Innholdsfortegnelse for July/August 2024 i Adirondack Explorer

RANGER ROBBI MECUS LEAVES A TRAIL OF ADMIRERS GWENDOLYN CRAIG Alaska’s Mount Church appears in the camera’s view. It is an imposing pyramid rising from the snow in the climber’s paradise called the Ruth Gorge in Denali National Park. The voice of Robbi Mecus narrates the flight to this gateway, calling it “a world of rock and ice and snow and cold. It’s a land where things don’t live. Things don’t grow, and humans aren’t meant to be there.” It’s February 2023 and Mecus says she’s fighting imposter syndrome amid a mix of excitement and dread: “I’m not good enough to do this. I’m making a mistake.” The YouTube narrative is shot at one of the places Mecus loved the most, and the place she died in April, less than…

The Adirondack Park, containing more than 3,000 lakes, ponds, rivers and streams, is an angler’s paradise. Record brook trout can be caught in back-country ponds, northern pike can be plucked from big lakes and lake trout can be hooked with trolling lures. But despite the unspoiled look of Adirondack waters, many of the fish contain contaminants that can be harmful, especially to children and fetuses. The main concern is mercury, although scientists have been studying whether “forever chemicals,” such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are now making their way through the food chain. The issue of mercury isn’t a secret. Scientists raised the alarm about it being in the environment decades ago, along with acid rain, from coal-fired power plants in the Midwest and other sources. The state Department of…

At World War II’s conclusion, Republic Steel decided to treat its Moriah employees, many of them recent immigrants, to something unusual for the times: indoor plumbing. For those workers in the North Country’s ample industrial base, it was another sign of progress. “Today the Adirondacks is a good place to live,” said the Ticonderoga Sentinel in 1948. “There are good schools, movies, doctors, churches and a dependable income for those who want to earn it.” Yet, just one generation after the Sentinel story, this rosy economic and social fabric shredded, and many Adirondack communities unraveled as well. Unemployment in some areas of the park reached 20%, and in the latter part of the century was typically double the national average. Schools shut down as student populations plummeted. So, too, were…

Something big was happening on the morning of Saturday, May 11, in the normally quiet town of Westport. This Lake Champlain community, known for its Amtrak stop and small theater, was abuzz with activity. It was the start of the Grand Hike, an annual (at least before COVID-19) 14-mile organized walk sponsored by Champlain Area Trails (CATs) to promote some of the best—and newest—hiking paths in the region. Since 2008, CATs has been building what is now a network of 98 miles of trails, many on private land. “Our mission is to save land and make trails and connect people with nature,” said Christopher Maron, CATs executive director. The biggest challenge is the limited state forest. Much of the area is farms and private parcels. It’s not even an original…

State taxpayers have provided millions of dollars to the creation of two new hotels in a key Adirondack tourism region to stimulate the economy. But now that they're open, the occupancy numbers show the stimulus may be contributing to an oversupply of rooms, making it difficult for inn operators to profit. Every week thousands of beds lay empty in the key market of Essex County, data show. The downward trend could benefit rate-shopping consumers, industry officials say. But market tensions may result in casualties as unprofitable properties fall to banks or close. The impact isn’t clear, but if hotels deteriorate it can harm the guest experience and turn off tourists, tourism and event officials say. If occupancy rates remain low, hotels will be forced to take measures to stay afloat,…

“So, you need to get away from us for a couple of days?” my 13-year-old asked when I announced I was backpacking the 23-mile French Louie Trail Loop in the central Adirondacks. My motivation, I tried to explain, was about what I was headed to, woods and lakes, not about getting away from the family. Still, along with my tent and sleeping bag, I packed some guilt. There are no special trail markers for the Louie Loop. The only sign was at the parking lot shared with the trailhead for Pillsbury Mountain outside Speculator. French Louie was a logger and trapper who lived at a camp near Pillsbury Lake in the early 1900s. His life is chronicled in Harvey Dunham’s book “Adirondack French Louie: Early Life in the North Woods.”…

I am a lifelong birder and outdoors enthusiast, a retired conservation biologist and a wildlife photographer. Yet, at 77 years old and dealing with progressive axonal polyneu-ropathy, I can now just manage a slow walk, and thankfully, a bicycle. I love my e-bike. It provides exercise and allows me to reach places I can’t walk to in search of birds. I welcomed the opening of the Adirondack Rail Trail. From mid-May through June, the woods, fields, and marshes of the Adirondacks are bursting with life, most notably the singing of millions of neotropical migrants that have returned from their wintering grounds in the tropics. These insect-eaters include flycatchers, swallows, thrushes, warblers, orioles, tanagers and other birds. In mid-May I did some bike-birding on the Adirondack Rail Trail from the Lake…

If there’s an Adirondack plant recognized by more people than any other, it’s probably cattail. This vaguely grass-like citizen of our wetlands, not a grass at all but member of the worldwide cattail family, is a part of our flora that practically everybody recognizes but few know much about. I grew up near a cattail marsh in the Hudson Valley. Cattails seemed to be warmly appreciated by my parents and neighbors, partly, I suppose, because unlike most plants, they are easily identified. The seed clusters, shaped like a feline’s tail, last for months and are obvious identifiers. An appreciation of cattails may also originate with the late, great wild foods advocate Euell Gibbons. In his bestselling 1962 book, “Stalking the Wild Asparagus,” he described the plant as “the supermarket of…

Barbara Rice, executive director of the Adirondack Park Agency, last year described the proposed move of the agency’s headquarters to Saranac Lake as a way to get APA “out of the shadows here in Ray Brook.” The metaphor rings ironic today, as the APA has refused to publicly release the at least $60,000 feasibility study of the move—which, of course, was paid for by New York taxpayers. APA justifies the concealment by citing a clause in the Freedom of Information Law that allows public documents to be kept secret if they are considered “intra-agency material.” Maybe, technically, APA has the right to shield the study from citizens’ review, as the agency’s counsel insists. But Rice and others serving in government might need to be reminded that it takes more than…

The Boquet River’s South Fork spills over a steep staircase of boulders as it rushes under a stone bridge holding up Route 73 and cars headed to Keene Valley, Lake Placid and Saranac Lake. This river, unlike any other in New York, carves a shallow gorge along the roadway on its 47-mile plunge to Lake Champlain. To some, the Boquet is overlooked and under-appreciated. But a band of devoted volunteers are working to ensure it gets the attention it merits. They’re building up a friends group like never before. “People really want a river association—something active,” said Vic Putman, president of the Boquet River Association, (BRASS). “I was fed up with not seeing stuff get done.” Along the banks A herd path uphill of Route 73 rises along the South…

We sat by the fire in the Adirondack Loj. Someone started playing guitar. A group of us at a picnic table drank beer and sang along to the Johnny Cash and John Prine tunes. We were participating in the Adirondack Mountain Club’s (ADK) Volunteer Training Symposium at Heart Lake. Cliques formed, some of members who volunteered together since the 1970s, or those of various chapters. I found myself in a smaller group—the few under the age of 40. The lack of younger participants was pointed out a few times to us individually and now collectively. A four-decade ADK member asked us solemnly, "Why aren't there more young people here?” My group struggled to answer. We were there, and ecstatic to be. Each of us shared how much we appreciated the…

In 2009, I found my happy place and purchased a half-built, affordable chalet on Lower Chateaugay Lake. The 1960s-era camp offered a natural sandy beach, a rarity in the Adirondacks, and clear water. Growing up in Saranac Lake, I dreamed of owning my own slice of lakeshore heaven. Now, after 15 years of sweat equity, my Chateaugay Lake property is a lot of work and less pleasurable due to Eurasian watermilfoil, an aquatic invasive species. For my first few summers on the lake, my family, friends and I finished the camp and toured the waters on our three kayaks, a pad-dleboard, a canoe and a pedalboat. We traveled on the lower lake or down the mile-long outlet to the dam every day or two. We fished for bass from a…

Warblers are the colorful “butterflies” of the bird world that fill our forests with lovely songs in spring. There are 53 warbler species in North America. With nearly 30 breeding in northern New York, it is one of the best locations to see and hear them. The mourning warbler is one of the most sought-after by birders visiting the Adirondacks. It is an elusive and hard to see species spending most of its time low in dense thickets. In migration, it is solitary and forages in shrubby vegetation. Birders to our south rarely catch a view of this skulking warbler as it heads north in spring, so it is commonly on their wish list of species to see in our area. Mourning warblers are elegant looking birds. They have olive-green…