What's Your Nature?
Become a Nature Up North explorer to share your encounters with wild things and wild places in New York's North Country. Post your wildlife sightings, landscape shots, photos from your outings, and even your organization's events!
Mount Arab Winter Hike
Nature Up North celebrated the new year with a snowshoe hike to the summit of Mount Arab in Piercefield. We had great weather for the trip, and were joined by 20 hikers of all ages from all across the North Country. Several people experienced their first winter hike in the Adirondacks while others had a chance to try snowshoes for the first time. The group enjoyed sharing snacks at the summit cabin, searching for wildlife tracks, and learning some common tree species. Thanks to all who joined us!
Panther Gorge Ice Climbing 2019 - Apex Predator (WI4-5)
Pioneering new ice on Mt. Marcy in Panther Gorge. This was a route I've been trying to "put up" for two years. True adventure! January's foray was with friends Aaron Courain and Alan Wechsler. visit adirondackmountaineering.com for the full story.
Emerging Invasive Forest Pests Course
Join Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County for this day course at BOCES Education Center in Canton to learn more about several invasive forest pests of emerging concern. Topics include identification, prevention & management of Asian Spotted Lanternfly, Asian Earthworms, Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, and Oak Wilt. Presentations throughout the day will be led by staff from CCE-St. Lawrence, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, and the New York State Hemlock Initiative at Cornell University’s Department of Natural Resources.
WINTER TRACKING
The ICNC hosts a wonderful array of interesting animals and fauna throughout the year. Peter O'Shea, local naturalist and author, will lead the group in identifying various creatures by their tracks and other unique features. If snow is sufficiently deep, trackers can bring their snowshoes or borrow them from the Nature Center. If no snow, we'll scout the trails on foot. Dress appropriately.
Leader: Peter O'Shea (315) 848-2178
Date: Saturday, January 5th, 2019, 10:00 to noon.
Black Pond & Bridge Brook pond trail
This is a nice 4 mile round trip to two remote Adirondack Ponds. This is located in the Horseshoe wild forest on RT 421. It was a nice day for a snowshoe trip, and the terrain is fairly friendly for snowshoes. You can see Mt Arab and the fire tower from Bridge Brook pond.
Coney Mt -Tupper Lake
A bit windy & chilly- but a beautifully clear day to hike one of the three Tupper Lake Triad mts. This trek has a lot of bang for the buck, some of the best views VS effort around.
North Country Voices: Bill (Dick) Hollis
Bill (Dick) Hollis has been a duck decoy carver in the Ogdensburg area for over 50 years. Hollis first learned to carve from his father, and has now won numerous awards for his work. He estimates he has made 1500-2000 decoys throughout his life. Despite technological innovations, Dick is one of few decoy carvers in the North Country that continues to carve with hand tools. We caught up with Dick to learn more about his craft.
Pine Grosbeaks
One of the largest irruptions of Pine Grosbeaks in many years is happening this season due to a poor cone yield in Canada. Keep an eye on ornamental fruit trees for these birds, as hungry flocks of grosbeaks will gorge themselves upon the fruits (and will probably be unconcerned by your presence).
Multiplication Gully Ice Climbing
This is a classic moderate multi-pitch climb near Whiteface Mountain.It sets up differently as the season progresses, but this day it was sketchy and thin with sections of ice breaking apart under me. The hardest parts had the best ice--luckily. It's one of the venues with a deep backcountry feel even though it's only a 10-minute walk from the Ausable River. See the following link for a video filmed during my January 2018 climb.
https://www.facebook.com/LaMountainImaging/videos/405743213218514/
Wild Eats: Tea Time
Have you ever wandered through the woods, looked at all the plants surrounding you, and wondered, “are any of these edible?” Good news: there are many species of edible plants found in the wild all around us! With a little knowledge of how to identify and prepare wild edibles, local forests become a bountiful place to explore.
