Camp Coffee
There’s a spot on the deacon’s log Near the end of the lean-to Where I like to sit Soaking in the rising sun’s first warming rays Listening to our propane fueled pot percolate As I watch morning coffee’s slow drip Contemplating today’s yesterdays and tomorrows Breathing in that fresh...
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First Night
There’s always something magical about that first night in camp. Our family’s first foray into camp came a bit later than usual this year. That was in large part due to the upper locks rebuild, but also in part simply because of how our effort to make camp reservations...
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Is There a Knife in Your Pocket?
Whether folks call them jackknives, penknives or pocketknives, there was a time not too far past when any Adirondack Outlaw worth his salt didn’t consider himself fully dressed in the morning without one. How many folks out there still carry a pocketknife? I grew up with a knife in...
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Locked or Unlocked?
An On-Site Saranac Lake Upper Locks Construction Project Update As I packed, planned and prepped for a weekend trip to Saranac Lake to undertake some personal agenda items and attend my best friend’s father’s funeral, the word on the street was that the NYSDEC’s tentative opening of Saranac Lake’s...
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Dinosaur Pike
Could the fishing legends and stories be true? Was there really a time forgotten pocket of monster pike lurking Little Weller Pond’s waters? As far back as I can remember, since my days as a lad, whispered rumors and campfire stories have abounded. Legends of a remnant population of...
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Poached Trout
A Young Adirondack Outlaw’s Recipe for Justice Mid-seventies Saranac Lake was a magical place. It was a great time to be an Adirondack kid growing up. Kids were allowed to be kids. Cell phones and the internet had not yet been invented. Today’s crowded high peaks lakes, mountains &...
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Locked Up
The Saranac Lake Uppers Locks Construction Project An Adirondack Outlaw Scouting Report The NYSDEC announced in early September that the upper locks on the Saranac River between lower and Middle Saranac Lakes would be closed until further notice beginning September 18th due to a planned reconstruction upgrade of the...
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Cedar Log Surgery
Lean-to Life in the Adirondack Outback Those Cedar Logs Standing Silent and Strong My Refuge, My Sanctuary My Soul’s Sacred Home I Feel Your Wounds Bleeding Anguished Tears Scar My Heart ********** I had planned on staying Sunday night, June 25th, after my brother Ray & I rendezvoused at...
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Left-Handed Fish
Show of hands: Who’s Ready?! Let’s Go Fishin’! Now, I know what some folks are gonna say. I can already hear the naysayers nayin; “But fish don’t have hands! All this left-handed fish stuff is nonsense!” I beg to differ. Of course, fish have hands! How else do they...
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Dill Pickle Pike
Author’s note: This story appeared in The Adirondack Almanack’s Friday, August 13th, 2021 online edition. “While many pickled pepper’s Peter Piper may have indeed picked, I sometimes ponder: How many pickled pecks would have Piper picked if perhaps Peter were instead picking dill pickle pike.” My first youthful...
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