Guide to the Great Outdoors 2022

Adirondack Life

Adirondack Life magazine is your source for the best of New York's Adirondack Park.

Adirondack Life1 min read
Adirondack Life
CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Lisa Lincoln CONTROLLER Joni Manning EXECUTIVE EDITOR Annie Stoltie EXECUTIVE EDITOR Annie Stoltie SENIOR EDITORS Lisa Bramen, Niki Kourofsky DESIGNER Mark Mahorsky MANAGER Linda Bedard SALES Rob Igoe Jr. COORDINATOR Karly Garren
Adirondack Life1 min read
Editor’s Note
That’s photographer Lauren Breedlove, below, taking in a Raquette Lake sunrise. Lauren grew up in the Adirondack foothills and now explores the world as a travel photographer/writer. Still, she says the Adirondack Park is one of her most favorite pla
Adirondack Life8 min read
Back To The Water
Last spring, six paddlers representing three Haudenosaunee nations—two Mohawks from Akwesasne, two Oneidas and two Onondagas—began a journey along the Northern Forest Canoe Trail (NFCT). Hickory Edwards, a member of the Onondaga Nation and one of the
Adirondack Life4 min read
Island Time
Being neither sheik nor oligarch, and yachtless, I had always figured vacationing on a private island wasn’t in the cards. Then, after I moved to the Adirondack foothills in 2005, I learned about the state-run campsites on the islands peppering Lake
Adirondack Life4 min read
Myth Information
Scott van Laer, a recently retired Department of Environmental Conservation forest ranger, knows a thing or two about how to safely recreate outdoors. After three decades working to protect the environment while educating, rescuing and recovering fol
Adirondack Life4 min read
No Bull
When I told my 16-year-old daughter I was going on a seven-or-so-mile round-trip hike alone last September, she acted like I was marching to my doom. Her vote of no-confidence was, I thought, laughable. Sure, I don’t generally hike alone. And, yes, I
Adirondack Life8 min read
Cedar River Homecoming
I’m sitting in a canoe in the middle of Cedar River Flow, hoping it won’t capsize. Not just because it’s loaded to the gunwales with backpacks and other camping gear, but because my 92-year-old father is in the stern, and he’s six-foot-four and not q
Adirondack Life3 min read
Long-range views
IN 1973, WE VISITED FRIENDS IN LAKE Placid, on our first trip to the Adirondacks. Starting with that visit, which included a hike around Avalanche Lake and up the Colden Trap Dike, the Adirondacks became our favorite place for hiking and camping. Tha
Adirondack Life5 min read
Fly Girl
While there are many flies that are productive in the Adirondacks, the following were designed by local anglers, with local waters the inspiration for the patterns. You can’t talk about flies for the Adirondacks without mentioning Fran Betters. He wa
Adirondack Life3 min read
Over easy
BY THE TIME I REACHED THE FIRST CLIMB of the Over Easy Mountain Bike Route, the whole canopy bowed with the weight of the rain. My single-track ribbon had become a river full of frogs. This is not an exaggeration. My back tire was leaving a wake. Tur
Adirondack Life2 min read
Up And (far) Away
we grew up in the Adirondacks, so my boyfriend and I and two of our friends had explored a good amount of the region. Summer here is always busy, but the pandemic added to the influx of new visitors looking to connect with nature. This fueled our nee
Adirondack Life3 min read
Pick your adventure
THE CLEAR POOLS DOTTING GILL BROOK are popular places to cool off on the way to or from other hot spots in the Adirondack Mountain Reserve—Indian Head, the Colvin Range, Nippletop—but the waterway can be its own destination. The Gill Brook trail foll
Adirondack Life3 min read
MASSAWEPIE Journal
BEGINNING IN EARLY SPRING 2020, I started hiking the trails at Massawepie, a Scout camp 12 miles west of Tupper Lake. In my younger years I was a camper and on staff at the camp, and I’ve been a volunteer there ever since. In the early stages of the
Adirondack Life5 min read
Cave Man
My forays into the backcountry usually involve slides, cliffs or summits. But some obscure curiosity occasionally draws my attention elsewhere. I love natural stone formations—divots from differential weathering, potholes in streambeds, erratics and
Adirondack Life9 min read
Peaks and Ponds
Peaks and Ponds is a collaborative work written by Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) staff members in honor of ADK’s centennial, 1922 to 2022. The organization was founded by a group of people who recognized the need to protect and preserve the Great No
Adirondack Life2 min read
Fine Dining & Lodging
The Waldheim. Seventeen cottages with fireplaces overlooking scenic Big Moose Lake. Established in 1904, The Waldheim has changed little since. Rates include three delicious meals served daily in a central dining room. Unstructured opportunities allo
Adirondack Life8 min read
Social Climbing
When I start to miss my hometown in the Adirondacks, I leave my Brooklyn apartment and start walking south. After a mile and a half, I reach the northern edge of Prospect Park, but I don’t head into the woods. Instead, I enter the Brooklyn Museum, hi
Adirondack Life5 min read
It’s Complicated
Pitchoff Mountain, nine miles east of Lake Placid, has two distinct personalities. Between the trailhead for the West trail and the summit, it’s a steady ascent up a well-trodden path. Then this trek turns ledgy and downright dastardly, at least in o
Adirondack Life6 min read
Making Connections
My TOBIE trail adventure last summer was perfectly planned—in my head, at least. With a pledge to make my 2021 Adirondack vacation compensate for the one I missed in 2020 due to the pandemic, I knew exactly how I’d tackle the 16-mile trail connecting

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