Adirondack

Adirondack State Park is 6 million acres big. About the size of Connecticut. Which means nobody can see it all in a weekend, even a long weekend.So when the Adirondacks come to mind for a visit, think specific. There are more than three dozen mountains to climb -- some of the highest east of the Mississippi -- hundreds of trails to hike and about 1,400 lakes within the park boundary, and you can't swim in all of them.Veteran travelers who head this far north in New York plan their destinations and vacations ahead of time.

100 Years Ago An article in the Aug. 5, 1911, edition of The Argus reported on some hardy residents' ambitious plans for a summer vacation adventure in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York . Messrs . Benjamin Whitely and Harold Phillips of Catonsville, and Mr. Frederick R. Huber , of Baltimore, left last Friday for a month's canoeing in the lakes of Northern New York, and from accounts of their previous experiences...

GLENS FALLS, N.Y. --The Baltimore Skipjacks learned their lesson a week ago. Bruised by a 5-2 loss to Adirondack at home, the Skipjacks came into Glens Falls Civic Center last night and handed the Red Wings a 5-3 loss.Thomas Sjogren scored twice and assisted on a third goal, as Baltimore Skipjacks skated to a 5-3 victory over the Adirondack Red Wings last night, broke a string of seven straight regular-season losses in Glens Falls. The Skipjacks' victory stopped a 10-game Adirondack unbeaten streak, which had been the longest in the American Hockey League.

You missed Salt Lake, and the weak dollar puts Turin, Italy, out of your price range next year. What's a Winter Olympics fan to do? Go to Lake Placid, N.Y., next month and relive the magic of 1980. The village of 2,600 tucked in the Adirondack Mountains is having a festival Feb. 12-27 to mark the silver anniversary of the 1980 Winter Games that includes activities at all of the original venues. Skate the outdoors rink where Eric Heiden won all five speed skating events. Cheer in the arena where a hockey "miracle" happened.

GLENS FALLS, N.Y. -- The fledgling Baltimore Bandits are still looking for the first win in their young franchise's history.The Bandits, who brought the American Hockey League's version of the sport back to Baltimore after a year's absence, dropped a 6-2 decision to the Adirondack Red Wings here last night.A crowd of 3,731 was on hand for the home team's season-opener at the Glens Falls Civic Center.The loss was the second straight for the Bandits, who were beaten 3-1 by expansion-mate Carolina Friday before a crowd of 7,293 at the Baltimore Arena.

LONG LAKE, N.Y. -- Three months ago, the streets of this Adirondack hamlet were nearly deserted. In Hamilton County, where Long Lake -- population 750 -- is practically a metropolis, the unemployment rate was up to 18 percent, higher than any other county in the state. Business was so slow at the grocery store here that the owner had to take out a loan to cover expenses, and he said later that he had stayed open only as a public service.9,000 plastic spoonsBut in the last few days, the gloom that hung over Long Lake all winter has lifted.

I exit the New York Thruway and am pushing hard in the direction of Lake Placid when I stop to eat in the tiny township of Keene, not expecting any miracles. I stumble upon the Cliffhanger Cafe, one of the few health food restaurants in the Adirondack Mountains. As I'm busy devouring my faux Reuben sandwich, I notice a message scrawled in bold script on a chalkboard near the cash register: Take a deep breath. Relax. You are in the Adirondacks. Did some angelic hand write those words?

RAQUETTE LAKE, N.Y. - Acid-rain-caused compounds are decreasing in Adirondack lakes, lending further evidence that the region's waters are improving from decades of acid rainfall, according to new research by the state and two universities. The study, which was recently submitted to the journal Environmental Science & Toxicology, found that in 44 of 48 lakes studied, sulfates - the building blocks of sulfuric acid - had declined since 1992. And for the first time since 1982, scientists detected a reduction in nitrates, which form nitric acid in water, in 15 of 48 lakes.

It must have been the call of the loon.Or so I thought as I stood on the shore at Great Camp Sagamore, watching the mist crawl over the lake at dawn. This mournful and timeless call, I thought as it died away into the grayness, is what drew people here in the first place. It had to be something compelling to drag the fabulously wealthy away from their elegant apartments in New York City and their mine-is-bigger-than-yours "cottages" in Newport, R.I. There had to be some powerful reason for the Vanderbilts and Rockefellers, the Whitneys and the Astors to brave 12-hour train rides followed by teeth-rattling carriage rides to come to play in their Adirondack "camps" early in this century.

GLENS FALLS, N.Y. -- At home and on the road, the Skipjacks have handled the Adirondack Red Wings well this season.In fact, Skipjacks coach Barry Trotz was pleasantly surprised tsee his team out-duel the defending Calder Cup champions on their own turf last night.Though the game ended in a 5-5 tie, Trotz was upbeat."Any tie on the road is a good point," said Trotz. "I thought we were better than Adirondack in every phase of the game except goaltending. Duane Derksen [goaltender] wasn't really sharp for We gave them three soft goals."

SARANAC LAKE, N.Y. -- The Grand Canyon may receive letters and packages by pack mule, parts of Alaska by propeller plane. But here in the lake-speckled Adirondack Mountains, a fortunate few have their mail delivered right to their docks. And in this upscale community, where people call a lakefront mansion a "camp" the way Newport swells use the understated "cottage," one man gets to deliver it. He is Dion Neese, 45, who seems more comfortable in front of the tiller of an outboard motor than behind the wheel of a car. Neese is not a postal employee.

TUPPER LAKE, N.Y. - The 1964 murder of Andrew Goodman in Mississippi prompted an aggressive investigation of the Ku Klux Klan and, decades later, inspired the movie Mississippi Burning. The killings of Goodman and two other young volunteers who were registering blacks to vote is viewed as a turning point in the civil rights movement. But Bill Frenette, the village historian here in Franklin County, fretted that even though Goodman's place in American history was secure, his ties to the northern Adirondacks could easily be forgotten.

NORTH ELBA, N.Y. - They have been battered by storms, ravaged by fires and, a little more than a century ago, stripped bare of much of their timber. Yet today the 46 highest Adirondack mountains are a towering tribute to the resilience of nature and to man's efforts to preserve forever a patch of wilderness surrounded by civilization. Forests once again blanket their slopes. Mile-high views remain largely unspoiled by development. But the largest tract of publicly owned wilderness in the Adirondack Park, which encompasses 6 million acres of public and private land in upstate New York, now confronts a more insidious threat: recreational use. Despite the effects of acid rain on the lakes, forests and soils, and the changes the mountains will face if the climate warms, the peaks, for now, seem most threatened by the people who love them.

KEENE, N.Y. - Five years ago, the Adirondack Mountains were the site of a different kind of peace conference: Canadian hiking group leaders met with American land managers. Things haven't been quite the same since. At the time, some felt Canadian hikers were getting a bad name. There had been three recent Canadian hiker or climber deaths here. Land managers were frustrated by Canadians arriving by charter buses, dropping off large hiking groups that invaded the trails and swarmed the summits of the 192,685-acre High Peaks Wilderness Area.

RAQUETTE LAKE, N.Y. - Acid-rain-caused compounds are decreasing in Adirondack lakes, lending further evidence that the region's waters are improving from decades of acid rainfall, according to new research by the state and two universities. The study, which was recently submitted to the journal Environmental Science & Toxicology, found that in 44 of 48 lakes studied, sulfates - the building blocks of sulfuric acid - had declined since 1992. And for the first time since 1982, scientists detected a reduction in nitrates, which form nitric acid in water, in 15 of 48 lakes.

WILMINGTON, N.Y. - Whiteface Mountain is a tourist trap in the High Peaks of the Adirondacks. It is the only mountaintop that can be reached by car. In the winter, it is a ski resort; in the summer, it is a mountain bike center. As such, Whiteface is the only peak of the 46 highest Adirondack Mountains not designated as pristine wilderness. But the threats facing Whiteface (elevation 4,670 feet) confront many of the more strictly protected peaks of the Adirondack Park, and some are coming from afar.

BasketballNuggets: Activated G Ricky Pierce from injured list. Waived G Melvin Booker.BasketballWalter Camp Award: Coach of the Year honor given to Arizona State's Bruce Snyder after 11-0 record gave Sun Devils the Pacific-10 title and Rose Bowl berth.HockeyStars: Placed F Greg Adams and F Brent Gilchrist on injured reserve. Recalled F Marc Labelle from IHL Michigan.Lightning: Activated C Paul Ysebaert from IR. Placed LW Shawn Burr on IR. Recalled C Jeff Toms from AHL Adirondack. Reassigned RW Paul Brousseau and C Allan Egeland to Adirondack.

VS. UTICA DEVILS* WHEN: Tonight, 7:30.VS. ADIRONDACK RED WINGS* WHEN: Sunday, 7 p.m.* WHERE: Baltimore Arena.* RADIO: WLIF-AM 1300.* OUTLOOK: Tonight is the first meeting of the season between the Jacks and Devils. The Jacks are coming off a big 6-3 victory in Hershey Wednesday night with several starters out of the lineup. Center Alfie Turcotte, whose wife gave birth to a boy Tuesday night, will be back tonight, but Bobby Babcock (wrist), Vic Gervais (foot), Jim Mathieson (shoulder) and Rob Mendel (rib)

ALBANY, N.Y. - Deep within the New York State Museum sits an ordinary gray cabinet, a sort of botanical time capsule storing fragments of life from the Adirondack High Peaks of 150 years ago. Inside, 40 shoebox-sized cases stacked top to bottom contain the mosses and liverworts that clung to the tips of New York's tallest mountains in the middle of the 19th century. A century later, it is these specimens - brown and brittle and on the verge of crumbling into dust - that may hold the clues to the future of the 300- square-mile High Peaks Wilderness Area in upstate New York.

I exit the New York Thruway and am pushing hard in the direction of Lake Placid when I stop to eat in the tiny township of Keene, not expecting any miracles. I stumble upon the Cliffhanger Cafe, one of the few health food restaurants in the Adirondack Mountains. As I'm busy devouring my faux Reuben sandwich, I notice a message scrawled in bold script on a chalkboard near the cash register: Take a deep breath. Relax. You are in the Adirondacks. Did some angelic hand write those words?