Charlotte Staats grew up in Westport hearing stories from her mother about being a volunteer trail crew leader for the Adirondack Mountain Club in the 1990s.
Now Staats is a member of ADK’s professional trail crew and was the crew boss this summer, leading projects throughout the Adirondack Park.
In late July, Staats joined four other women on the backside of Mount Colden, where the Adirondack Mountain Club has been installing ladders on steep sections of a trail to the summit.
Explorer contributing writer Betsey Kepes visited the women for a few hours while they were at work and wrote a feature story for the September issue of the Explorer. A couple of days later, I hiked up and photographed them at work.
Above is a photo gallery from my visit. Check out the photos and be sure to read the current issue of the Explorer learn more about this impressive group of women.
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