New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Mount Marcy

Forest Rangers Respond to Several Adirondack Search & Rescue Missions

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Mount Marcy helicopter hoist rescue in September 2023 (DEC Photo)New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents throughout New York State. Working with other state agencies, local emergency response organizations and volunteer search and rescue groups, Forest Rangers locate and extract lost, injured or distressed people.

What follows is a report, prepared by DEC, of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers. [Read more…] about Forest Rangers Respond to Several Adirondack Search & Rescue Missions

Adirondack Conservation News: 5 Things You Need to Know

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rare dwarf willow found on Algonquin Peak in 2023This round-up of Adirondack conservation news is a collection of the most current events taking place in New York’s Adirondack Park, a unique national treasure and legacy we inherited over 100 years ago that we must protect for future generations. [Read more…] about Adirondack Conservation News: 5 Things You Need to Know

Forest Rangers Make Rescues at Phelps Mtn, Marcy, Peekamoose Blue Hole, Kaaterskill Falls

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Rescue on Phelps Mountain in July 2023 (DEC photo)New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents throughout New York State. Working with other state agencies, local emergency response organizations and volunteer search and rescue groups, Forest Rangers locate and extract lost, injured or distressed people.

What follows is a report, prepared by DEC, of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers. [Read more…] about Forest Rangers Make Rescues at Phelps Mtn, Marcy, Peekamoose Blue Hole, Kaaterskill Falls

Report: Crowds Impacting Adirondack High Peaks

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Crowding on Cascade Mountain, eastern High Peaks Wilderness by Dan PlumleyThe Adirondack Council has released a report commissioned in early 2021 looking at visitation and recreation patterns in specific areas of the High Peaks Wilderness Complex in the Adirondacks. [Read more…] about Report: Crowds Impacting Adirondack High Peaks

Woman & Two Dogs Rescued In The Adirondack High Peaks

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forest ranger logoNew York State Forest Rangers rescued a woman and her two dogs who became lost while hiking Mount Marcy, New York State’s highest mountain, located in the Adirondack High Peaks.

On November 15th at 2:45 pm, the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Ray Brook Dispatch requested Forest Ranger assistance with the search for a hiker on Mount Marcy. The 35-year-old from Toronto became lost while hiking with her two dogs and called for help from her cell phone. [Read more…] about Woman & Two Dogs Rescued In The Adirondack High Peaks

Adirondack Hikers Rescued By Helicopter In Two Separate Incidents

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Hoist Rescue at Saddleback Cliffs in October 2022 (photo provided by DEC)On Sunday, October 30th, at 1:30 pm, while New York State Forest Rangers were battling two wildfires in other parts of the State, DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch requested Forest Ranger assistance for a hiker with a lower leg injury near the summit of Mount Marcy.

Due to the location and severity of the injury, Rangers Lewis and Praczkajlo called for New York State Police (NYSP) Aviation assistance. [Read more…] about Adirondack Hikers Rescued By Helicopter In Two Separate Incidents

Teddy Roosevelt’s Wild Ride to the Presidency

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On September 9th through 11th Newcomb, in Essex County at the heart of the Adirondacks, once again celebrates 26th President Theodore Roosevelt, who was vacationing at the Tahawus Club there in 1901 when the wheels leading to his presidency were set in motion.

Roosevelt had come to the Tahawus Club, a hunting and fishing retreat created in the 1870s on the site of early mining efforts on the uppermost reaches of the Hudson River, as a guest of one of its members. His arrival had been delayed by the assassination attempt on William McKinley, but after a trip to Buffalo where the stricken President was recovering, Roosevelt felt assured that he could join his family at Tahawus. [Read more…] about Teddy Roosevelt’s Wild Ride to the Presidency

The Adirondack Raised Relief Map: Some History

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Paul Schaefer, back to camera, hosts an Adirondack discussion with, left to right, Joe Martens, Governor Mario Cuomo’s environmental secretary, standing in background with film camera Carl Schaefer, Paul’s brother, seated Dave Gibson with the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks, Dan Luciano, deputy environmental secretary for the governor, and on the stool Tom Cobb, Trustee and later President of the Board of the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks. Photo by Ken Rimany.The Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks had hired me the previous winter. It was now the spring of 1987. Windows and doors were again opening to the hope and then the reality of spring’s warmth. The director of the Schenectady Museum William (Bill) Verner had given me, practically rent free, a desk and telephone from which to begin work as the Association’s first Executive Director in over 60 years.

It helped that Bill was a member of my board of trustees, and that his knowledge and love for the Adirondacks and Adirondack history from a home base in Long Lake was long and deep. [Read more…] about The Adirondack Raised Relief Map: Some History

Adirondack Park Permits: Could Johns Brook Valley Be Next? Some History

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Johns Brook LodgeThe institution of a permit system at the Ausable Club’s Adirondack Mountain Reserve surprised and confused some hikers and would-be hikers. Many didn’t realize that third most popular High Peaks Wilderness Area access point, through the Club’s lands in the Upper Ausable Valley, was privately owned.

A similar situation holds at the Johns Brook Valley, another popular access point just northwest. That area is owned by the Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK), it faces similar parking challenges and is just as susceptible to a future permit system. [Read more…] about Adirondack Park Permits: Could Johns Brook Valley Be Next? Some History

Marcy’s Trap Dike: Adirondack Climbing Adventures

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kevin on lead I often get in a slight mental funk a few days before a climbing trip into Panther Gorge in the Adirondacks. As much as I love the outings and head into the remote chasm to relax, the preceding days are often filled with restless nights and evenings spent studying photos or contemplating the logistics of the day.

The more uncertain the target, the louder the background buzz of thoughts. The flurry of thoughts was almost deafening before this trip since I knew the target was difficult and since I’d made multiple attempts over the years. [Read more…] about Marcy’s Trap Dike: Adirondack Climbing Adventures