Brook Falls isn’t such a great climb. The rock can be loose, mossy, or wet. And there are places where you can’t find cracks to insert protective gear—cams…
While Lake George, Lake Placid, and Old Forge thrive on visitor spending, many Adirondack communities continue to struggle economically. By Brian Mann Drive through Lake George, and you can see evidence that tourism is booming. Traffic is heavy, especially in summer when Lake George runs full-throttle. There are plans for a major hotel and a reinvention of downtown that includes…
ON HISTORIC land alongside a well-trodden passage between two lakes in the northern forest dwells a storyteller. She has practiced her craft before audiences from school kids to prisoners for many years, sharing tales of her own creating as well as traditional stories from around the world. There came a time following the illness and…
Governor Andrew Cuomo has touted the $47 million land acquisition as a boon for the Park’s economy, but questions and challenges remain. By Brian Mann TWO YEARS AGO, when Governor Andrew Cuomo revived the massive Finch, Pruyn land deal, first engineered by the Adirondack Nature Conservancy in 2007, he shifted the terms of a long-running…
I’ve hiked Goodnow Mountain only once before, while working on my guidebook Hiking the Adirondacks. I wonder if anything has changed in the five years since.
Hundreds of tankers regularly roll past Lake Champlain, raising fears about an environmental or community disaster. By David Sommerstein ON A SUMMER night last July, the charming French-Canadian town of Lac Megantic literally exploded. A tanker train carrying crude oil derailed and caught fire, incinerating much of the downtown and killing forty-seven people.…