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Bushwhack Jack's Tracts
Tract: /trak(t)/ a short treatise of significance
These posts are published every other Tuesday in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise
The only daily newspaper published in the Adirondack Park
The frostbitten ear as a classroom
There was an excellent letter to the Enterprise last week from a writer in Remson lamenting that too many aspiring forty-sixers put more...
jkdrury
Mar 114 min read


That’s what it’s all about
Not counting Linda Leydon, who I kissed in the back of the bus in 3rd grade. And Crystal Waters, who I sent a love letter to when my...
jkdrury
Feb 253 min read


Come on through
Back in my day, the 1970s, I didn’t have to walk through snow uphill both ways to school, but I’ll tell you what, backcountry skiing was...
jkdrury
Feb 114 min read


Class conflicts on high
On these subzero winter days reading is sometimes wiser than going outdoors. A reflection of my age, no doubt. To ward off cabin...
jkdrury
Jan 284 min read


Read this or get lost
The compass has been around for over 2,000 years and is a simple device. If you put a sliver of magnetized metal on a small piece of wood...
jkdrury
Jan 145 min read


What’s learned on the mountain shouldn’t stay on the mountain
Every year, ten or so NCCC veterans of the college’s 33-day fall expedition would plan and then go on a two-week winter expedition. It...
jkdrury
Dec 31, 20244 min read


True to type
Recently, I heard from my college friend Jim Glover, a regular reader of my column and who drops me an email every once in a while. Jim...
jkdrury
Dec 17, 20244 min read


Winners: both on and off the field
When I woke up Sunday morning hoarse, and with a sore throat, I knew why: on Saturday Phyliss and I had gone to the Syracuse University...
jkdrury
Dec 3, 20243 min read


Near death by bicycle
I spent my early years in rural Locust Valley, Nassau County, which though only thirty miles from Manhattan, seemed like a hundred. Our...
jkdrury
Nov 19, 20243 min read


Wildland carry capacity conundrum
As I cruised Facebook the other day I saw a post about Lower Saranac Lake and the efforts by environmental groups to have the lake’s...
jkdrury
Nov 5, 20243 min read


Giddy-up 409
If you were a boy growing up in the 1950s you loved at least three things: rock and roll, cars, and rock and roll songs about cars. If...
jkdrury
Oct 22, 20244 min read


Too close to the madding crowd?
There’s a great deal of head-scratching going on regarding solitude and its role in Wilderness. It appears that if some people have their...
jkdrury
Oct 8, 20243 min read
Woodstock 99 – Part 2
While the original Woodstock Music and Art Festival was revered for its aura of Peace, Love, and Music, Woodstock 99 was characterized by...
jkdrury
Sep 24, 20243 min read


Peace, love, and music? Not
Fifty-five years ago, the greatest musical event of the Boomer generation – perhaps of all time – occurred: The Woodstock Music and Art...
jkdrury
Sep 10, 20244 min read


“I thought archaeologists were funny little men searching for their mommies”
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom During the downpours of the last week I thought I’d use the time to scan my Great Aunt’s...
jkdrury
Aug 27, 20243 min read


Denali: Where size doesn’t matter
The sixties Journalist Tom Brokaw defined the sixties as the years between 1963 to 1974. This is appropriate, as the years are...
jkdrury
Aug 13, 20245 min read


Some days you own the mountain, some days the mountain owns you
I had a rude awakening last week: I realized I’m not as young as I used to be. It started last Thursday when I was invited by Adirondack...
jkdrury
Jul 30, 20244 min read


A Royal Flush
Mark Twain said “An expert is an ordinary fellow from another town.” In which case my trip to Japan certainly qualifies. I’ve worked in a...
jkdrury
Jul 16, 20243 min read


The long and grinding flight
I just returned from a marathon trip to Japan where I was invited to be the keynote speaker and present a workshop at the 12th annual...
jkdrury
Jul 2, 20244 min read


I’m dying to meet you
I love Alaska. I’ve been there three times, and each trip has been special. In 2005 I got to spend a week in Haines with Phyliss while...
jkdrury
Jun 18, 20244 min read


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