On April 3rd our class took a drive to Azure mountain, it was about an hour or so drive. It was a beautiful but windy day.

Azure Mountain is located in the Town of Waverly, NY. Azure is a part of the Debar Mountain Wild Forest, locally known as "Blue Mountain". The roundtrip hiking distance is about two miles. The elevation of the summit is 2,518 feet.

In 1914 the 35 foot tall Fire Observation Station was constructed of wood. The Fire tower was then restored and made of steel.

There's still lots of ice on long lake. Probably can't snowmobile, though the tracks remain. To the left the water was open with geese.

Beautiful. Spring was in the air though it was in the 20's when I took the shot.

Evening in the woods with a barred owl hunting voles. Incredibly 'friendly', barred owls often let people get fairly close without becoming alarmed.

12 hours of full-on winter climbing. What an exciting day! This was actually a dual slide traverse of Gothics; up the Rainbow Slide and down True North Slide on the other side. The link below describes it all with the bonus of placing a group of hikers (members of a forum) on each of the High Peaks on February 23rd, 2013...the second successful year. Red line is for inset reference ONLY; conditions change daily.

Full details at: http://forums.adkhighpeaks.com/showthread.php?t=20716

This was part of a 4 slide route on Dix Mountain on a perfect summer day. This slide was created in 2011 by Tropical Storm Irene and is more of a rock climb than typical slide climb.

More details at: http://forums.adkhighpeaks.com/showthread.php?t=18747

Look for this encounter featured in the January/February issue of Adirondac Magazine!

This was the perfect Adirondack winter climb...cold temps, cobolt blue sky, a trusty partner and a picturesque mountain. Route was about 12 miles with roughly 4,150 feet of elevation gain. The red line is for photo inset reference ONLY, not as a defined route; conditions change by day.

Full details at: http://forums.adkhighpeaks.com/showthread.php?t=20607

There wasn't much snow in the flat lands, but the High Peaks were already holding about 36" of fresh snow. What a way to kick off the winter season! 15 hours, 12 miles and about 4,300 feet of elevation gain.

Full details at: http://forums.adkhighpeaks.com/showthread.php?t=19910

Winter 2013 on one of the Adirondack's most remote High Peaks.
Route was about 16.5-17 miles with roughly 5,300 feet of elevation gain.
The red line is for photo inset reference ONLY, not as a defined route; conditions change by day.

Full details at: http://forums.adkhighpeaks.com/showthread.php?t=20907

Hiking in the Adirondacks! At the peak of Iroquois Mountain, looking across toward Mt. Marcy.