Category: High Peaks

The Mysterious Case of the Vanishing Duck      The day dawned with a twist.  A hunter’s life lesson hard learned as my Zen Boat canoe silently sliced morning mist.      I jumped a pair of wood ducks along the shore to my left as my hand painted Zen Boat...

The 2022 Adirondack Canoe Classic AKA: “The 90 Miler” An Adirondack Outlaw Photo Chronology ********** I suspect that being in the right place at the right time is one of the tricks of being a photographer. I also suspect that sometimes it’s by design, and sometimes by chance. I...

Ari Rae Marra’s Adirondack Outlaw Christening Bull Rush Bay 2022 was not only our Monroe family’s 50th anniversary camp celebration, it was also an Adirondack Outlaw camp celebration as Ari Rae’s first. Plans and preparation for this big event began late last fall. The NYSDEC built a brand spanking...

OR “THE GREAT RAT CAPER OF 1981”      It was fall, 1980.  My friends and I had somehow managed to survive our way to senior year at Saranac Lake High School.      I wasn’t a great student in high school.  I never really studied or applied myself.  I copied...

A Middle Saranac Lake lean-to look-back collection of memories, artifacts, legends and photos.      My family first visited Middle Saranac Lake’s site 63 Bull Rush Bay in 1972.   The photo above depicts the lean-to that was there by that time. It quickly became the cedar log summer home...

Beneath forgotten trestle’s flow Rainfall bounty, melted snow Where heron, bass, and beaver go I can hear  The river calling Misted memory’s mountain home Rocky rapid’s rippled foam Long lost laughter skipping stones I can hear The river calling We swam, we fished Wind’s whispered wish Wild water’s kiss...

The original version of this story 1st appeared in the June 17, 2021 on-line edition of the Adirondack Almanack      I had an interesting conversation with my brother a while back in camp. It began innocently enough, with an observation he made about the difficulties the Saranac Lake Elks...

An SLHS ’81 Classmate Collaboration By Jackie Ely & Dick Monroe (With a cameo assist by Karen Barrow Pittman) Winter’s Long March Behind Me Birch Trees Framing My Thoughts Sitting Alone in a Park Contemplating Ice-Covered Mountain Lake Waters Quietly Waiting for Spring (And waiting…and waiting) Soaking In April’s...

Cancel Culture Censorship’s Efforts to Erase an Era So here I am, an Adirondack Outlaw, on the lam once again. Living in the day I am in, sharing life’s memories, staying true to myself. A proud Saranac Lake Redskins alumnus, for as long as I live. *********** Until Our...

Author’s Note: The snowshoes pictured here are my dad’s vintage pair. He made them in Ranger School during his time at Wanakena. He graduated from Ranger School in 1961, two years before I was born. They are still sturdy, solid and strong. I have taken great care to maintain...