I have to disagree with Town of Keene Supervisor Bill Ferebee’s claim in his interview with Publisher Tom Woodman [November/December 2015] that “hikers don’t spend a lot in our communities.”
The last time I was in Keene Valley (October 2015), I stayed at the Ausable Inn ($45), ate breakfast at the Noonmark Diner ($10), shopped at the Mountaineer ($170), stopped at the Sunday morning farmers’ market in Marcy Field ($20), and paid $22 for the Adirondack Forty-Sixer fund-raising dinner to support the Keene Central School senior class. All in less than twenty-four hours.
Many in the hiking community live and work in the Adirondacks as teachers, techies, nurses, business owners who shop locally, eat locally, pay local taxes. In low-snow winters when skiers and snowmobilers are making other travel plans, hikers still show up. In addition, we donate thousands of hours and countless dollars annually to maintain the foot trails.
So please, give us our due and recognize the contribution we make to the Adirondack economy.
Mary Lou Recor, South Burlington, VT
Absolutely!! In the 4 years my wife and I were working on our 46 high peaks we spent no less than 75 nights here in Essex county at various lodging establishments (most of them at rental properties in the hamlet of Keene). We had countless meals at the local eateries, especially Aus. Inn; and spent hundreds of dollars at the Mountaineer and other local shops, including Stewart’s, Valley Grocery, and others. I personally know dozens of others who do the same.