The Bookshelf
By Anne Brewer
Views From On High:
Fire Tower Trails in the Adirondacks and Catskills
By John P. Freeman and Jim Schneider
Copyright 2017
Published by ADK Mountain Club
The Adirondack Mountain Club released
this second edition in November. Hiking the
fire tower mountains has always been popu-
lar in both the Adirondacks and the Catskills,
but recently we've seen a sort of "fire tower
fever," as author Jim Schneider describes it.
This new edition has many revisions on the
original, published in 200. Since then, several
fire towers have been restored and are now
open to the public. For example, Stillwater
Fire Tower: this peak has a historical role as
the primar y triangulation station used by
Verplanck Colvin to sur vey the Adirondacks.
The book gives detailed trail descriptions
and includes maps, beautiful color photos,
and some histor y of each tower. If you are
hiking these towers as part of the Fire Tow-
er Challenge you will appreciate the concise
and accurate information on trail heads and
distances, as well as the log to keep track of
your progress. Also new in this edition is the
chapter Beyond the Blue Line, written by Ja-
cob C . Wilde. He describes 13 additional fire
towers that lie outside both parks. The book
finishes with an essay by Wesley H. Haynes,
on the histor y of the fire towers.
We highly recommend this new book and
are thankful for the author's hard work and
continued passion for the fire towers of New
York State.
