“He helped pattern our own outdoor philosophy. When Streever died, we lost more than a friend. We lost a muscle,” wrote Barney Fowler.

Bill Roden noted, “As his family and friends stood at his graveside, one lone hound was heard to tongue in the distance – Fred would have liked that.”

Henry Caldwell of Bolton Landing is intent on preserving the memory of Streever. He grew up listening to stories about Streever from Jim Ross, the caretaker of  Mohican Point for more than thirty years. Ross was also a town judge, a member of the town board, and Streever’s hunting partner. Streever wrote frequently about their exploits, much as the 19^thcentury Adirondack writer Henry Abbot wrote about his friend, a guide named Bige.

According to Caldwell, the unique thing about Streever is that “he was a jack-of-all trades, but he was the best at everything he did.”

Caldwell discussed Streever’s multi-faceted career at the Darrin Fresh Water Institute on Monday, August 15, as a speaker in Darrin’s summer lecture series.

Throughout his life, Streever was an architect and builder, specializing in what he called “the primitive style” but which, in recent decades, has become better known as the rustic or Adirondack style.

Among the homes he built was the Log House on Northwest Bay, which he built in the 1940s and where he lived for the rest of his life. Today it is owned by Sandy and Gail Keeler.

Fred Streever

Streever wrote often about the house. We learn that its porch sits fifty feet above the rocky shore (“a private box in nature’s theater,” he called it) overlooking Northwest Bay and the entrance to the Narrows; that the stone fireplace has an opening four feet high and six feet wide, with a comfortable leather chair close by. The living room walls are stretched with hides and heads: wolverines from Canada, Rocky Mountain goat heads, deer trophies, mountain lion skins, fox hides, moose and elk trophies. The tables are slabs of huge logs, cut and smoothed, with bark left on the edges.

“We have a very wide window in the living room,” Streever wrote. “It is around this window the whole establishment was planned.”

From that window, Streever studied the lake, the clouds, the birdlife, the wooded sides of Tongue, Black, Erebus, Sleeping Beauty and Buck Mountains.

In the kitchen was a wood burning stove, and Streever’s tales of hunting with his hounds invariably concluded with praise for hard maple (the very best firewood, he maintained), the big iron box stove and a hefty meal.

But Streever was much more than a writer and an architect. He achieved international fame as a breeder of trail hounds and he wrote an authoritative (and highly entertaining) book on the subject, “The American Trail Hound.” He was also an inventor of dog muzzles and fishing lures, most notably the “Luna Lure.” Streever felt that a luminescent lure would be an asset when fishing in deep waters, since it would attract the attention of the fish, especially lake trout, which stay close to the bottom in midsummer. Streever experimented for years with luminescent paint applied to wood or metal lures. But, he said, he “had far more ideas than trout.” In 1947 he found a precut sheet of luminous  plastic, and out of this he made his lures. He bough an electric range for the Log House, which he used solely for bending the plastic into shape.

A favorite topic of Streever’s columns and articles was his battle with the New York State Conservation Department, which insisted that there were no wolves in the Adirondacks. Streever conceded that the Eastern Timber wolf was extinct here. But they had been replaced by what he called “the brush wolf,” which he asserted was not a hybrid, a coyote, or a coy-dog, but a member of the wolf family. In the late 1940s he began importing wolf hounds from Missouri, and hoped to develop a breed of hound especially suited to wolf hunting in the Adirondacks.

More than fifty years after his death, Streever’s belief was confirmed by DNA tests when the Environmental Conservation officials concluded that  a canid struck by a car on the Northway was, in fact, not a coyote but a western breed of wolf. That more or less ended the debate about introducing eastern timber wolves into the Adirondacks, and it also proved that Fred Streever was right, as he was about so many things.

So when he took up snowboarding a few years ago, while in his mid-fifties, he wanted to protect himself from a similar injury. “Wearing a helmet is now the norm; protecting the tailbone should be, too,” he says. The products purporting to protect the tailbone, though, seemed inadequate, so Lemek devised one of his own.

“Since I’m retired, I had the time and the resources to develop a product, find a manufacturer and then market and distribute it myself,” said Lemek.

He found a motorcycle parts manufacturer in New Hampshire that could make the product.  His son Kevin created the logo and packaging, and in 2011, Lemek began selling the “Booty Guard.”

“From the start, it was very well-received, so that gave me hope that it would be successful,” said Lemek.

With his $20,000 investment, Lemek acquired 1,000 pieces, which are sold for $19.95 per device on-line at bootyguard.com and through the shops at Gore, Killington, Pico and Willard as well as at Sports Page in Glens Falls.

Lemek, who spent most of his career on Long Island with the retailer J.C. Penney, began visiting Lake George in 1983, when he attended his first Americade. He bought a house here in 2002, and now spends most of his time here.

“Everything I like to do, I can do in Lake George,” said Lemek.

The two areas have much in common: a substantial vertical drop (1151 ft. at Big Tupper, 1230 ft. at Hickory; a strong base of enthusiastic volunteers; a history of support from their community and region, and low prices reminiscent of the 1960s.  An adult day ticket at Big Tupper costs $15, at Hickory $45.  Both opened after the holidays this season because they are dependent on natural snow.  But beyond these parallels, each has a very different story to tell.

Big Tupper

Nostalgia filled the lodge as Big Tupper opened in 2010  —after 10 years in the dark. The volunteers who man it are eager to see who will walk through the door next. Local people donate their time and money. One woman walked in, thrilled to see it open, and gave $100 to help sustain it.

Ginny Frenette was there when Big Tupper first opened in 1961. “It was perfect—we had loads of snow and everybody was having a good time,” she remembers.”  Frenette was director of the ski school then and also on the ski patrol. She still skis there, as do her 8 children and 7 of her 8 grandchildren (one lives in Hawaii.)

Back then the area was operated by the Town of Altamount and now by Tupper Lake.  Its focus remains on family skiing for the community, although its terrain attracts skiers from throughout the Adirondacks.  But if you are old enough to remember what ski areas were like in the 1960s, you’ll feel right at home.  As one of us was standing near a group of local people at the top of a run, they began introducing themselves.  Outsiders are welcome indeed.

Volunteers run Big Tupper, organized by Kate Bencze. Kitty Villeneuve was on the ski patrol in the 1960s and now heads up the ski school. Bill Mozdzier, called “blade man” when he directed grooming at Sugarbush for more than two decades, is in charge of Mountain Operations. He has three groomers this year and two snow cats, refurbished by Zack White, the General Manager.  Cliff Levers is in charge of Lift Operations. With tons of local incentive and a network of friends, volunteerism works.  Bill commented, “Every day here is a happy day.”

Doug Dew, the Administrator, is one who remembers the emotional side of being at Big Tupper. He was interviewed by Brian Mann on North Country Public Radio who asked “Why do you do this?” Doug replied with tears in his eyes, “To ski with my five-year-old nephew and my 74 year-old father.”

The massive task of reviving an area closed for a decade would not have happened without leadership.  Jim LaValley, chairman of ARISE (Adirondack Residents Intent on Saving Their Economy), provided the impetus to open Big Tupper last season.  If the proposed major resort and second home development is approved, the adjacent ski area will be a winter keystone. Whether or not that happens, the core group wants to keep Big Tupper affordable for local residents, and at $15 a day that works.

Big Tupper is very much a work in progress, bringing more of the original trails and lifts into action.  When it opened last year it had one chairlift running, 700 feet of vertical drop, and 13 trails open. This year it has the full vertical drop of 1151 vertical feet, two chairlifts running, and 20 trails open, many of them for intermediates and some for beginners and experts.  Jim Richards, a retired electrical engineer, supervised the electrical work, taking parts from some of the lifts to make others operable. Now Chair #3 and Chair #2 area both running, with Chair #1 yet to be restored.

Because natural snow was late, January 16, 2011 was the first skiing day this year. At 8:00 a.m. the call went out by radio, word of mouth and the internet. You can visit bigtupper.org to get the latest on skiing for the next day. The area is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday and holiday weeks.

Hickory Ski Center

Hickory Ski Center

Hickory also has a family following, but in a very different context. Nostalgia flourishes here too, among people who had chosen this very steep mountain as their ski home. After a lapse of five years, Hickory reopened last season to the delight of families who had grown up learning to ski and enjoy the steeps at the summit.

In the lodge we overheard “He’s over 80 and still skiing the top of Hickory.” One of Allan Dean’s daughters was admiring her father’s ability and courage. The four Dean daughters have been skiing at Hickory since the 1960s. They love the family oriented atmosphere and now all of the grandchildren ski there. They enjoy gathering by the round fireplace to meet people they have known forever.

Sherm and Dot Dawson have skied there since the 1970s with their growing children and also claimed Hickory as a great family area. People watch each others kids anywhere on the mountain. Dot told us that the area offers any level of skiing in the lower slopes but can be challenging farther up, especially toward the steep summit–which the grandkids took in stride. They like the wild natural moguls on the black diamond trails.

However, you can ski down from the summit on one more moderate blue trail that has smaller moguls and great views, the Ridge—if you can survive a long, fast and bumpy ride up the pomalift.  But intermediate skiers accustomed to soft rides up chairlifts should be wary: “It’s no accident that the top is for experts only. Riding the pomalift up the steeps requires experience, strength, balance and agility.”

The brochure proclaims, “When mother  nature dumps white gold, you can always find ungroomed new powder. There is lots of room for freeheelers to go glade skiing and find undisturbed back country challenges.”  And an ad entitled “Ski the Legend” reinforces the image of a very tough mountain, with a young man praying “OMG please make me good enough to ski it from the top.”

Clearly, Hickory courts its legend as having “some of the most extreme terrain in the East, 5-7 foot outcroppings, steeps, headwalls, boulders, more steeps, bumps, stumps, logs, rocks—just about any obstacle mother nature can dish out, all situated on narrow and intimidating steeps (there’s that word again) and covered by natural powder. . .”

That’s not surprising since the founders, trained at Camp Hale, were ski troopers. In 1943 two couples, Fran and Hans Winbauer and Ken and Flo Bates eagerly make plans to open a ski area. After World War II ended they searched and found the perfect place: the Three Sisters overlooking the Schroon and Hudson Rivers in Warrensburg. They bought the property in 1946 and worked hard to get the area ready, using a team of horses.

The first run was in front of the old farmhouse, the “Honeyrun.” The rope tow was where Poma 1 runs now. The lift was powered by a Packard that was started and ran all day. Lift tickets were $2 for the day, snow fell, skiers came again and again—Hickory was a success! A second tow was added, powered by a Cadillac.

Shawn Dempsey learned to ski at Hickory when he was three years old. His father was president of the ski area in the 1940s and now he is the manager.  A former groomer at Deer Valley, he now has a Bombradier 350 winch cat to deal with the tough terrain at Hickory. A bumper sticker on his truck claims, “Mad River Glen, Ski it if you can’t ski Hickory!”

But Dempsey points out that Hickory provides more than steeps, with a comprehensive ski school, a new terrain park established last season, and yet another powerful niche in the ski world: telemarking.  It has become a center for this classic Norwegian style of skiing, with lessons and special events.  Telefest 2011 on Saturday, February 12 includes a”tour de trees,” clinics, gear demos, a skin challenge, Tele party and dinner.

A day pass at Hickory coats $45 for adults, $30-35 for juniors depending on age.  Although other areas are charging for seniors Hickory still entices 70 plus skiers with free skiing. And those in the 65-70 range pay the same reduced rate as children 7-12.

A newly refurbished lodge retains the classic circular fireplace for conversation with friends. When you’re ready for lunch or a snack, head for Chris Lambeth’s cafeteria. You may know Chris as the owner and chef of the Grist Mill on River Road in Warrensburg.

North Queensbury Volunteer Fire Company hauls dive and rescue equipment on to the dive sight. Photos by Fred McKinney.

Living on a 32 mile lake, the first responders from communities in the Lake George basin need to be prepared for emergencies regardless of the season. In summer, they’re among the first on the scene whenever there’s a swimming or a boating accident. And when the lake freezes over, they’re ready when the call comes through that an ice fisherman is in danger. To be ready, countless hours of training are required. Earlier this season, members of the Scuba teams from fire departments throughout Warren County conducted ice diving drills with the Warren County Sheriff’s Office in Kattskill Bay. Fred McKinney, the prominent photo journalist who also happens to be a long-time member of the North Queensbury Volunteer Fire Company, was there and shot these photos.

Rescue divers prepare to descend through the 10' triangle hole.

Until the ice goes out, the scuba teams remind everyone:
If you fall through,Try not to panic. Call out for help only if you see someone. The cold shock that makes you hyperventilate will subside within 1-3 minutes.  Get your breathing under control and stay above water. You are more likely to die from drowning than hypothermia; Remove any extraneous objects that will weigh you down. (skis, snowmobile helmet, skates, etc.); Try to get out from the direction that you came in. Place your hands and arms on the unbroken surface of the ice; Begin kicking your feet to get your body horizontal. Then, pull yourself along the ice until you are out of the hole. Be slow and deliberate to conserve your strength and body heat; If the ice breaks, move forward and try again; once you are lying on the ice, do not stand up. Roll away from the hole, then crawl following your footsteps back toward shore. Don’t stand until the hole is well behind you. You want to distribute your weight evenly over a wide area to prevent going through again; If you can’t pull yourself out within 10 minutes from the time that you went in, cease all attempts. At this point, you need to extend the time period in which someone else could rescue you by conserving body heat. The body loses heat much faster in water than it does in air, so get as much of your body out of the water as possible. Keep your forearms flat and still on the ice. Hopefully, your clothing will freeze to the ice, possibly preventing you from going under, even if you become unconscious. It is possible to survive for up to two hours before succumbing to hypothermia. In other words, if you stay composed and keep above water, you have almost a two-hour window of opportunity to be rescued.

Among the more unusual are the limited-edition, bourbon-barrel-aged brews, and those will be sampled at a Festival of Barrels, to be held at the Adirondack Pub and Brewery on January 28.

The event, to be held from 2 to 6 pm, will feature samples of different barrel-aged beers, food, entertainment and a bonfire of barrels, all for $25 per person.

“The barrels, from Woodford Reserve, Jack Daniels and a cider mill in the Hudson valley, give the beers a unique flavor,” said Adirondack Pub and Brewery owner John Carr.

Beers to be sampled include 2010 and 2011 vintages of Fat Scotsman, chocolate smoked porter, and Double Dry Hopped IPA aged in white American oak.

The Adirondack Pub and Brewery is located at 33 Canada Street.

“Support your local brewery, which provides real jobs right down the road,” exhorts Carr.

Whiteface Mountain

The lake is still open, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t good skiing at Gore, West Mountain and Whiteface.

On December 30, the Saratoga and North Creek Railway re-introduced the snow train to North Creek after an absence of five decades.

The train leaves Saratoga Springs at 7 am every Friday, Saturday and Sunday through March 31.

Shuttles are available from the North Creek station to the Ski Bowl and to Gore Mountain.

At the Ski Bowl, the 800′ lift-serviced tubing lanes reopened on Friday, January 6.

“People are excited to ski and snowboard here and we’re prepared to deliver a quality product,” said manager Mike Pratt. “The new snowmaking guns we invested in and the diligent work of our snowmakers and groomers have made us successful at overcoming many of Mother Nature’s challenges during the first 31 days of this season.”

Gore Mountain presently has miles of terrain open for all ability levels, with 4 miles of consistent skiing available between the Gore summit and the primary base area.  The black diamond “Open Pit” trail opened today, and the double-diamond “Lies” trail was scheduled to re-open before January 13.

Last season, Whiteface was open for 138 days and skiers and riders enjoyed 247 inches of natural snowfall. Weather experts are predicting another snowy season this winter and most are even calling for another La Niña, with potential record snowfall, marking just the second time in the past 65 seasons that there have been back-to-back La Niñas.

Snow Train

Whiteface opened for the season on November 25.

“Crews have done a great job in putting down snow with marginal temperatures,” said mountain manager Bruce McCulley. “Most of our snowmaking has occurred at night, when it’s much colder. We’ve built some great coverage on Upper Valley and Lower Valley and we’re up and ready for opening day.”

The folks at West Mountain are also looking forward to expanding snow coverage areas and trail count as the temperatures drop and the weather permits better snowmaking.

Phantogram's Nightlife EP

From the musicians who have roots in the area and those who have become local favorites by virtue of performances in Lake George, we’ve selected a few who produced noteworthy albums in 2011.

Phantogram
Nightlife

Less precious than “Eyelid Movies,” the duo’s debut album, Phantogram’s Nightlife may be one of the best recordings of the year. Period. Dubbed a mini-album rather than an EP, Nightlife’s six songs build upon  a broader range of references, from post punk to power pop, and offer a much more richly textured sonic experience,  than did Eyelid Movies. According to Josh Carter, who, like his partner Sarah Barthel, hales from that hotbed of hip, Greenwich, NY, Nightlife is a harbinger of what’s to come. If so, prepare to be blown away.

Rawhead
Psychpomp

Before joining bands like Rilo Kiley and Death Cab for Cutie at Barsuk Records, Phantogram was part of the Glens Falls-based Sub Bombin collective and record label, where they recorded under the name of Charlie Everywhere. This year, Sub-Bomin released Psychopomp, Rawhead’s third full-length album and his first to be pressed in wax. Comments Adam Winters, the Lake George Mirror’s former assistant editor, “Innovative experimentation live with drums and looping, from a veteran producer with a newfound command of negative space and astral tension. Get in on a little hometown secret before it goes viral – Rawhead is for real.”

Jack Ruby
Jack Ruby

In 1973, Robin Hall (whose family lives in Bolton Landing) was working in an Albany record store called Just a Song. There he met a guitarist named Chris Gray who shared his fondness for the Stooges, the Velvets, Love, Mc5, etc. They both moved to New York, and joined by SUNY Albany alum Randy Cohen (better known today as the New York Times Magazine’s Ethicist columnist), Boris Policeband and later, bassist George Scott, they formed a band

Jack Ruby's CD release

called Jack Ruby. According to Mercury’s A&R man Paul Nelson, the band “sounded like the Velvet Underground in a car crash,” which helps explain why he never signed them. The band, however, became legendary, hailed by the likes of Lydia Lunch and Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore as a precursor to punk, no-wave and the avant-garde noise rock of Glen Branca and John Zorn.  A fan unearthed the lost demos and rehearsal tapes and an album of their surviving music was released by ugEXPLODE Records this year.  Valuable as a rock artifact, the music is, to the surprise of many, also actually listenable – which just goes to show how much our ears have been educated since then, by groups who took their cues from this Rimbaud of bands.

Eilen Jewell
Queen of the Minor Key

In 2007, shortly after the release of her second album, John Strong booked Eilen Jewell to perform in Shepard Park. Rain, however, forced the concert indoors, to King Neptune’s pub, usually a venue for highly paid cover and dance bands.

But the club setting turned out to be an appropriate showcase; Jewel proved that she was as much a rocker as a folk singer, and in Strong’s estimation, the show was among the best of the season. She returned to Lake George a couple of years later for another show, one that wed her folk-style songwriting to vintage R&B, Midwestern garage rock, Chicago blues, and early rock and rockabilly. Queen of the Minor Key shows how thoroughly Jewell has absorbed these influences, and why she is winning national recognition.

Stefon Harris, David Sánchez, Christian Scott

Crooked Still
Friends of Fall

Boston-based Crooked Still performed in Shepard Park in 2010, and left the crowds astonished. Their recent EP, Friends of Fall, reminds us why, delivering spot-on blue grass renditions of pop and rock tunes and, of all things, a Wendell Berry poem. If American Country music had evolved as it should have, this is what WENU would be playing, not Brad Paisley.

Stefon Harris, David Sánchez, Christian Scott
Ninety Miles

Paul Pines has brought so many jazz greats to the Lake George Jazz Weekend, it’s not surprising that a few of them would get together, even if it’s not on the stage in Shepard Park. For this project, vibist Stefon Harris (Albany High School, class of 1991), saxophonist David Sánchez and trumpeter Christian Scott spent a week in Havana recording with Cuban musicians. The goal was not to make a political statement, but to make music, and the result is pure joy.

Also noteworthy: The single, “Video Games” by Lana Del Ray (nee Elizabeth Grant, Lake Placid); Skeletons in the Piano, “Stranger on a Damned Staircase;” Railbird, “(No One)”; Matthew Carefully, “Brunswick Soundtrack.”

“Every one is in dire need of help, especially skilled help,” said Bob Palandrani, Jr, the owner of Snug Harbor marina in Ticonderoga. “When we can find people, they’re often at square one as far as training and experience go. We have to do the training, which is lengthy and expensive.”

The need for skilled, waterfront employees has led local school superintendents, the marina owners and their trade group, the Eastern New York Marine Trades Association, to push for a specialized vocational program.

“The marinas told us, ‘we need people now’,” said Ticonderoga school superintendent John McDonald. “We’d like to have a two year, marine technician program available to students by September, 2012.”

Ticonderoga High School would host the new program, which would be co-ordinated through two BOCES districts and taught by qualified instructors recruited by BOCES.

The program is expected to draw students from as far south as Lake George and as far north as Crown Point.

According to John McDonald, Ticonderoga used to offer marine technician training through a program taught at Snug Harbor by Bob Palandrani Sr.

“That ended about ten years ago, when the expense of the program, and the difficulty of holding it off-site, became too great,” said McDonald. “When we built a new facility here that could accommodate the program, we decided to see if we could revive it.”

Earlier this year, McDonald polled marina owners and spoke at a meeting of the Eastern New York Marine Trades Association.

“Fifty marina managers and boat dealers were asked if they thought the program would be valuable, and fifty responded positively,” said Bob Palandrani,Jr, who also serves on Ticonderoga’s Board of Education.

A committee composed of Palandrani, Rich Solen of Loon Lake Marina, Scott Andersen of F.R. Smith & Sons  and Roger Phinney, the executive director of the Eastern New York Marine Trades Association, was organized to help establish the program.

The group visited similar programs throughout New York State and discussed ways to make a high school program an even more comprehensive one.

“Scott Andersen took the bull by the horns and approached the manufacturers and asked them if they’d be willing to help make this program a certified training program for their engines,” said Palandrani.

No manufacturer offers certification programs anywhere within easy commuting distance of Lake George, said Palandrani.

“If the manufacturers get on board, a student could leave here certified to service a Yamaha, Mercury, Volvo or Evinrude,” said Roger Phinney.

By providing equipment and technology in exchange for the training offered by the program, the manufacturers could help reduce the costs of operating the program, said Phinney.

According to Phinney, a minimum of thirteen students is needed before the program can start.

In November, Phinney, Palandrani, Andersen and Solen brought boats and engines to Ticonderoga High School to meet with students and to encourage them to consider registering for the program.

“This will be hands-on training,” Scott Andersen told one group. “We’re not going to just tell you about this engine. You’ll learn to take it apart and put it back together. You’ll learn by doing, from backing up trailers to loading and unloading boats.”

A qualified technician can make roughly $40,000 a year and a service or sales manager can expect to make $75,000 a year, Bob Palandrani said.

“Our new service manager graduated from the original program twelve years ago,” said Palandrani. “He worked his way up from dock boy, learning his skills along the way.

According to Roger Phinney, the student will learn more than a trade; he’ll acquire skills that will serve him well no matter what he does.

“We want them to come out with the basics of the trade, but we also want to teach them life skills that will be of value to any employer,” Phinney said.

Local school boards and superintendents are lining up behind the program, said Shari Brannock, a superintendent from Crown Point.

“It opens up other avenues for our kids; my board definitely supports it,” she said.

Ticonderoga will host another information session for superintendents, principals and students interested in the program in March. Anyone interested in participating should contact Roger Phinney at 791-0070 or John McDonald at 585-7442.

Here’s his list of new and recent books carried by Trees that will make excellent gifts.

Fiction:

The Beautiful Dismal Woods, by Ryan Schmit
Stories based on hikes in the Adirondack mountains.

Desperate Hours, by Thomas G. Kane
Terrorists plot to kill a U. S. president aboard a Lake George excursion boat.

The Empire of Shadows, by Richard E. Crabbe
A historical thriller set in the Adirondacks of W. W. Durant and the Great Camps.

Adirondack Detective, by John H. Briant
A private detective, living with his family in Old Forge, enlists the help of two Adirondack pilots and a guide in the investigation of a missing woman.

Short Stories and Strange Thoughts, by Ralph Kylloe
Best known for his books on Adirondack and rustic design, Kylloe turns his hand to fiction.

Non- Fiction:

Through These Doors, by Kathleen Larkin
The story of two women and their small business in the Adirondacks.

The Dirty Life, On Farming, Food and Love, by Kristin Kimball
The author abandons a career in New York City to restore a farm in Northern New York with her sexy husband.

The Biggest Kid at the Balloon Festival: The Walter Grishkot Story, by Maury Thompson
A biography of the local photographer, publicist and founder of the Adirondack Balloon Festival by a local reporter

History:

Lake George Shipwrecks and Sunken History, by Joseph W. Zarzynski and Bob Benway
Joe Zarzynski, underwater archaeologist, and Bob Benway, archaeological diver, present the most intriguing discoveries among more than 200 know shipwreck sites in Lake George. Most of the stories originally appeared in the Lake George Mirror

Adirondack Conservation Corps Camps: History, Memories & Legacy of the CCC, By Martin Podskoch
A record of the accomplishments of the CCC camps throughout the Adirondacks and New York State.

Outdoors:

Well Seasoned in the Adirondacks, by Dan Ladd
A collection of Ladd’s newspaper columns about the people, places and outdoor pastimes of northern New York.

Adirondack Family Time
Tri-Lakes & High Peaks Regions, by Diane Chase
A four-season guide to more than 300 activities with GPS coordinates.

Poetry:

Winterberry, Pine, by Elaine Handley, Marilyn McCabe and Mary Sanders Shartle
Adirondack Center for Writing award-winning poets on Adirondack winter.

Transfiguration, by Pat Shannon Leonard
A book of new poems, some of which are inspired by Lake George and Warren County.

Cook Books:

Farmstand Favorites-Maple Syrup, Hatherleigh Press
New and fun ways to cook with maple syrup, from the Farmstand Favorites series, created to encourage buying fresh and local.

Learning to Cook Adirondack, by Nancy Pulling Best
A fourth-generation Adirondacker shares recipes and stories of friends and family who taught her to cook.

Children:

The Fall of Fort Ticonderoga, by Justin and Gary VanRiper
The adventures of The Adirondack Kids continues with a reenactment of Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys and the capture of Fort Ticonderoga.

“I think of Adirondack books as modern balsam pillows – they put you back in touch with your favorite place,” says Deneen.