Indholdsfortegnelse for March/April 2024 i Adirondack Life

MOOSE LOVE Thank you for sharing the wonderful story about “the thrill of meeting moose” (Short Carries, February 2024). Uma the moose is beautifully homely! A once-in-a-lifetime experience and thrill for sure for Joanne at Great Camp Uncas. And Jeff Nadler’s video—wow! Thomas SchneebergerLowville, NY SKI LESSON I enjoyed the Snow Days issue of Adirondack Life. The Northern Lights section especially caught my eye, as the poster in the picture depicts the North Creek Railway Depot in the early days of “Ride Up-Slide Down” skiing. That was a phrase coined by Bill Gluesing (of General Electric House of Magic fame) to promote skiing in the area. Your article states that “an enterprising pair of locals rigged up a rope tow using parts from a ’29 Buick.” My father, Carl Schaefer…

This underwater track in Lake George—just off “dog beach”—was built by the D&H Railroad in 1910 to launch boats that had been delivered to the shore via train. The 800-foot track was laid out after the lake had iced over; as the ice melted, the track settled onto the railbed that had been prepared below. By 1950 the line had become unprofitable and the D&H ripped up all but the final 200 feet of track, which was in water deep enough—five to 15 feet—for the rails not to pose a navigational hazard.…

Leona whines into my face. She knows I’ll crawl out of bed, step into my boots, bundle into my husband’s heavy coat, and follow her outside. She’s a 40-pound contradiction—wants walks in the deep of night, stalks away when her name is called, and is not the Labrador retriever that the shelter promised, but a smooshed-face, bat-eared, snaggletoothed mutt. But I love her. And now, as we walk into the night, the dark swallows her until my eyes adjust. It is deep winter and beyond cold. My tiny hamlet, at the base of Jay Mountain, is absolutely still. No wind, no crunch of tires on packed snow. The Ausable River, practically in my front yard, is frozen over, pausing the usual whoosh that’s become the soundtrack of my life. The…

IN THE ADIRONDACKS, we’re so immersed in beauty that it’s no wonder our photography contest attracts an embarrassment of riches. But this year we were even more blown away by our readers’ creativity and the eye-catching variety of scenes and perspectives. The best sparked a deep sense of connection—to well-loved places, memorable times, wild neighbors and even a best friend. Another bonus: shots that documented a slice of last year, such as the haze from the Canadian wildfires that framed a Lake George heron. Congratulations to all of our winners. Grand-prize and first-through third-place honorees will receive a commemorative piece of pottery by Sue Young, of Jay. The winning photographs and additional honorable mentions will be posted on www.adirondacklife.com beginning March 1. WILDLIFE FIRST PLACE Heron in Tree on Tongue…

On any given day through the heart of the 20th century, blue-collar workers in Saranac Lake could be found pounding burgers at the Dew Drop Inn on Broadway, right alongside bejeweled ladies from Upper Saranac nibbling on seafood platters, boisterous, five-o’clock-somewhere barflies, politicians feasting on New York strips and college kids tossing pizza crusts to the ducks drifting by on the river that flowed a few feet beneath the cantilevered dining room. “Saranac Lake is an eclectic place,” said Katie Stiles, whose real estate office is a few steps upstream of the old restaurant. Stiles is managing the property for its new owner, Taimim Li, of Long Island, whose family has connections to Saranac Lake dating back to its days as a cure center for tuberculosis. Li recalls visiting the…

The Adirondacks will have a starring role on the afternoon of April 8, 2024, when the new moon threads between the Earth and its closest star, totally blocking out the sun. Most of the park will fall within the “path of totality,” the only zone to experience the full effect of this once-in-a-lifetime cosmic event. And close enough won’t be good enough: even if 99 percent of the sun is blocked, that one percent will be bright enough to diminish the experience. Read on for eclipse info, events, and a map tracing the path of totality, along with totality times and durations for a handful of communities—the closer an area is to the center line, the longer totality will last.…

ALTHOUGH THE SMOKEY BEAR fire prevention program—created by the US Forest Service (USFS) and the Wartime Advertising Council to raise public awareness of the need to protect our valuable forests both from enemy attack and human carelessness—began in 1944, the message took on new meaning in 1950. That spring, firefighters responding to a wildfire in New Mexico’s Capitan Mountains rescued a badly burned black bear cub. Strong public interest in the cub’s treatment and recovery led Forest Service officials to adopt him as a living symbol of Smokey Bear. The story of the brave little bear cub soon became a popular addition to Smokey’s educational message. After he recovered, the real-life Smokey Bear was moved to a permanent home at the National Zoo in Washington DC. There he had his…

I. THERE ARE NO LIGHTS ON THE OPPOSITE SHORE Brandreth Park—also occasionally known as Brandreth, B-town, the lake, and camp—has never been an easy place for me to describe. When speaking to strangers, people to whom I feel no special obligation, I say that it’s a large family property I’ve been visiting my whole life, a bit like you would a beach house. Then I try to route the conversation toward the stranger’s job or their hobbies or the weather. If the stranger won’t be distracted—if they say something like, “How large do you mean by large?”—I explain that Brandreth is currently either 11,000 or 27,000 acres, depending on how you measure it, and is the oldest family-owned park in New York State. This confession then forces me to explain…

BIG MOOSE LAKE, EAGLE BAY, NY 13331 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 allow guests to relax, recreate or be with family. 315-357-2353. www.thewaldheim.com. LAKE PLACID, NY 12946 Grand Adirondack Hotel. The Grand Adirondack Hotel looks to its storied past to reinvigorate an iconic building and become a vibrant hub in the heart of Lake Placid for travelers and locals alike. It’s designed for those with an appreciation for new adventures and the laid-back luxury of the Grand Adirondack hotels of the past. Pets welcome. 518-523-1818. www.grandadirondack.com. Marcy. Experience Lake Placid’s newest restaurant, Marcy, at the Grand Adirondack Hotel. Marcy offers thoughtfully…

I was living as an expat in Tokyo when I first encountered the term “forest bathing,” an exercise defined as “making contact with and taking in the atmosphere of the forest” that originated there in the early 1980s. An article I’d stumbled upon gave some advice on how to practice: walk slowly, breathe in the scents of the forest, touch the bark of the trees, pick up sticks and leaves from the ground, dig your fingers into the dirt. This approach to communing with nature was new to me. I was an avid hiker, and walking slowly on a mountain path was not my norm. But working in Japan is hard—long hours are expected and work-life balance is hard to come by. I was living in a crowded, noisy, brightly…