About Adirondack Explorer

The Adirondack Explorer is a nonprofit magazine covering the Adirondack Park's environment, recreation and communities.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. james fulginiti says

    Anne and I exchanged mail for years ,she helped me through some rough times . I was a New York City Police Officer at the time and we became pen pals.She was coming to NYC to visit and was going to visit myself also but it never happen. She wrote me letters ,notes on napkins ,and never missed one letter I wrote her ,she would respond within a month and I don’t recall her address but it was after months of writing back and forth that she sent me an address other then the one everyone was using .Her response to my letters came quicker as hers to me.I was so lucky to be her friend and her mine ,I sent my book to her Woodswoman and she wrote me a note and signed it for me.What she wrote I will never reveal ,and it was spirtual in meaning nothing else. I just decided to look her up and sadly I see she has taken the journey , but I know we will meet sometime in the next life and atlast a handshake ,Rest in Peace Anne.

  2. Oregon Woodswoman says

    Like so many others I was drawn to her books, not because of her living alone in the woods. I live alone in the real woods, but the key point for me, was being a woman alone, period. I am glad to read here that she had a friend at the end. We all need that.

  3. Patricia strahl says

    A friend lent me a copy of her book when I was very I’ll this passed year, woods women. I lived in NYC all of my life and longed to live in the Catskills where I had hunted, fished, hiked since 1973. My dream came true in 1990 when I moved to Shokan NY with my partner to live in the country. Reading Anne’s book brought me even closer to why I always wanted to be where she was. Her book helped me heal and brought me bach to a place that I lost. I know that Anne has left us but I needed to express how I felt about her life and her writing.

  4. darrell roeters says

    After reading most of her books, i was curious where she lived. The local newspaper had photos and described the dismantling of her log cabin. It was moved this winter to the Adirondack museum to be on display in 2017. Twitchelle rd led to the boat launch and trailhead at Eagle Bay. The lake is still desolate an d has clean water.

    • darrell roeters says

      Twitchelle rd. Is a dirt rd. And was closed in April with snow still evident along the sides in late April.

  5. Carolyn B Matlack says

    I am so glad folks were with her at her end. I was and remain a kindred sole who still gets so much from her writing and honesty. It was an honor to visit the Adirondack Museum and see, view and here about her and her life. I shed reverent, tears of admiration and respect.

  6. Dina Carr says

    Was lucky to find a few of her books with inscriptions to the same friends and a special handwritten note by Anne in the Toadstool bookshop in Peterborough NH. I cherish these and have her titles as suggested reading for women’s hunting seminar I teach. I reread Mama Poc, Woodswoman and Beyond Black Bear Lake every winter since I found them. Thanks to her friends “Jean” and “Andy”who sent her dogs gifts and obviously were trusted friends. I am taking good care of your books.

  7. Pearl Reed-Klein says

    After all these years of reverence for Anne, I just see that she died of Alzheimer’s disease at an assisted living facility in Plattsburg, NY. My tears rolled down my face, my heart sad knowing that Anne would never want to be indoors at a facility, but also would have never wanted to lose her brilliant mind. I came to know Anne through her books and tried to find her cabin years ago. I met Anne in Ithaca, NY and knew that this eccentric woman had left an imprint on the lives of many women and men alike. It was Anne who gave me inspiration to be independent and find adventure and nature to be important and deserving life qualities. Thank you Anne for your words of wisdom, empowerment, grief lessons, strength and grit. Thank you for teaching and enlightening me during my life experience. Rest and relax Anne.

  8. Carol. Wilkerson says

    I love all her books. Her love of nature and the preservations of the Adirondacks was certainly a passion. I related to her in many ways. Blonde, pink lipstick, flannel shirts, but still feminine and a bit of a tomboy. I love the woods, fishing, all what the mountains and what the lakes offer. All of her heart when into this. It’s truly a passion of the heart. I think of myself in a cabin in the woods, away from people and all the stressors it entailed. Yet, I love people. But I love the quiet solitude when fishing and I only hear the call of the loons. Now, that is the music I want to hear. I lived in Plattsburgh from 1988 to 2006 and knew the place she lived towards the end, but never knew she was there. I would love to have met her after reading her books. I felt a real commaradarie, as I’m sure many did. But then, who really lived and loved the woods as she did with the passion in her heart.

  9. Patricia Ciminello says

    My husband, then new boyfriend, bought me the original ‘Woodswoman’, in one of our first Christmas Season’s together (1980-81), and bought me all the rest of Anne’s books over the years. I read the first book several times over the years, read portions to friends on a cold winter’s night when we thought WE were cold. When we moved from the East to the West to Oregon, and now WA State, I was overjoyed and my husband was too, to live as close to the woods and the earth as we could, while working and paying for,school loans, etc. Bit it has been a good life here, Anne’s words always encouraging us on. We never made it to Twitchell Lake, when we traveled back East, it was always about family then. We almost did make it one time, but we were on our way to a wedding in Tupper Lake and did not want to be late. But at least we were able to see the area, as we took the long way to Tupper Lake, near to her place. Maybe one day we will. . I Miss your presence on this earth Anne. Thank you for your service dear woman.

    • Peter Corrigan says

      You could go to the museum at Blue Mountain Lake .I knew her briefly she was older than I was . Everyone was drawn towards her when she was on Twitchell Lake . My recollection was of her at a dance at the Twitchell Lake Inn. She had pig tails and I think she wore a flowered dress that evening so long ago . They had saw dust on the floor and music and a caller for the evening . It seemed to me that the whole lake was there .

  10. Bill says

    Was disappointed to find Anne had moved on to her next thing. A bit beyond my now life possibilities. But she moved me.

  11. Lynn Cox says

    I have most of Anne’s books. Have read and reread them over the years. Had a chance to meet her at a book signing at the bookstore in Plattsburgh, ny around 2003, and didn’t go, for some reason. Guess I figured there would be other times. Didn’t know I’d never have another chance. Makes me so sad. I loved your stories, your pictures, and your dogs and lifestyle. Rest in peace, my dear, we’ll get to meet and talk one day!

  12. Susan says

    I read Woodswoman while I was still in high school and I graduated in 1981. My family was an outdoor family so the book had a profound influence on me. I did not want to follow the typical role of women at the time. So I applied for an Outward Bound scholarship and shortly thereafter joined seven others on a two week course in the Boundary Waters and the Quetico. From that trip forward I worked exclusively in the outdoor world as a guide and purveyor of outdoor goods for nearly twenty years before I entered a typical career path and became a weekend warrior. I am now moving full circle back to the outdoor life that I once lived all day every day. I’ve had an amazing outdoor life thanks to Anne and Woodswoman coming along at just the right time.

    Thank you Anne. May you rest in peace.

  13. Richard Connery says

    I had the pleasure of flying with Anne from New York to Albany sometime in the 60s. We happened to be seated next to each other and I commented on that beautiful Nikon in her lap. We talked about photography and her work Guatamala came. She seemed embarrassed when I recognized her from her recent National Geographic article. A most interesting flight. I was buying Woods woman books after that.

  14. Scott Warren says

    I remember meeting her in Guatemala, my parents had just adopted my baby brother from there and we were still finalizing paperwork and visas for travel. Ann asked “ where I was from. “ I said “Arkansas “ say said “where in Arkansas?” “ uhhh a very very small town called Marvell “ she laughed I know someone from Marvell, do you know Buddy Bass,” I was stunned “ yes we go to the same church and recently went hunting together. “ it just shows what a small world we live in.

  15. Nancy Snyder says

    I came upon Anne LaBastille’s Woodswoman books at my local library a few years ago. Having vacationed in Eagle Bay for over 30 years, I was immediately drawn to them knowing her cabin in the woods was somewhere in that general area. After doing more research, I realized her stomping grounds was literally just up the road from Big Moose Inn! I now own the series of books, and even found a signed copy. At the end of Sept, my husband and I went up to Big Moose Inn for an overnight to leaf peep. A map hanging on the wall inside the office clearly showed just how close we were to Twitchell Lake. So I dragged my husband up there, stood at the boat launch and trailhead, and was just in awe. A couple of locals drove up with a truck load of wood, and started loading it on a floating dock. So I started peppering them with questions. Yes, they had known Anne back in the day…she was quite a character. Yes, her cabin had been moved, and her second structure Thoreau II on Lilypad Lake, was now gone as well. The West of the Wind property, I believe they said, was now a State campsite. After that stop at Twitchell Lake, I convinced my husband to go to the ADK Experience to see her cabin. What a thrill! Anne did all the things I would have liked to have done as a younger woman in the 70’s, but never got the chance to do. She paved the way for many, and it makes me realize I could have do so much more with my life in the outdoors. So now retired with time, I joined the ADK Mountain Club, have many friends “up North,” and plan to spend as much time in Anne’s neck of the woods as I can before I am robbed of my good health. Thank you, Anne, for being such an anspiration for so many women!

  16. Mary Ann says

    Just read Woodswoman and am inspired by her resolute love of nature. Oh to be near or in nature. I live in Southern California and head for the hills to trail run. I feel out of place in this concrete jungle yet yearn for trees, dirt, sun. I don’t recall who turned me on to her first book but am beyond grateful. Thank you Anne for being unabashedly you. You’ve led the way to honor oneself and honor nature. Rest well.

  17. Linda M. Grasso says

    I just read Woodswoman as I vacation in a “camp” in beautiful Wanakena, New York, not far from LaBastille’s home. LaBastille presents a fascinating portrait of an ambitious, determined career woman, whose fame and appeal, I am certain was, and continues to be, aided by 1970s feminism. As a narrative, the book is artfully and strategically plotted and I was struck by the inclusion of perilous situations in each chapter. Interestingly, LaBastille provides no discussion of her recoveries from serious injuries–how she manages, etc. The persona is most definitely mythic and in conversation with mythic male figures whom she had read and admired. Thank you Paul Grondahl for a gorgeously written and nuanced obituary.

  18. Catherine Livingston says

    Being a Woodwoman myself, I have admired Anne for her writings and inspiration. I too have built my own cabin in the woods, where I do my writings. There is nothing like the solitude and quiet of the woods. Nature surrounds my small dwelling with huge Sycamores, Cedar forests, creeks and bluffs. At one time, when in the Adirondacks, I was quite close to where Anne had built her cabin. A local man who owned an antique store, had paraphernalia about Anne. When I began questioning him about her whereabouts, he told me the location of her cabin. As a Woodswoman, even though I was excited to meet a kindred spirit, I declined because I knew that she deserved her solitude, and didn’t want to bother her, as many people had. I had the chance to meet her, but didn’t, and was sorry that the last part of her life was spent inside a nursing home. No Woodswoman should of had to endure such an end. But, she lives on in all the woodswomen out there that have been inspired by such a soul.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *