11/14/2007 at 10:00 AM
Tags: Mancations, Fishing, Ice Fishing, Upstate-NY-Travel-Map, Adirondacks Travel (all tags)
Our Upstate NY Travel Map will get you there.
As the weather grows colder, we start loosening our definition of "fun" outdoor activities. Today's pick: ice fishing in New York.
But be warned: As doomsday predictions of balmy Northern winters become a reality, lakes aren't freezing hard enough. Unless bone-chilling temperatures set in soon, the thick layer of ice needed to sustain ice fishing shacks and burly men may not form.
Things are so bad that organizers have already canceled the annual Crappie Derby in February, New York's largest ice fishing competition that usually happens on Whitney Point Lake, near Binghamton. (Funny, we'd call any event requiring us to sit on a frozen lake all day crappy, too.)
So far, it looks like the most reliable place to plan an ice fishing trip will be the northern heights of the Adirondack Mountains in what is really the upstate of Upstate New York. Lake Pleasant is shallow and at elevation, meaning it forms ice easily. And it's stockpiled with brown and rainbow trout, landlocked salmon, walleyes, pickerel, lake whitefish and yellow perch. Sushi on ice, anyone?
Related Stories:
· Ice Fishing Becomes Endangered [NY Times]
· Upstate NY Travel coverage [Jaunted]
· Mancations coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: 416style]
by ced138
8/28/2007 at 1:30 PM
Tags: Active Travel, Adirondacks Travel, Hiking, Kayaking, Upstate-NY-Travel-Map (all tags)
Late August heralds the arrival of that short-lived season in New York's Adirondacks with neither snow nor black flies as the area's number one feature. In early fall, the miles of trails and waterways that wind through the Five Ponds Wilderness Area in the Adirondack's northwest foothills are the main event, with good reason.
Five Ponds has mostly been left alone for the last hundred years, bouncing back from logging to be a truly wild area off-limits to most motorized vehicles. Foot trails here are clear enough to follow but definitely give nature the right of way. Likewise, nature maintains the streams, giving paddlers rapids to enjoy and bends to explore. Some routes are served by recently renovated lean-tos. (Not exactly 4-star, but this is the wilderness.)
If you're not quite ready to go it alone, Packbasket Adventures' Lodge and Guide Service is the perfect introduction to the area. They've got anything and everything you'll need: equipment rentals, eco-tours, wilderness guides and meals, packed or served family style in their newly constructed lodge. And though the guides are all state-licensed experts, that doesn't mean they aren't a hell of a bunch of characters to have around a campfire with you.
Related Links:
· Packbasket Adventures [Official Site]
· Active Travel coverage [Jaunted]
by Judson
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