KEENE — Though it sounds hard to believe, if not insane, I kid you not when I say that I find winter hiking in the Adirondacks easier than summer hiking, if — and it’s a big if — conditions are ideal. A well-packed winter trail avoids stepping around ankle-twisting boulders, ...

ELK LAKE — It was an inertia I had seldom felt before. I wasn’t out of breath, my muscles didn’t feel sore (yet) and I wasn’t chilled. Yet, every step felt like lifting a cinder block out of mud. For one reason or another, physical, mental or both, I stood totally sapped of energy, ...

LAKE PLACID — As this classic Adirondack winter marches on, a towering question comes to mind: When will the Lake Placid Toboggan Chute open? It’s a question that North Elba Park District Manager Jeremy Freeman knows is on the top of the minds of residents and visitors alike. The park ...

WILMINGTON — “You know you could have just driven up, right?” Right. That Q&A, or variations of it, is a time-honored tradition for hikers summiting Whiteface Mountain when its Memorial Highway is open, especially during a busy holiday weekend. Motorists’ reactions tend ...

WILMINGTON — It was as if I was walking on lava. Yet, my feet were well within the range of their normal temperature. This was no eruption of molten magma, but rather the fresh fall from a grove of red maple trees above. As I made my way up to Flume Knob, there was a 10th of a mile or ...

LAKE PLACID — It’s easy enough to set sights on the Olympic Region’s tallest peaks, but some of the region’s most rewarding adventures lie in its quieter corners, especially when the area’s most popular trails are teeming with leaf peepers. The trail from Connery Pond to Whiteface ...