Careening down dirt trails on two wheels—usually after a quad-busting, lung-searing uphill slog—has become one of the fastest-growing outdoor activities in the Adirondacks.
April 2022
Preserving Our Night Skies
On the evening of January 2nd, Lake Placid attorney Amy Quinn took her dogs for a walk in her quiet neighborhood behind the village’s old railroad tracks. A lover of the night sky, she assumed her dog walk would offer up the heavens as she’d known them during her 19 years living in the region. Instead, she was surprised by the opposite. An intense ball of artificial light was emanating from the center of town. “Oh my God,” Quinn remembers thinking at the time, “this is glowing.”
What My Adirondack Family Taught Me About Survival
“Adirondackers are made of sterner stuff,” my mother would say as we passed Glens Falls, heading up to visit family. “They just keep going, no matter what the mountains throw at them.”
Photographer Nathan Farb at 80
Nathan Farb says he has only recently figured out how to finish the multimedia “vision quest project” that he’s been working on for years.
“When Smelt Are Running, It’s a Signal of Spring.”
“I tell my kids,” says Tom Conrad, “that when smelt are running, it’s a signal of spring, when everything wakes up after winter.” And those kids were in for a show last March, when Conrad and his partner, photographer Carrie Marie Burr, brought them to a brook near their home in Huletts Landing, on Lake George. That day, says Conrad, the coltsfoot was blooming—a sign for smelt spawning time, according to local lore—and the kids witnessed a narrow Lake George tributary thick with dark, torpedo-shaped fish. The boys learned not to disturb the brook’s sandy beds where the fishes’ eggs had been laid, and that up to four weeks later the young would hatch and drift back into the lake. It was a teachable moment. Living in the Adirondacks means that “nature is a huge part of our daily life,” says Conrad.
The Serpentarium
“NOT JUST A DISPLAY … BUT THRILLING SHOWS where LIVE REPTILES are HANDLED BY PROFESSIONAL HUNTERS. BRING YOUR CAMERA. YOU’LL WANT PICTURES.” How could a tourist driving busy Route 9 through the town of North Hudson escape the siren call of the New York Serpentarium? Opened in 1956 during a boom in Adirondack attractions, and marketing itself as “between Frontier Town and North Pole,” this small seasonal reptile zoo was well-positioned to capture attention.
Why a Veteran Climber Gets Close to the Edge
This scene plays out every December. I’m standing out on a newly frozen lake. The ice is glass, so thin that I can’t see any bubbles or cracks. It’s as if I’m standing in air. The water is clear, and I can see the rippled mud and the whitened sticks many feet below.
Whitcomb’s Garage Revs Up Whallonsburg’s Arts Scene
In October 1926, a fire erupted in the harness room of George Gladd’s Whallonsburg general store. Within minutes the flames jumped to Ralph Lobdell’s gristmill next door
What’s Next for Tupper Lake
On a recent trip to Park Street in Tupper Lake, I scored a tasty panini, a pretty pair of beaded earrings, fringed leather booties and a box of maple chaga tea. I’m from the North Country and I’ve known Tupper since I was a kid, but you can feel something exciting happening here.
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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