From the river, the mouth of OK Slip Brook is little more than a comma in the epic poem of a trip down the Hudson Gorge.
Guide to the Great Outdoors 2017
The Full Range
photograph by Jamie West McGiver Hiking, swimming and killer views—this Lake George trek has it all It’s the backside of a gargantuan dragon. The head is miles north, up in the heights, and the spine ripples and bumps down over huge bony plates to the tail,...
Come Back Story
My first memory of hiking in the Adirondacks, as a 10-year-old about to start sleep-away camp in Lake Placid, ends with me sobbing in the nurse’s office. The hiking itself—along the Ausable River with my mom the day before—wasn’t the problem; it was that I’d been eaten alive by blackflies. So I stood there, at Camp Treetops, with my neck swollen, red and itchy from dozens of bites; plus, I was terrified of being left at camp for seven weeks. What if I hated living in a platform tent all summer, at the edge of a wilderness filled with biting insects, and 10 hours from home and the city I was used to? I remember the nurse telling my mom, “Just leave now. It’s better; she’ll be fine.” And I was. That same evening I wrote in a postcard home (in a message that entered family lore): “Dear Mom, Dad and Sarah, I’m sorry to tell you this, but I don’t miss you very much.”
Family Style
Have you ever been on a foggy lakeshore early in the morning and seen a black bear wandering toward you? Or awakened to find the world transformed by dew-laden spider webs in the trees? Or truly slept under the stars?
Three Days in the Santanonis
My three young sons are tough and feral boys. Over the long winter, hockey players and wrestlers, puppies in a pile when shut in at home. With the spring thaw, though, I hear the mountains calling, and together we vent that pent up energy at the hiking trail.
But there was a moment last summer—the 26th of August, too late in the afternoon, 50 feet below the summit of Panther Peak, in the remote Santanoni Range—when, tough or not, I feared I had pushed my boys too far.
Patch Work
When bragging rights and Instagram shots just aren’t enough, you can prove your outdoor prowess through well-earned colorful souvenirs. From Lake George to the Five Ponds Wilderness Area there is a wide variety of award programs tailored to Adirondack enthusiasts of all abilities.
The Chester Challenge
When Fred Monroe was a kid he would take guests at his parents’ cottages on Loon Lake up nearby Stewart Mountain for a quarter. Now that easy hike on private land is free, thanks to an ambitious project spearheaded by the former town supervisor. Monroe saw the runaway success of the Saranac Lake 6er program, which combines more than 30 miles of existing trails on state land near that village; people who complete all the hikes earn a patch (see page “Pins and Patches”). He wanted to bring that tourism boost to his own backyard. But there was a catch.
On Sale Now
December 2025
Pulling back the curtain on the rough-and-tumble world of backcountry guides, plus Old Forge’s beloved Strand Theatre, the life of a master woodworker, Santas on the slopes and more!
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