Tag: Outdoors

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...

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...

An Updated Look at the Adirondack Rail Trail Including a sneak peek at renovations underway inside the Rail Trail’s historic train depot! (I am, after all, still an Adirondack Outlaw. Gotta keep up my street cred.) Since I was in town for the weekend, I thought I’d trek a...

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...

“This Arbor Day Message is Ari Rae Approved” My spring arbor order arrived April 12th. With chilled early spring temps, April’s shower spigot flooding most everything, and full-on mud season going full force, my initial plan was to let things dry out a bit before planting. 30 white pine...

A Connectivity Experience Being One with the Moment As April 8th and eclipse day approached, I found within myself a growing urge to make plans that would somehow allow me to uniquely experience totality’s moment. For a brief while, it appeared our northern New York State Watertown hacienda would...

Safely navigating multiple sclerosis & disability’s challenges while living outdoors. Multiple Sclerosis. It’s not something I talk or write about much, but after the sudden onset of symptoms, including numbness in my lower legs and feet, headaches, nausea and vomiting, a series of medical exams, an excruciating battery of...

Nature’s Shadowed Truth Lurks Night skies bleed dark Crisp air grips cold Frost moon reigns high North winds whisper snow Forests stand silent sentry Guarding stories untold Predators prey blood Nature’s truth reconciled Death gnaws life’s bone Rockslide scarred mountains echo Coyotes howl wild ********** Time’s relentless cycle of...

My Granddaughter Ari Rae’s 1st Pre-Spring Waterfowl Report Tuesday, February 5th, 2024: I awoke from my afternoon nap as my granddaughter Ari Rae came in from her Paw Patrol walk with her Mama, Aunt Abba, & our family’s Sheltie herd out around our main duck pond. “Tell Grampa what...

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 &...