A lovely afternoon skiing with a friend at Higley Flow State Park. Enough snow finally to ski in the woods! 

We had a wonderful afternoon hike at Lampson Falls today with our spring crew of Nature Up North interns and research students. The weather was overcast and misty, but temps were in the high 20's and the falls were beautiful. It looks like quite a few people have made it out since last week's snowfall, but snowshoes and crampons helped with wet and slippery conditions, especially around the falls. For a few students, it was their first experience on snowshoes!

The day before was 58 degrees with heavy rain all day, and down to zero by morning. Add in a foot of snow overnight and the Oswegatchie river was as high as it gets in the spring. The water was running at least 6-7 feet above normal, and had already dropped about 18" by the time we were there in the afternoon. There was a pretty big ice jam several hundred yard downstream of the trestle. The water and ice were backed up about 200 yards into the woods from the banks of the river. It was only 2 degrees, but made for a fun and quick snowshoes trek.

Decided to take a walk down our country road to check out the recent snowfall from Lake Effect storm that dropped 18 inches of snow the day before. We were only suppose to get 2 to 4 inches. It was too deep to walk in the woods so we walked down our road. It was beautiful to see snow hanging on the branches along with blue skies with streaks of white clouds. Of course, it was cold with brisk winds on our way back home. It just feels good to be able to get outside to enjoy Mother Nature brings to the North Country.

Khyber's Slide on Upper Wolfjaw Mountain. Hunting early season ice with Dan Plumley and Loren Swears. The pitches run up to WI3 grade ice.

The permanent St. Lawrence Orienteering Course officially launched Friday, November 3rd! The course begins at the Wachtmeister Field Station, near the Kip Trail, and highlights some of the interesting geologic features in the surrounding forest. Thanks to everyone who came out to test the course, despite wetter than wanted conditions. We enjoyed seeing students and community members share map and compass skills and bond over a shared appreciation for time spent out wandering the woods.

http://www.summitpost.org/marcy-s-great-chimney-aka-empty-tomb-all-ryle…

Three rock climbs on Mt. Marcy. Full details above.

One of the best kept backcountry secrets is a large vertical trap dike capped with a diagonal car-sized capstone on Mt. Marcy. It is set in a northeastern facing cliff deep in Panther Gorge and looks like a pencil-thin shadow from the summit of Mt. Haystack. This is Marcy’s Great Chimney.

This was the third week of this year's Fall Trails Series, and the group spent a beautiful afternoon exploring the St. Lawrence University Kip Trail. We also talked about the Community Ash Tree Survey - a local effort in response to the arrival of emerald ash borer - and mapped some of the many ash trees on the trail. As a bonus, we spied a porcupine in a large red oak along the way!

http://www.summitpost.org/panther-gorge-mt-marcy-anorthofright-5-9/1005…

A long multi-pitch rock climb up the overhangs and obvious white streak of Mt. Marcy's white scar. Steven St. Pierre and I added this route to Marcy on August 27. 2017. ...another 20 hour day in Panther Gorge, but well worth the effort. Follow the link above for a full report and photographs.