Melissa Hart

It recently came to our attention from a reader that Rogers Rock Campground closed earlier this year than previous seasons. We reached out to the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, which manages campgrounds in the Adirondack Park. Here’s the response: DEC considers many factors in scheduling campground seasons, including available staffing, historical occupancy rates, and the need to perform essential construction and maintenance while the facility is empty. DEC often alternates the campgrounds that offer fall camping to accommodate maintenance and construction projects. In 2024, low fall season bookings and staffing considerations at Rogers Rock Campground led to an » Continue Reading.

My great-grandmother ran away to join the circus and lived to 96. She walked laps around the house every morning and loved making people laugh.

How should the state value High Peaks solitude? Solitude is one of many requirements: The Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan sets out the rules for management of the Adirondack Forest Preserve. The master plan balances three key requirements for management of wilderness areas. The “imprint of man’s work” should be “substantially unnoticeable.” Wilderness areas should also provide “opportunities for solitude” as well as provide for a “primitive and unconfined type of recreation” that is human-powered and unassisted by any kind of machine. The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) contracted with an experienced consulting firm to bring “Visitor Use Management” (VUM), long used around the » Continue Reading.

Adirondack Explorer Digital Editor Melissa Hart has been named Editor in Chief, effective in early 2025.

Jack Phillips, who’s case was heard by the Supreme Court five years ago after he objected to designing a wedding cake for a gay couple, speaks to supporters outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Dec. 5, 2022.

Explore how polling impacts Pennsylvania voters, addressing key issues shaping local opinions and highlighting voter concerns ahead of upcoming elections.

Pa. should allow the pre-canvassing of mail-in ballots before Election Day so that results can be reported quickly on election night.

"If we elect Trump as president once again, I fear we’ll return to this dark age of cruelty toward those who look and sound slightly different."

Bum is from Ohio and drove the Budweiser Clydesdale hitch. Melissa Hart spent the day with Bum and his Clydesdales.

Ed Rendell, Melissa Hart, Jim Gerlach and Keith McCall | Your Turn