What's Your Nature?
Become a Nature Up North explorer to share your encounters with wild things and wild places in New York's North Country. Post your wildlife sightings, landscape shots, photos from your outings, and even your organization's events!
Love Your Mother 5th Annual Earth Day 7K
The first 50 participants to register will receive a free T-Shirt! (registration form here)
The 5th annual Earth Day 7K is going virtual! Net proceeds will benefit the North Country COVID-19 response!
Nature Up North and the St. Lawrence Land Trust invite you to join us for the 5th annual Earth Day 7K Trail Run & Walk! The virtual race will take place from April 22nd to May 22nd.
How to Participate:
North Country Wild Showcase - Part 2!
Spend a morning in beautiful Heritage Park in downtown Canton learning about Nature Up North's North Country Wild (NOCO Wild) community science program!
The NOCO Wild program has the goal of studying the ways in which animals move throughout St. Lawrence County and how they behave in different habitats. We're hoping to enlist community members from across the North Country to help us answer these questions by having them take game cameras home and put them on their properties, recording the animals that are there.
North Country Wild Showcase - Part 1!
Spend a morning in beautiful Heritage Park in downtown Canton learning about Nature Up North's North Country Wild (NOCO Wild) community science program!
The NOCO Wild program has the goal of studying the ways in which animals move throughout St. Lawrence County and how they behave in different habitats. We're hoping to enlist community members from across the North Country to help us answer these questions by having them take game cameras home and put them on their properties, recording the animals that are there.
2025 NORTH COUNTRY KIDS' EXPO
Hosted by: St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce
The North Country Kid's Expo is a day of fun for families with play zones, demonstrations, vendors, and special interactive entertainment! Experts and representatives will be available to share resources and information on area opportunities for families, from health care, to after school activities, to regional attractions. Learn about family services while kids spend the day playing with a variety of activities including games, crafts, story times, fun photo opportunities, special appearances throughout the day and more!
Tracking Tracks with Adventurous Girl Scouts
The North Country has been blessed (or cursed depending how you look at it) by a blanket of white gold this winter. Several winter storms accumulating several feet of standing snow shows that Punxsutawney Phil might not be that unreliable of a winter predictor after all. Phil and his hibernating friends tend to stay indoors during the winter, but if you take a walk out on a trail this time of year you’ll still see signs of lots of animal activity.
7th Annual Cardboard Sled Race Recap!
The 7th Annual Cardboard Sled Race this past Saturday, February 8th was better than we could have hoped and a great way to kick off Canton's Winterfest! It was a balmy 25 degrees and sunny morning, perfect for speeding down SUNY Canton's sledding hill. Competition was fierce, with many racers fighting their way to the finish line by dragging, flipping, rolling, or getting a boost in their sled from a teammate. Participants competed 1 v. 1 against each other, and then against Nature Up North's sleds to see who was the fastest.
The Teams
Rainbow Falls Snowshoe
These photos are from Nature Up North's first hike event of 2025, a snowshoe to Rainbow Falls. This trailhead starts on the Tooley Pond Rd, which is plowed but can be victim to variable road conditions. The trail is .3 miles to the falls and is largely flat, but features a wooden bridge at the falls built by the DEC, with a short jump up directly after. If you snowshoe to the falls, be aware of where there is real ground beneath your feet, and not drifts on top of treetops next to the gorge. Always stay within the treeline.
Porcupine on the Kip Trail
These are photos shared with me by a community member, Blair Madore, who was snowshoeing the Kip Trail from the Pike Road trail entrance. This porcupine, tracks, and bite marks can be found about a mile down the trail at the first bridge you hit if you enter from Pike Road, or 1.5 miles down the trail at the second bridge if you start from the Wachtmeister Field Station.
The space between us
I was visiting the dike area at Upper Lower Lake WMA and very little was to be seen, but with the binoculars I could see some movement at the far side of the frozen lake.
I took a photo, but even with a 600mm lens, it was barely a speck in the picture.
It took me about 30 minutes to get from the dike to the marsh overlook viewing platform, which was near the location of the coyote, but as I figured it was no longer around.
Tree Species Focus: Basswood Best for Wooden Bass
After receiving my first pocket knife at age eight, I wasted no time in launching my career as a sculptor. How hard could it be, I thought, as I gathered 2x4 scrap-ends from behind the garage. To warm up before producing my masterpiece, which I figured would be done by supper, I set about to carve a fish.