Adirondack Peeks Winter 2025

O n Saturday Aug. 2, 2025, as part of the centennial celebration of the Adirondack 46ers, Laurie Rankin led a “Legacy Hike” to Hoffman Notch. We met at the parking lot off the old Frontier Town, at about 8 a.m. The 46ers provided donuts and coffee! After some introductions, 11 hikers carpooled to the trail head, a few miles west on the Blue Ridge Road. The hike starts off down a gentle grade, following a drainage. Soon, the register box is reached. Parts of the trail are apparently a very old road, perhaps used for logging. This might explain the “artifacts” that we encountered along the way, including parts and pieces of old cars, tires, buckets, oil cans, bed frames, and even the remnants of a “half-track” machine (part tank, part automobile). More natural items Centennial Hike with Laurie Rankin Tom Rankin, #5444WV I haven’t climbed them all — yet. As I write this, I’ve earned exactly half. But I was drawn to the 46ers organization before I even consciously set out to climb them all. I think my first direct encounter was with the Trailhead Steward Program at the Cascade trailhead lot in late summer 2022. I had climbed Cascade earlier in the season and was back for Porter. Really, I was just out for a hike with a friend. But I understood that the logo on the Steward Program sign meant the people who greeted us had climbed them all. And I understood that they were part of something bigger than me. Bigger, even, than themselves. This was reaffirmed later, when I had Centennial Hike with Ron Konowitz Ashleigh Livingston, #ASP31018

included moose prints, several different birds, and mostly dry feeder streams that lead into the Hoffman Notch Brook. Laurie stopped at several bridges that spanned the side streams and explained that the bridges were built by a group of women (including Laurie) a few years ago during a Women’s Only Work Weekend (WOW). The bridges still look great! There are a fair number of blowdowns that need to be removed, as well as vegetation that needs to be cut back, perhaps on a future outing. The hike proceeded at a more or less leisurely pace, gently uphill, with participants hopscotching back and forth, chatting among themselves. The weather was cool to start but warmed up into the upper 60s to low 70s as we went along. At about 11 a.m., we decided that we needed to head back, so that participants could be back in time for other events that were part of the celebration. We returned safely to the trail head around 1 p.m. We were a small group — just six in total, including the editor of this very magazine, Sherry Roulston. It was revealed early on that my friend, Gabe Dickens, and I were the only non-finishers in the bunch. It was also immediately clear that it made no difference to anyone else. Everyone was welcoming and, like me and Gabe, eager to tap into Ron’s extensive knowledge. Before we hit the trailhead, Ron brought us to the floating dock in front of the lodge and pointed out the peaks comprising the landscape beyond the lake’s opposite shore. It was a perfect day for our outing — not too hot and only a few nonthreatening clouds in sight. Ron explained that we were on private property owned by the Ernst family, as was the trail we would be hiking, and that

a few more High Peaks patches pinned to my cork board and found myself reading a copy of Heaven Up-h’isted-ness! I was soon inspired to register as an aspiring member. And, a year later, I was elated to secure a spot at the annual Outdoor Skills Workshop I had read about. That’s where I first encountered Ron Konowitz, a guest speaker at the workshop and — according to one fellow workshop attendee — an Adirondack living legend. I had never heard of Ron before that, but after hearing his stories, I knew I wanted to hear more. So, naturally, when information graced my inbox about the 46er festivities planned for the first weekend in August to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the first High Peaks finishers, I signed up for the group hike led by Ron at Elk Lake Lodge.

L to R Ron Kon #487V SKI, Sherry Roulston #12512, Ashleigh Livingston #ASP31018, Adrienne Scivolette #12235W, Kim Fortin #16119, photo credit - Gabe Dickens

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