Lake Champlain’s West Shore – Split Rock Mountain Wild Forest

By Rich Macha

Spring is “mud season” in the Adirondack Park and the NYSDEC is asking hikers to avoid trails above 2,500 feet in elevation. One of the areas that DEC specifically recommends for hiking during this period is the Split Rock Mountain Wild Forest, a 3,700-acre tract that runs along the western shore of Lake Champlain. READ MORE

Dusting off the Rust – Returning to Racing

By Tom O’Grady

Last month on a cold and day in March, the Electric City 5-Miler marked the return of racing in the greater Capital Region, as 583 participants crossed the finish line. Typical spring rust busters can be as much a measure of fitness as they are psychological tests as many runners are typically facing competition for the first time in several months. The normal pangs of anxiety faced by the individuals racing was surely accentuated by the ongoing pandemic. READ MORE

Explore the Canalway Water Trail

By Mona Caron

Engineering marvels, historic canal structures, small towns and big cities, along with great paddling and recreational opportunities are all on the NYS Canalway Water Trail. Discover the Water Trail this summer – a 450-mile-long system of manmade canals and interconnected lakes and rivers and includes the Erie, Champlain, Cayuga-Seneca, and Oswego canals. There’s so much to enjoy along the waterways! READ MORE

Unexpected Race – Bob Marshall Traverse

By Bethany Garretson

Katie Rhodes of Middle Grove was fired up about the new book she was reading, “Why We Run” by Bernd Heinrich; “He went on to say women aren’t as strong and will never be as fast as men!” I shook my head and opened my stride as we pushed down Big Slide, the first mountain of the Bob Marshall Traverse, and I said, “If I bonk today, you remind me of that book!” The Adirondack Mountains are filled with the names of men. And bookshelves lined with their stories. Bob Marshall being one of them. READ MORE

MIKE BATTISTI

By Alex Kochon

Mike Battisti has always been about throwing on a pair of skis and getting down to business. As a dairy and maple syrup farmer in central New York, it was a way he used to check the sap lines. For the last 10 years it was one of his favorite parts of the job in Lake Placid, as department head of the Mt. Van Hoevenberg Cross Country Ski & Biathlon Center. READ MORE

Ongoing Role of Primary Care in Management of Covid-19

By Paul E. Lemanski, MD, MS, FACP

In my first six articles on Covid-19, I have stressed that the lifestyle approach of proven risk mitigation strategies – including masking, social distancing, handwashing and targeting quarantine – were essential to protecting us until natural infection (despite properly executed strategies) or preferably a vaccine had produced antibodies in the blood of a sufficient number of individuals – approximately 80% of the population – to achieve herd immunity and stop transmission of the virus. READ MORE

Disc Golf is Booming

By Tim DeFranco

We finally made it, spring 2021! Depleted from a full year of living life during a global pandemic. Weary of the unique challenges we all faced in creating a “new normal” peppered with masks and nose swabs, remote work and home schooling, closures and curfews. In an attempt to comply with social distancing guidelines, many of us were trapped inside until warmer weather and cabin fever got the best of us! Sure, streaming services got a lot of people’s time and money, while others opted to take up a new hobby or try a new skill. How many of your friends became hikers, bikers, runners or paddlers? Cheers to those that set out to tackle those challenges, but different strokes for different folks, right? READ MORE