Field Programs Newsletter - Adirondack Mountain Club

ADIRONDACK
TRAILS
Vol. 17, No. 1 Winter 2013
The annual newsletter of the Adirondack Mountain Club Field Programs
INSIDE:
Introduction
Supervised Trail Volunteer Report
Professional Trail Crew Report
Page 2
Pages 3-6
Pages 7-9
Summit Steward Report
Pages 10-13
Page 2
ADK FIELD PROGRAMS
Another successful season of trail
building and summit stewarding has passed. As
you will see in the following pages, hundreds of
people contributed to the enormous amount of
work that was accomplished.
For the trails program, many of the
projects focused on repairing damage from
tropical storm Irene. The hardest hit were the
foot bridges. ADK trail crews replaced eight foot
bridges in 2012, the shortest one measuring
twenty two feet and the longest at fifty five feet.
All of the bridges were located in the
backcountry and were built (or rebuilt in some
cases) using non-motorized hand tools.
The summit stewards enjoyed many sun
drenched days in the alpine zone last summer.
The uncharacteristically hospitable weather,
coupled with a motivated crew of stewards,
resulted in some major improvements to the
summit trails along with an unprecedented
amount of public outreach. In fact, this year a
new record was set. 20,567 hiker contacts were
made over the five month long season. This is
over a sixty percent increase from ten years ago
in 2002.
Looking ahead to the 2013 season, there
are some exciting trail projects planned. The list
is ambitious and hopefully there will be similar
weather conditions as 2012. One of the highlights
will be installing a portion of the NorthvillePlacid Trail reroute at the southern end.
Approximately three miles of the trail will be
taken off of the Benson Road near Northville
and instead will take hikers through the Silver
Lake Wilderness. Several foot bridges will need
to be constructed to complete this reroute.
Hopefully, in 2014, the rest of the southern
reroute through the Shaker Mountain Wild
Forest as outlined in the Unit Management Plan
can be completed which would alleviate hikers
from walking on the road for ten plus miles
between Northville and the Benson Road.
Another exciting trail project will take
place between Algonquin and Iroquois
Mountains in the High Peaks Region. For those
of you that have recently walked this herd path
you know how deteriorated the tread is and how
difficult it is to navigate without getting your
boots soaked. With generous funding from the
Adirondack Forty-Sixers www.adk46er.org/ , an
anonymous donation for materials, and the
Department of Environmental Conservation
(DEC) flying-in material, the Professional Trail
Crew will be able to spend four weeks installing
foot bridges in the worst sections of resource
damage.
TO CONTACT US:
ADK FIELD PROGRAMS
PO Box 867
Lake Placid, NY 12946
Phone: 518-523-3480 ext. 18
Fax: 518-523-3518
Wes Lampman, North Country Operations
Director - fieldprograms@adk.org
Julia Goren, Summit Steward Coordinator
summit@adk.org
Andrew Hamlin, Trails Coordinator
trails@adk.org
Frank Krueger, Trails Committee Chair
fkkmek@frontiernet.net
Herb Coles, Trail Steward Program Coordinator
June.herb@verizon.net
Hilary Moynihan, Adopt-a-Lean-To Prgm.
Coordinator - adkleanto@gmail.com
www.adk.org
Photo Credits: Page 1-Evan Curtis, Alena Giesche,
Dove Henry, Siri Larson, Rebecca VanDerWende
Page 2-Rebecca VanDerWende
Page 3-Evan Curtis
VOLUNTEER TRAILS PROGRAM
Page 3 FIELD
PROGRAM VOLUNTEERS* 2012 – THANK YOU & we hope to see you again this season!
CAROLYN ABDO, PATRICK ALLEN, ANA ALLY, DIMITRIOS ALMEIDA, ADAM AMBRUS, NATHAN AMIDON, MARC ATCHINSON, LYDIA BAKOWSKI, KELSEY BALDASCINI, MIKE BATTISTI, JULIE BAUM, RYAN BAXTER, CHRIS BEANS, AUGUST BEERS, REBECCA BENNETT, KEVIN BEREND, ELIE BIJOU, WADE BITTLE, RON BLACKMORE, THORA BLACKWOOD, HARRISON BLUESTONE, PETER & DIANNE BLY, KEITH BOLT, BRUCE BONACQUIST, THOMAS BOTH, CHRISTINE BOURJADE, JUSTIN BOYNTON, ROBERT BRADLEY, ALAN BRAMMER, HEIKE BRITTON, KATIE BRITTON, BILL BRIZZELL, BILL & CAROLINE BROOKS, SAMANTHA BROOKS, ELEANOR BROWN, ROBERT & WILLIAM BRUNO, KAREN BURKE, CHRIS BUSCH, CHRIS BYRNES, ZAK CAMPBELL, JOE CARDELLA, KAYCI CARLSON, MARJORIE CELENTANO, SEEMA CHAUDHARI, DOROTHY CHAUVIN, JULIE CHEVALIER, YVONNE CHU, ROBERT CLARK, MADELINE COBB, ERIC COE, BILL & MARY COFFIN, HERBERT COLES, ETHAN COLLINS, JOSEPH CONNOLLY, BOB COOPER, JIM COVEY, JULIETTE CRELLIN, BRIAN CUNNINGHAM, CARRIE CURRY, EVAN CURTIS, ELIOT DALTON, LUKE DANA, MATT DAVIS, RICH DAVIS, DANIEL DAWSON, LORI DEVOE, ANNA AND JIM DICKSON, MARCY DILLON, KATHY DISQUE, MICHAEL DIVAK, DAN DOHMAN, JENNIFER AND ADAM DONOHUE, ANDY ECKLER, KAREN EDWARDS, KARYN EHMANN, IAN ELLBOGEN, KRISTINE ELLISWORTH, MEGAN EWALD, JUNE FAIT, DAVE FERGUSSON, CHARLES FININ, ROBIN FINLEY, ISAAC FISHER, JIM & JILL FLAHERTY, GAETAN FOISY, LEIGH FOSTER, JOSEPH FOX, BRITTANY FRANK, ADAM GARZA, JAKE GASKILL, GAIL GASKIN, MICHAEL GEROUX, KEVIN & SHARON GETMAN, DOMINIC GIAMBRA, ALENA GIESCHE, CATHY GILCHRIST, PETER & MARILYN GILLESPIE, KELLY GILSON, LEAH GIORDANO, TONY GOODWIN, MATT GORMLEY, TRACEY GOURLAY, RYAN GRAIG, MARK GRANFORS, SHARRI GRAY, ZACH GREEN, CHERYL HANES, WILLIAM HARRIS, HUNTER HARTSHORNE, DAN HAUSNER, MAXIME HEBERT, RACHEL HEINEMAN, DOVE HENRY, DAVID HERMAN, PETER HICKEY, MICHELLE HILLS, KIM HOFFAMN, KAREN HOFFMAN, ANN HURLEY, BOB HUSBAND, BILL INGERSOLL, ERIN JACKSON, LEO JANKS, LOIS JENSEN, ALAN JINEI, ADAM JOHNSON , TJ JOHNSTON, CAROLYN & GENE KACZKA, DIANNE KIERPIEC, CHRISTY KINNEY, JOHN KLAIBER, LARRY KOLWAITE, BEN KOSALEK, MAX KRACKER, ROBERT KREMENS, BRENDA KREMENS, MAX KRONSTADT, FRANK & MARY KRUEGER, NORM KUCHAR, DONNA LABOUNTY, REECE LAMB, TERESA LAMB, JONATHON LANE, SCOTT LARSON, ALEXANDRE LAUZON, VALERIE LAVINE, MARK LAWLER, SUSAN LERNER, PAUL LEVINE, AGNES LINK‐HARRINGTON, GAIL LINVINGSTON, SUSAN LIPE, BILL LIPE, CHARLIE LIPE, HANNA LIPE, SAM LIPE, ROBERT LISENO, RACHEL LUCH, STEPHANIE LYNN, LYNNE MACCO, JAN MACLAUCHLIN, GREG MAKLAE, DANIELLE MANGOLD , WESTON MARSZAL, PATRICK MASSIE, JONATHAN MCDONALD, TRISTAN MCDONALD, KEVIN MCDONOUGH, STEVE & CHERYL MCGRATTAN, ELISA MCINTOSH, ROBERT MEYER, KATHRYN MILES, TAMMIE & MICHAEL MILLER, BENJAMIN & TIMOTHY MODEL, CARRI MONTES, NATALIE MOORE, MOLLY MORAN, GENNY MORLEY, ALAN MORSE, RYAN MOWERS, LAUREN MOWERS, HILARY MOYNIHAN, MARGARET MURPHY, MAUREEN MURPHY, PATRICK MURPHY, JOYCE NAKADA, MARIE NAPLE, ELLIOT NARK, PHILLIP NATHAN, JEFF NEWSOME, HENRY NICRONKSI, DAVID NILSEN, MARGARET O'KEEFE, JOSEPH O’REILLY, COLBY OWEN, JACKIE & NEIL PARKER, CHRIS PARKER, REED PARVIS, LINDSEY PAUL, LUKE PEDUZZI, RICHELLE PENNINGTON, IVY PIERCE, MARTIN PIGEON, BRENDAN POPP, DONALD REAM, GLENN RECKAHN, BEN RECKAHN, CLAIRE REVEKANT, SUE RINGANESE, WILLIAM ROBERTS, ANDREA ROBINSON, JEANEISY RODRIGUEZ, MARIE ROSENBLATT, KAREN ROSS, JODY A. ROTHMEYER, MATTHEW ROTHROCK, DAVID RYDER, ELLEN SACKSTEIN, JOHN SASSO, TOM SCHAFER, TOM SCHENCK, TIM SCHLOSSE, KATHLEEN SCHLOTZHAUER, ROSELIE SCHMIDT, JOHN SCHNEIDER, BOB & DEBBIE SCHWARTING, JAMES SCOTT HAMMONS, PHIL SEWARD, WILLIAM SEYSE, JOHN SHEEHAN, OLIVIA SHEPPARD, BOB SHWAJLYK, JOSHUA SILVERBERG, BILL & ROSEMARY SNYDER, STEVEN & MERY SOKAL, DAVID SPINGARN, ALEX STALVEY, ANDREW SUSSMAN, JUSTIN THACHEIMER, JUDY THOLL, JIM THOLL, DAN THOMPSON, BEN THOMPSON, JAMES TOWNSEND, JOAN TURBEK, STEPHEN TURBEK, CRYSTAL TYNDALL, LEE VAN DE WATER, REBECCA VANDERWENDE, BRIAN VERMILYEA, PAUL VENEZIANO, GARY & SYLVIA VIDAL, CANDACE VIVIAN, ZACHARY WALSH, DAVID WARFIELD, COURTNEY WEBB, PAIGE WEARING, TOM WEMETT, CAMERON WEST, GREGORY WETMORE, PAT & PEGGY WHALEY, ANDY WHITE, ELEANOR WHITE, KAYLA WHITE, GARY WILCOX, KATHLEEN WILEY, KIM WINCH, DAVID WINNIE, PETER WIRTH, JIM WOODS, JOHN WOOD, NEIL & HOLLY WOODWORTH, SHEILA YOUNG, ALEX YOUNG The Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) is dedicated to the protection and
responsible recreational use of the New York State Forest Preserve, parks, &
*Every attempt was made to
other wild lands and waters. The Club, founded in 1922, is a member-directed
include everyone who participated
organization committed to public service and stewardship. ADK employs a
in an ADK volunteer service
project. Please forgive us if your
name is not included or misspelled. balanced approach to outdoor recreation, environmental education, advocacy,
and natural resource conservation.
Page 4
ADK SUPERVISED VOLUNTEER TRAILS PROGRAM
maintainers an understanding of basic trail
maintenance concepts and standards. Twenty
volunteers on Blue Mountain and ten volunteers on
Severance Hill learned the principles of cleaning
drainage, blow-down removal, side-cutting, and
trail marking. These new trail maintainers were
provided the training necessary to become official
trail stewards under ADK’s Adopt-A-Natural
Resource with the DEC.
National Trails Day
For the first time, and hopefully not the last, the
ADK volunteer trails program visited the Town of
Caroga Lake to celebrate National Trails Day
(NTD). Residents of the town came together with
members of the recently formed ADK Foothills
Chapter to sponsor a multi-day event that future
NTD events will be measured by. Trail projects
took place on Saturday under grey skies and rainy
conditions. In spite of the rain, over 70 trail
volunteers attended. There were a number of
different kinds of trail projects that were completed.
Projects included rebuilding a pit privy/outhouse,
creating over 180 feet of new drainage ditching,
side-cutting over three miles of trail and removing
over 36 blown down trees. Thanks to the
Department of Environmental Conservation, trail
volunteers were allowed to stay for free at the
Caroga Lake state campground both Friday and
Saturday nights.
2012 Volunteer Trail Crew Leaders:
Evan Curtis – 1st year
Julia Goren – Summit Steward Coordinator
Andrew Hamlin – Trails Coordinator
Crystal Tyndall – 1st year
Over 300 volunteers participated in ADK
supervised volunteer trail projects for the 2012
season. Overall, participant numbers have been
excellent for all of the volunteer trail projects and
workshops. The only volunteer trail project that was
cancelled for 2012 due to low enrollment was a
week long Road Scholar service project that would
have occurred in early May.
In Mid-February, Julia Goren led a crew of
twelve volunteers on a week long trail project in the
US Virgin Islands National Park on St. John. The
volunteer crew repaired and rehabilitated a section
of the Reef Bay Trail which is located on the
southern shore of the island. Rock water bars, rock
steps, and new drainage ditches were the main
accomplishments.
Johns Brook Valley Trail Work Weekend
ADK volunteers returned to the Klondike Trail this
year to make more improvements. This weekend
long trail project has been reinvigorated by
members of the ADK Trails Committee with help
from Field Program staff. 22 people came together
to work on a number of different trail projects
including replacing the upstream foot bridge on
Black Brook that was washed away during Tropical
Storm Irene. Long time trail supporters Neil &
Jackie Parker organized this particular trail project.
Other trail
St. John Volunteers transporting scree rock. Photo: Julia Goren Trail Steward Workshop
This one-day workshop took place once again on
the trail to Blue Mountain in May. Due to an
overwhelming number of requests, a separate
workshop was also held in June on the trail to
Severance Hill located nearby Schroon Lake. The
trail steward workshop is intended to give trail
ADK SUPERVISED VOLUNTEER TRAILS PROGRAM
Page 5
work that volunteers participated in varied between
conducting drainage and blowdown patrols on the
Big Slide & Yard Mountain Trails and installing
turnpiking to firm up sections of the Klondike trail.
Before & after on the Goodnow Mtn. Trail Photos: B. Breitmeyer
near the Elk Lake Lodge located at the southern
edge of the High Peaks Region. Volunteers ate all
of their meals and stayed at the Elk Lake Lodge
during the trail project which offered a more
luxurious experience.
Black Brook Bridge on the Klondike Trail Photo: Frank Krueger
One Day Trail Projects
ADK Supervised Volunteer Trails Program hosted
two 1-day trail projects in June. On Cascade
Mountain, a volunteer crew of nine spent the day
installing 4 new rock water bars that contain 16
boulders. Fifty feet of drainage ditches was created
to accompany the rock water bars.
This year’s famous Ruth’s Easy Trail
Project was well attended with eleven volunteer’s
side cutting back vegetation that was starting to
obscure some of the trails around Heart Lake and
the Adirondak Loj. Led by crew leaders Bethany
and Wes Krawiec, almost two miles of trail were
side cut and two blown down trees were removed.
Multi-Day Teen Trail Projects
Geared specifically for people between 14-17 years
of age, five 5-day long back country trail projects
took place. The projects were located in the West
Canada Lake Wilderness and in the Johns Brook
Valley. Participants used one of ADK’s lean-tos as
a base camp each week while working near JBL.
During the first week seven volunteers built
a new foot bridge over Black Brook on the Phelps
Trail. This bridge is downstream from the one that
volunteers replaced during the Johns Brook Valley
trail work weekend and similarly was taken out by
Tropical Storm Irene. This crew also rerouted a
short section of trail on ADK’s property nearby
Camp Peggy O’Brien.
The second week was used to continue
hardening a section of trail near the beginning of the
Orebed Trail. Picking up where last year’s volunteer
trail crew left off, eight participants installed 27
stepping stones and lined the edges with scree rock.
The last week in the Johns Brook Valley
was used to repair the beginning of the Big Slide
Mountain Trail. Seven volunteers started by
Multi-Day Front Country Trail Projects
Two 5-day long front country trail projects were
supervised by ADK volunteer leaders Crystal
Tyndall and Evan Curtis at the end of June. The
first week was spent repairing a section of the
Goodnow Mountain Trail. The volunteer crew of
eight reused wood timbers to build 13 wooden steps
and armored the edges of the steps with scree rock.
During the second week, a volunteer crew of twelve
constructed a cedar turnpike on a section of trail
Page 6
ADK SUPERVISED VOLUNTEER TRAILS PROGRAM
redefining a 100 foot long drainage ditch that
captures storm water runoff. The trail volunteers
then turned their attention to repairing the section of
trail that was scoured down because the 100 foot
long drainage ditch above it had been neglected.
Four rock steps and turnpiking was used to fill in
what was an eroded gully.
During the first week in the West Canada
Lake Wilderness, seven volunteers side cut just over
two miles of the Northville-Placid Trail (NPT)
between Cedar Lake and Mud Creek. Before this
work was completed, portions of this section of the
NPT were becoming difficult to walk through
without getting scratched by the encroaching
vegetation. Thirty five blown down trees were also
removed from this NPT section.
During the second week in the West
Canada’s the volunteer trail crew worked on
another section of the NPT near Spruce Lake. The
goal was to replace bog bridges that were becoming
unusable due to decay. The original set of bridges
was also constructed by an ADK volunteer trail
crew almost sixteen years earlier out of native red
spruce. Nine volunteers were successful in
replacing over thirty feet of bridges.
Sidecutting on the NPT near Cedar Lake Photo: Evan Curtis
cleaned out, refuse is removed.If a privy hole is
full, a new one is excavated and the privy structure
is relocated.. This year, no privies needed to be
relocated so the seven person volunteer trail crew
concentrated on side cutting the NPT. Just over two
miles of the NPT was side cut and eight fire rings
were cleaned out.
Randonee Volunteers
Randonee trail volunteers have been helping ADK
maintain trails for at least one weekend a year since
the late nineties. The group is comprised of
Canadians from Ontario and Quebec. On a weekend
in September, trails coordinator Andrew Hamlin
lead six Randonee volunteers on various trail
projects on some multi-use trails in the Wilmington
Wild Forest. Four miles of trail was patrolled which
includes cleaning out existing drainage structures of
any accumulated debris. Also, thirty six feet of new
bog bridges were installed using dimensional
lumber that had to be carried to the work sites.
Fall Trails Day
Every fall after most of the leaves have dropped,
ADK leads volunteer trail crews into the High
Peaks to patrol. The main emphasis of the patrol is
to clean out leaves and any other organic debris that
has filled up drainage ditches. Almost all of the
drainage ditches were constructed by ADK trail
crews in the past. This year’s event was a success
with seventy four volunteers patrolling over
seventeen miles of trail.
One new bog bridge on the NPT Photo: Evan Curtis
Multi-Day Long Lake Canoe Project
The ADK Supervised Volunteer Trails Program
returns to Long Lake annually to maintain the leanto sites and privies that are along its north western
& eastern shorelines. Lean-tos on the eastern
shoreline are also used by hikers since the NPT
parallels this side of Long Lake. Fire rings are
ADK PROFESSIONAL TRAILS PROGRAM
Page 7
The next day of training, the eighteen person
crew split up into four different crews. One
continued to work at the Mr. Van bridge site and
began building log cribs for the stringers to rest on.
The second crew started work on the Little Porter
Bridge which is located just up the trail from the
Garden parking lot. A third crew began work on
rebuilding the South Meadows Bridge that spanned
the Ausable River. And the fourth crew constructed
new bridging on non-motorized multi-use trails in
the Wilmington Wild Forest at the Flume. The four
crews spent four days total at their respective
locations.
The entire crew including the volunteer
leaders participated in a two day wilderness first aid
course that was run by Wilderness Medical
Associates.
To finish up training, the entire crew
embarked on two days of patrols of over 50 miles of
trails primarily in the High Peaks Region. During
patrols over 40 pieces of blown down trees were
removed from trails along with all existing drainage
structures were cleaned out. Training and patrols
were made possible by funding from the 46ers.
The “regular” trail work season for the pro
crew wrapped up on August 14. Two thirds of the
crew members returned to college at this time while
the remaining members embarked on fall crew. This
year the fall season ended on September 21.
2012 Professional Trail Crew:
th
4 Year & Crew Boss – Ryan Baxter
4th Year – Madeline Cobb & Tom Schafer
3rd Year – Zack Campbell & Jon McDonald
2nd Year - Ryan Graig
1st Year – Marc Atchinson, Rich Davis, Dan
Hausner, Dove Henry, Adam Johnson,
Stephanie Lynn, Tristan McDonald, Molly
Moran, Luke Peduzzi, Rebecca VanDerWende
Food Coordinator – Chris Beans (5th year)
The Professional Trail Crew’s (pro crew) season
began with a week of skills training. Evan Curtis
and Crystal Tyndall, the Supervised Volunteer
Program crew leaders, trained with the pro crew.
Most of the training projects focused on repairing
bridges that were damaged during Tropical Storm
Irene.
The first day of training the entire crew
visited Klondike Brook where the Mr. Van ski trail
bridge had been washed away during Tropical
Storm Irene. Fortunately, the two log stringers only
floated a quarter of a mile downstream from the
bridge location. Since the bridge was just rebuilt in
2010 by the pro crew, the decision to reuse the
stringers was made so the entire crew teamed up to
drag them upstream. The stringers measure 27 feet
each. They were fairly dry from sitting in the sun
but the size of the stringers presented the crew with
some interesting problems to solve.
Catskills – Region 3
Starting in mid-June and into August a crew spent
seven weeks working at the foot bridge that crosses
the Neversink River, allowing hikers to access
Peekamoose and Table Mountains from the
Denning trailhead. ADK trail crews have worked at
this location on a number of seasons due to the
dynamic and flash flood qualities of this drainage.
As a result of Tropical Storm Irene, one of the cribs
was undermined by the river and over six feet of
stream bed was washed away. The trail crew’s task
was to remove the 40 foot plus steel I-beam
Page 8
ADK PROFESSIONAL TRAILS PROGRAM
Catskills – Region 4
An ADK pro crew spent eight weeks repairing
sections of the Kaaterskill Falls Trail. There was
one section of this trail that was entirely washed
away during Tropical Storm Irene. The trail was
rebuilt using boulders found on site and this
material was hoisted into place using Griphoists and
a high line system. This trail has many visitors,
usually hundreds each day, so the crew had a
difficult time working while keeping a safe
environment for pedestrians. A reroute was not
feasible due to the steep, unstable slopes present at
that location. Lowering an I-beam off one of the cribs. Photo: Molly Moran
stringers from the damaged crib, disassemble the
crib which is spiked together with rebar, and then
excavate a new location 15-20 feet further back
from the stream to reassemble the crib. The crib is
constructed of 10-15 inch diameter treated logs and
measures 10 x 12 x 15 feet tall.
The rock retaining wall under construction. Photo: W. Lampman
Adirondacks – Region 5
At the beginning of June, a pro crew spent the first
week of the season constructing a new foot bridge
near Marcy Dam. The bridge is built out of
materials that were flown in via helicopter by the
Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
The new bridge is located approximately 250 feet
downstream from Marcy Dam. The bridge took just
over two weeks to complete.
Another crew returned to the upper section
of the Orebed Trail to continue work that was
started in 2011. The crew installed an amazing 180
feet of wooden steps in just five weeks. Just 100
feet more is needed to complete the project. The
crew also managed to remove slide debris from over
40 feet of steps that was deposited as result from
New crib location back from the stream. Photo: W. Lampman
In September, a crew returned to the foot
bridge over the Neversink River to install hand
rails. This task was finished in a couple of days
allowing the crew to complete some patrols of
nearby hiking trails. Sixteen miles of trails were
covered.
Existing
drainage
ditches
were
rehabilitated and sixty eight blown down trees were
removed. ADK PROFESSIONAL TRAILS PROGRAM
Page 9
twenty feet in length. Both bridges were constructed
out of native material.
Tropical Storm Irene.
Before & After Irene Photos: Christine Bourjade L., W. Lampman R
At the end of July the bridge over West
Canada Creek on the Northville-Lake Placid Trail
in the West Canada Lakes Wilderness was replaced.
At this remote location, a pro crew spent three
weeks replacing this 45 foot long bridge including
constructing new bridge abutments and two railings.
Pro crew posing on the Feldspar bridge. Photo: R. Vanderwende
On Jay Mountain, a pro crew spent just over
two weeks completing a new hiking trail that was
started by a Student Conservation Association trail
crew. ADK designed and constructed the last mile
and a half of the trail. Over one hundred and
seventy blown down trees were removed from the
trail corridor along with excavating soil to create a
tread. The ADK Hurricane Chapter generously
donated the funds necessary to field a pro crew for a
week and a half on this project.
Adirondacks – Region 6
A pro crew spent three weeks repairing sections of
the Mt. Arab trail located near Tupper Lake. This
steep fire tower trail receives a lot of use. To halt
future erosion and to provide a safer walking
surface to visitors, the crew installed a combination
of seventeen rock steps and forty five wooden steps
that were fastened to exposed sections of bedrock.
The pro crew also built eight new rock water bars
and over fifty feet of new ditches. ADK plans on
returning to Mt. Arab in 2013 to continue this work.
Pro crew members standing on the new West Canada Creek Bridge
In August, a pro crew returned to the
Opalescent and Feldspar Rivers in the High Peaks
Region to replace bridges that were washed away
during Tropical Storm Irene. The first bridge that
the crew worked on was the one that provides
access to the Feldspar lean-to. This forty foot long
bridge took just over two weeks to complete and
required the construction of new cribbing and
handrails. The second bridge is located just
upstream from the Feldspar lean-to and was
completed in a week. This bridge was just over
Page 10
ADK SUMMIT STEWARD PROGRAM
weathered Tropical Storm Irene at the Lake Colden
Interior Outpost. He is studying at Monroe
Community College and is hoping to pursue a
career in the environmental field. Kevin’s extensive
experience and ability to handle any situation were
a real asset to the program.
Eric Coe—Eric was new to the Summit Steward
program, but is studying Biology at SUNY Oneonta
under Dr. Sean Robinson, a former steward. Eric is
an experienced rock climber and a cycling
enthusiast. His unflagging energy always kept
things lively on the summits.
Alena Giesche—Alena graduated from Middlebury
College where she studied geology and dance as
part of her Environmental Studies degree. She was
new to the Summit Steward program, but has
extensive experience as an educator. Her fluency in
French was greatly appreciated by our Canadian
visitors. Alena spent 6 weeks of the summer out on
crutches with a broken foot (a souvenir of a busy
Fourth of July weekend), but managed to make a
triumphant return right before Labor Day.
Patrick Murphy—Patrick recently graduated from
Marshall University with a degree in Evolutionary
Biology. Also new to the program, Patrick wasted
little time in mastering identification of the alpine
plants. His skills in plant identification were
invaluable for our Botany projects this summer.
Cameron West—Cam is a graduate of St.
Lawrence University. During the summer of 2009,
he did an independent study hiking all of the 46
high peaks and photographing and speaking with
hikers on each summit. Thus, Cam came to the
program with considerable knowledge of the area
and comfort interacting with visitors. In addition to
his stewarding skills, Cam is an accomplished
backcountry baker!
Julia Goren—I’ve been a part of the summit
steward program since 2006 and enjoyed this sunny
summer when I was not melting in the heat!
The following report was submitted by Julia Goren,
ADK’s Summit Steward Coordinator. It’s hard to
believe that another year has already gone by and
the 23rd season of the Summit Steward program has
drawn to a close! Columbus Day weekend ended
with a few inches of snow up on the peaks, a sure
sign that the summer hiking season is officially over
and winter is on the way. The summer was
beautiful, sunny, and BUSY, with record numbers
of visitors.
As our visitation numbers continue to
increase, the need for the Summit Steward program
remains clear. While hiker ethics have changed
dramatically in the past 23 years and many visitors
to the summit have met stewards before or are
familiar with the message, we still have many new
hikers to the area. There are always new people to
educate and to enlist in the cause of alpine
stewardship!
Personnel and Scheduling: The 2012 Summit
Stewards were a pleasure to work with. They were
hard-working, eager to learn, and enthusiastic about
alpine stewardship. It was an entirely new crew to
stewarding, yet they brought a wealth of field
experience and boundless energy to the job.
Kevin Berend—Kevin was new to the Summit
Steward program, but very familiar with the High
Peaks. He spent last summer working as an SCA
Backcountry Steward in this area, during which he
ADK SUMMIT STEWARD PROGRAM
Page 11
Danielle holds the record for interacting with the
most people in a single day—a whopping 403
people on one Saturday on Cascade!
Education - Usage and Outreach: The weather
this summer was atypical for the Adirondacks. It
was overwhelmingly sunny, dry, and beautiful
throughout May, June, July, and August. September
and October brought some much needed rain to fill
the streams, including some cold, wet days. Not
surprisingly, the gorgeous weather brought hikers to
the peaks in droves. Contact numbers were very
high, no matter how you choose to count them. We
hit a new record for overall contacts (20,567), a new
record for contacts for a single day (403), and this
year was in the top three for average contacts per
day.
2012 Crew L to R: Patrick Murphy, Julia Goren, Alena
Giesche, Cameron West, Kevin Berend, Eric Coe
Volunteer Stewards: As always, we couldn’t do
the work that we do without our volunteers.
Volunteers provided 37 coverage days this past
season!
Frank Krueger – Frank has been with the program
for ELEVEN years now and has been a major asset
to the stewards, the program, and the new
volunteers.
Ian Ellbogen – Ian has been with the volunteer
program for three years and has been an invaluable
help on busy holidays and with the program in
general. His help extends during the off-season as
well, during which he helped the steward program
initiate sponsorship with OR.
David Warfield – This was Dave’s second year
with the steward program. He has spent a great deal
of time hiking above treeline, and did some
mountaineering in Chamonix, France, this past
August.
Ethan Collins—Ethan was back for a second
season as a volunteer with the steward program this
year. He is a high school student, ardent fly
fisherman, and dedicated rower from Avon, NY.
Ethan’s spirit and sense of humor are always
invigorating.
Danielle Mangold—Danielle was new to the
Summit Steward program as a volunteer. A past
ADK employee, she has extensive experience
hiking in the High Peaks and educating the public.
Year 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 Public outreach in addition to the coverage
on the peaks continues to be an important part of the
Summit Steward program. In addition to programs
(Antioch University, Massachusetts College of
Liberal Arts, Northeastern Alpine Stewardship
Gathering, Adirondack Botanical Society, Johns
Brook Lodge, Gordon College’s La Vida Program,
Adirondack Research Consortium, (to name a few),
I also published an article on the program in Peeks,
the magazine of the Adirondack 46ers. This article
was reprinted in Adirondac, next to an article about
the Summit Steward program written by Christine
Bourjade. This piece (particularly when paired with
Total Contacts Days Covered Average 20,567 269 77 19,211 275 70 16,539 243 68 18,420 283 65 12,350 198 62 14,043 199 70 14,004 242 58 12,541 195 62 11,217 157 71 11,177 139 80 12,663 205 61 Total Contacts 1990‐2012: 327,597 Page 12
ADK SUMMIT STEWARD PROGRAM
Christine’s extremely thorough article) has
generated some additional recognition and interest
in the program. More and more people expect to see
Summit Stewards when they reach the summits, and
awareness can only be a good thing for the alpine
vegetation. This past winter/spring/summer I also
provided some assistance to The Wild Center with
new alpine signs on the summit of Whiteface. These
signs are part of a new series of interpretive signs
throughout the mountain. They will be a great asset
to Whiteface and to visitors wanting to learn more
about the alpine zone.
Steward Alena Giesche and volunteer Ethan Collins point
to the elusive Purple Comandra on Wright.
Algonquin, Armstrong, Dix, Gothics, Marcy,
Skylight, and Wright. During her recuperation in
August, Alena was able create maps showing the
location of these plants using GIS and the data from
our GPS unit. These maps are beautiful and will be
a huge asset to the program—future generations of
stewards will find these species much easier to
locate thanks to Alena’s work.
This year marks the fifth year of our
participation in the AMC Mountain Watch
phenology program. The data collected is being
stored in hard copy here at the Adirondack
Mountain Club and being submitted electronically
to the AMC’s Mountain Watch Program. AMC will
use these data to analyze long term trends in the
timing of the different phenological stages, which
could be an indication of the effects of climate
change on the alpine ecosystem. We collected over
40 observations for this project over the course of
the summer.
Botany projects and other research: This past
year was another active year for Summit Steward
research. We continued our participation in regional
efforts such as Mountain Watch, completed the
photographic analysis project funded by the
Northern States Research Cooperative, and located
and mapped rare plants that had not been seen in
decades.
The 2012 stewards excelled at looking for
and locating rare plants. This type of work can be
similar to looking for a needle in a haystack—the
plants are small, the mountains are large, and
directions to the plants may be very specific (ex:
look around a boulder west of the third cairn above
treeline), or very vague (ex: west side of Mt.
Marcy). Additionally, identification of the very rare
species often requires the ability to distinguish
between very minute plant characteristics. All this is
to say, it’s not easy work! I was impressed with the
crew’s dedication and ability to locate plants which
had last been seen before they were born.
Over the summer, plants were relocated on
Trail Work and Project Days: As mentioned
above, it was a very productive year for various trail
projects. This summer’s crew took brushing in
impacted trailside areas very, very seriously. Major
and routine trail projects were completed
throughout the summer on the following summits:
Marcy, Algonquin, Wright, Cascade, Colden,
ADK SUMMIT STEWARD PROGRAM
Page 13
fleece gloves. These kept feet dry and hands
warm—all of which contributes to content stewards.
Black Diamond generously donated 6 new
overnight packs to the program (one for each
steward to use), 6 pair of ultra light trekking poles,
and a headlamp to each steward. All were
appreciated and received a great deal of use.
In addition to the donations, the Summit
Steward program purchased one additional Vertex
824 radio and enough 5 day batteries to insure that
every steward could have two. These meant that
there were always enough radios and battery power,
even with an increased staff size and additional
volunteers.
Haystack, Iroquois, Giant, and Skylight. Work
totals for the season: 800 square feet of brushing,
449 square feet of rock packing & scree walls, 22
Cairns repaired, 230 new Blazes, 1600 feet of trail
side cut, and 6 stepping stones.
Equipment and Gear: As is to be expected, our
equipment receives heavy use and something is
always in need of repair or replacement. Many
thanks go to the companies that provide us with
equipment and clothing for supporting the summit
steward program. Stalwart program sustainers, such
as Campmor, Vasque, and Darn Tough were joined
this year by some new supporters, Outdoor
Research, Lorpen, Manzella, and Black Diamond.
Each donated some critically important piece of
equipment which helped to improve the program
and the experience of the stewards. We are very
grateful for the support!
Campmor donated synthetic down jackets
and a new sleeping pad for the Marcy site, both of
which had been topping the list of requests from the
2011 stewards. The synthetic jackets in particular
helped keep everyone warm in wet weather,
particularly in the fall.
Vasque again donated boots and Darn
Tough donated socks to the summit stewards
through the Mountaineer in Keene Valley. The
Mountaineer also provided stewards with the
opportunity to purchase personal gear at cost. We
are greatly appreciative of the donations of time and
equipment to the individual stewards—thank you!
Outdoor Research (OR) outfitted the
stewards in new zip-off pants, rain pants, wicking
T-shirts, and rain jackets. As I mention every year,
stewarding is very hard on rain gear! Jackets and
rain pants typically only last about a season before
they wear out from the use we put them through. It
was great to have quality rain gear this year; spirits
are always higher when the stewards are able to stay
dry! Additionally, the wicking base layers were
great! They helped everyone stay relatively dry
under the uniform shirts.
Lorpen generously gave each steward
several pairs of socks and Manzella gave the
steward program new hats, liner and windstopper
Program Supporters: As always, the summit
steward program would not be possible without the
support and funding of a number of various
organizations and individuals. I would like to thank
the following organizations:
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And individuals: Wes Lampman (ADK), Doug Munro
(TNC), Jim Giglinto (DEC), Kris Alberga (DEC),
L.John Van Norden, (46er Conservation Trust), Jack
Coleman (ADK High Peaks Foundation), Frank
Krueger, Ian Ellbogen, Ethan Collins, Seth Jones,
Danielle Mangold, David Warfield, Brendan Wiltse,
Christine Bourjade, Sean Robinson (SUNY Oneonta),
Steve Young (NYNHP), Tim Howard (NYNHP), Dr.
Mary Roden-Tice (SUNY Plattsburgh), Ryan Doyle
(ADK), Kathy Regan (APA), Vinnie McClelland, Chuck
Bruja and the entire staff of The Mountaineer, Jack
Kirsch, Christian Folk, John Trouba, Erik O’Brien, Thea
Moruzzi, Libby Nichols, and Adrien Vlach.
Thank you all!
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
46er Conservation Trust
ADK High Peaks Foundation
Northern States Research Cooperative
The Adirondack 46ers
ORDA for access to the summit of Whiteface via the
Memorial Highway
The Mountaineer
Vasque for boots for stewards
Campmor
Darn Tough Socks
Outdoor Research
Lorpen Socks
Manzella for gloves and hats for the stewards
Black Diamond
W.L. Gore and Associates