Photo: Cody Updike As I watched, the clouds began to break apart as the winds blew them against the jagged cliff faces jutting out from a nearby mountainside. The towering rock walls rose from the mist, and the summit of the mountain high above poked through holes in the clouds. During the first few days I spent in the rugged Adirondack Mountains, the moody skies made the surrounding landscape seem both ominous and majestic.
The clouds and inclement weather accented how rugged this landscape truly is. Even though the Adirondacks may be a popular tourist destination for city dwellers from New York City, Boston, Albany, Montreal, Ottawa, and more, this mountain range is demanding. This 5,000-square-mile mountain range boasts 46 “High Peaks” rising above 4,000 feet.
This raw, rugged nature is also on display when sampling the region’s mountain bike trails. The mountain bike-legal singletrack is predominantly “a lot more old school, rock and root style — older handbuilt trails,” said Glenn Glover, Executive Director of Barkeater Trails Alliance (BETA), the local mountain bike advocacy group.
In recent years, BETA has been working hard to modernize the local mountain bike scene. “BETA has been absolutely instrumental in trying to introduce a little more diversity of trail style here,” said Glover. They’ve been “able to build some machine-built trails, some flow trails, some — I would say — more intentionally, mountain bike-focused or centric trails.” Aerial view of Mirror Lake and the Village of Lake Placid. Photo: ROOST ADK Unique communities within the […]
Continue reading the original article at: www.singletracks.com