Adirondack Explorer
Adirondack High Peaks hikers won’t face additional restrictions on Columbus Day weekend, state and Adirondack Mountain Reserve officials announced Tuesday.
The AMR—the Ausable Club’s 7,000-acre private reserve in St. Huberts, across which the state owns a conservation easement allowing hiker access—had discussed the possibility of restricting hiker numbers on the typically busy holiday. Already this summer the state had restricted parking in the region to thwart COVID-19’s spread, and the state is in talks with the AMR about how to manage hikers next year.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation sent the Adirondack Explorer a joint statement with AMR saying the status quo will hold for this weekend.
“There are no additional use restrictions for the upcoming Columbus Day weekend at the Adirondack Mountain Reserve other than those in effect all season: limited parking,” the statement reads. “DEC and AMR continue to have productive discussions about strategies for 2021 that will help protect the area’s natural resources and promote sustainable use.”
DEC rangers will be dedicated to the corridor to help with law enforcement, and the department recommended hikers seek alternatives because parking is expected to reach capacity before sunrise.
AMR is a popular public access point for New York’s tallest mountains, and an Adirondack Council analysis of trail registers there found that hiker sign-ins more than quadrupled, to 25,000, between 1978 and 20017. That kind of traffic has prompted some to call on the state to created a hiker permitting system.
Aww, so much for a pilot program. I don’t mean to throw AMR under the bus, but I still think it would be better for a private org to try something before the state signs on to a big policy. I wonder if state officials felt the pressure of potential backlash.
Hiked Sawteeth last weekend up the scenic route and down the Weld trail. Saw only one hiker on the way up the scenic trail, and only 3 trail runners on the way down the Weld trail. Trails are in very good condition. Never seen more AC members/guests parked alongside their rack shamble camps, like everyone else, seeking a brief respite from the madness. However, nothing encountered along Lake Road or on the trails would provide any reasonable basis for the AMR or AC to restrict the use of the public easement over these lands. Claimed overuse and trail degradation is simply pretext to restrict public use. Their numbers add up to nothing. Perhaps the ill-conceived, dangerous and irresponsible pilot crashed and burned when the Honorable members of the AC realized that they faced potential adverse action by the State, and can ill afford to litigate a case they would likely lose in court if they pushed it. No doubt their limited funds, compared to the State’s resources, are better spent on the renovations being made to the grand old AC Clubhouse, and the public can still dream for a moment as they pass along their merry way to the access the natural beauty that awaits.