Adirondack Family Time™

Hiking with children does not have to be complicated. Below are a few tips to help you on your way. Check back as I am will be adding tricks as I learn them from my own children! Always remember the point is to have our children enjoy the outdoors. Learn from them and take our time. Sometimes the goal doesn't have to be getting to the top, its the journey along the way! Before you go! • Always check your gear before departing. • Dress in layers for the season. • Make sure you bring plenty of water for each person • Bring healthy snacks like GORP, granola bars, fresh or dried fruit • A first aid kit, flashlight and compass. • Be prepared to stop frequently. Autumn Hikes: • Bring rain gear no matter the weather. It can serve as a wind shield on top • Although trails are clearly marked, it is always best to carry a detailed map. • Hiking in late autumn can be tricky. Leaves can be wet and slippery and it is not unusual to experience small patches of ice. • Wear

Bald Mountain Fire Tower was restored and reopened in 2005 Bald Mountain (Rondaxe)  Location  = Between Eagle Bay and Old Forge (NY) Distance  = 1.0 mile Elevation  = 2,350' Vertical Ascent = 390' By Diane Chase My son plans on giving me the Adirondack Kids ® version of a climb up Bald Mountain. There are nine books to date in the middle reader series by father/son authors Gary and Justin VanRiper. I am getting the synopsis and walking tour all in one climb to the summit. Looking down from the top of the Bald Mountain fire tower! My daughter isn’t interested in the book tour; she is on a quest of her own. Sometimes I believe she is channeling my grandmother with her apron over a charmingly old-fashioned dress that is only suitable for the very old or very young. Her floppy hat and purse complete her walking outfit. The beaded handbag causes a bit of stir but she has managed to fit in a granola bar and bottle of water. She flings it over her shoulder and st

Here is my latest post on Adirondack Almanack. I wonder though how many children really know what the origin of a harvest festival is. My children are not required to tend the field and therefore do not require a celebration from such backbreaking work. Their idea of the harvest is face painting and jugglers. The only items my children harvest are the occasional pumpkin or basket of apples on a school field trip. Read more

By Diane Chase We meet at the Paul Smith’s Visitors Interpretive Center ( VIC) to be led on an adventure by naturalist Lydia Wright. My children are acting like they have never been outside. They stand stiffly near the gazebo at the head of the Barnum Brook Trail (.8 miles). I ask what is wrong. I reexamine my words, “We are going to look at nature. It will be fun.” Nothing unusual there, sometimes it takes a bit for them to warm up in a group setting and this activity is full. We are each handed a magnifying glass, which my daughter promptly turns into an accessory, my son a weapon. We are going to start looking at all the changes of autumn. Wright points to a line of trees in the distance and asks the group to identify them. I can only say in my defense that I do need new glasses. I didn’t know the Tamarack was one of the few conifers that lose their leaves in fall and with that said looks nothing like a Birch. Each does have those lovely golden leaves. “Needles,” my son whisper

This year we will be hunting space aliens in Gabriels. Yes, crop circles have been found in the Adirondacks, though this time they can be proven the direct result of human effort, not the paranormal. For the fourth year in a row the design for the maze at Tucker Farms is from the artistic work of Scott Rohe. He didn’t even have to perpetuate any crop circle myth by going out in the dead of night to complete the large-scale land art. He just came up with the design so the Tuckers could plant the corn in a grid-like pattern. To read more

The last weekends are approaching for the Historic Saranac Lake walking tour. The 45-minute walk may be a stretch for the very young so for my excursion, I indulge in some alone time. Mary Hotaling, now the Architectural Historian, leads my tour. We meet at the bridge overlooking Lake Flower and from then on local facts and history are dropping like rain. Thankfully Hotaling encourages questions, thrives on them actually. I won’t give a blow-by-blow because taking the tour and then going to the museum is half the fun. Even for someone born and raised in the area would find some interesting tidbits in Saranac Lake’s multidimensional past. The tour is only available one more week, October 9 at 11:00 a.m. at Harrietstown Town Hall, for a small $5.00 donation. It is worth a walk around town to see how an industry arose from an illness. As we walk Main Street I am slowly taken back in time as Hotaling peels away the various architecture to its bare bones and shares glimpses of empty field

Enjoy a wide open summit at Rocky Mountain, Inlet NY Rocky Mountain Distance - 0.6-mile Elevation = 2,225' Vertical Ascent  = 448' Rocky Mountain is about the easiest climb I have had the pleasure to complete in a while. With a vertical rise of 450’ and just a half-mile to the top, not only do we get a chance to stretch our legs but an astounding view as well. I love those types of climbs. Not every opportunity to get outside can be a full day event. Sometimes our schedule only permits a quick jaunt. Knowing where to find a family-friendly hike that satisfies all levels of hiker is worth putting on the list. Rocky Mountain is just such a hike. The parking area is just south of Inlet's village. We have an expert guide. We are visiting a friend from the area that knows exactly what my children need, a run up a mountain. The kids rush out of the car hardly waiting for it to be put into park. The register is signed and we are on our way.  It is an easy

Here are some ideas for parents, Adirondack (ADK) kids, retired or seniors and anyone wishing to go for a hike around the Long Lake area. Sargent Ponds Start from Lower Sargent Pond for a walk of 1.5 miles on the Northpoint Road to make the loop. Upper Sargent Pond —1.3 Miles, well marked, about 1/2 hour each way. Well marked trail markers. Lower Sargent Pond via Grass Pond —2.1 miles, well marked. Lower Sargent Pond is less than 20 minutes beyond Grass Pond. There is a lean-to overlooking Lower Sargent Pond. Lower Sargent-Upper Sargent by way of Middle Pond —1.7 miles between Upper & Lower. Sargent Pond Loop —9 miles includes distance between the trail heads. It is possible to make the Upper and Lower Ponds into a loop by way of the trail by way of Middle Pond. Owl's Head Mountain —3.2 miles to summit, well marked trail, relatively difficult after about 2 1/4 miles, scenic views of the Fishing Brook Range with the High Peaks in the distance. The trail head is

This is a celebration of choice, to have the freedom to read without censorship. This is a celebration to have an open dialog with children to understand and discuss why (not that I agree) some countries or communities take a stand against certain books. I try not to ever let an opportunity to teach tolerance pass by. Books Banned at One Time or Another in the United States according to Adler Books A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner Blubber by Judy Blume Brave New World by Aldous Huxley con't Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson Canterbury Tales by Chaucer Carrie by Stephen King Catch-22 by Joseph Heller Christine by Stephen King Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau Cujo by Stephen King Curses, Hexes, and Spells by Daniel Cohen Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller Decameron by Bo

“I’m off to the Opera!” Now those are words we don’t get to hear everyday from my six-year-old. I am thrilled every time she surprises me with her ever-expanding interest in the arts. Though there is a part of me that wonders if it has more to do with the costumes. It really doesn’t matter as long as the end result is the same, an open art conversation. My son feels a bit more ownership over High Peaks Opera. He attended a performance in Long Lake this summer and now speaks with assurance that George Cordes sings like thunder (which in case you’re wondering is a good thing, a really, really good thing). My child wants to make sure I remember that the chairs shook with the force of the song. It was like an earthquake he assures me. Music does have a way of sweeping us off our feet. This Saturday he and anyone else will have the opportunity to witness that power as bass Cordes, Crane School of Music’s soprano Tiffany Conn and tenor Robert Soricelli will recreate their sold-out Little Ita

It is National Museum Day where museums around the country offer free admission. Where are you going to go today?

There are only 60 chairs on the double chairlift at McCauley Mountain, down about 20 from its winter route. All the unused chairs are lined up freshly painted and repaired waiting for the start of the winter season. It is a smooth and steady 2, 200’ ride to the top. It does seem odd to be riding a chairlift in autumn. The children are lined up waiting their turn, pretending they are going to hit the moguls on the way down. We even encounter the prerequisite lost lift item request from a couple already lift bound. We retrieve the shoe and are thankful it’s just a kicked off flip-flop and not a ski buried in the snow. It is a leisurely ride to the top so we are able to glance around at the view of the Fulton Chain of Lakes, Old Forge and Grey Lake. Our exit is uneventful without the cumbersome addition of ski gear. Cinderella is patiently waiting at top for her lost shoe. Picnic tables and Adirondack chairs are scattered about. The children run about finding playmates to explore the bac

My son was addicted to the pacifier, an addiction fed by his own parents. I thought if I just continued to throw "boks" into his bed he would just be able to eventually find one and go to sleep. His bed was littered with them. He couldn't roll over in the night without encountering one, which was the whole idea. The part I didn't foresee? That his attachment would grow. He soon needed three "boks" to sleep, one in his mouth and one for each hand. Before he turned three my husband and I decided that the pacifier had to go. We tried all sorts of recommendations from friends and family. With nothing working I finally just took a large needle and poked holes in the pacifier. Though it didn't seem to make a difference, I persisted. Tip: Take a large darning needle and work a few holes through the sides and top of the pacifier. After each use continue to widen the holes. The goal is that the child will suck on the pacifier and eventually the pacifier will flat