MARCH - MAY 2018 Newsletter of the Mohican Chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club Serving Westchester, Putnam, and Fairfield Counties ...and Beyond You’re Invited... From the Chapter Chair WTA’s Annual Dinner --------------------------------------------------------- The dinner is being held on Sunday, April 22 at the As we thaw out in this New Year 2018 from this cold Casa Rina Restaurant, 886 Commerce Street in winter, I am writing this final column as Chair. We will Thornwood. For a fixed price of $30 including tax and have elections in April and the new officers will take tip, you can enjoy a complete dinner and choose from: over in May. If elected, I will change from my Chair hat an appetizer, soup or salad; eleven different meat, fish, to my Secretary hat. It has been a pleasure working chicken and vegetarian entrees; four different desserts; with all the wonderful Mohican Chapter members. and coffee, tea or soda with the meal. A private room has been reserved from 5-9 p.m. Those wishing to do Thank you for all the years of adventures, being so can join us for cocktails starting at 5:00 p.m. We’ll involved with the Adirondack Mountain Club and the order dinner around 5:30 p.m, and should start dining Mohican Chapter! Hiking, snowshoeing, cross-country shortly after 6:00 p.m. Please note that payment for skiing, canoeing, kayaking, leading, eating, mud baths, the dinner must be received by April 15. Make your snowstorms in the woods, hanging off edges of trails, checks or money orders for $30 payable to crossing rivers in the water, rain storms, ice storms, Westchester Trails Association, and mail them to P.O. swimming, getting lost (rarely), picnics, holiday parties, Box 736, White Plains, NY 10602. For questions, pot luck dinners, etc. It has been a thrill to keep on please contact Art Adelman at organizing adventures and hope more people come [email protected] or (914) 765-0542. out to enjoy all the experiences that we have had the pleasure to enjoy. I will continue to lead hikes and WTA Hiking Week+ in the Adirondacks maybe other adventures. Part 1: Johns Brook Lodge, Keene Valley, NY Our annual meeting for the elections will be held at 634 September 7-9 (3 nights). Reserve by June 30 Old Post Road in Bedford Village, NY on Wednesday, Part 2: Wildwood on the Lake, Lake Placid, NY. April 11, 2018 starting at 7:30 p.m. Please contact September 10-16 (7 nights). Reserve by May 31 Jean at [email protected] if additional names should be added to the slate. Home to the largest trail system in the nation, the Adirondack Park offers some of the best hiking in the east with over 2,000 miles of marked hiking trails. We’ve arranged for a hiking adventure that is divided into two parts and gives those who want to climb Mt. Marcy (the highest peak in NY State at 5344') the chance to do so, while providing an opportunity for hikers (and non-hikers) of all abilities to enjoy the area. SLATE OF NOMINEES TO BE VOTED ON As always, your schedule can be flexible: join us for CHAIR-----JANE SMALLEY one or both parts of the trip, and for whatever length of VICE CHAIR-----KATHIE LAUG stay you prefer. TREASURER-----LISA WEISMILLER SECRETARY-----JEAN DOLEN Part 1: 3 nights (Friday, September 7-Sunday, DIRECTOR------LESLIE MILLMAN September 9) at the Johns Brook Lodge, an ADK backcountry facility in the heart of the Adirondack High JEAN DOLEN Peaks. It’s a 3.5 mile hike to the lodge from the road, which shortens the length of the usual hike to and from 1 MARCH - MAY 2018 Marcy (11.2 miles round trip instead of 14.8 miles). We’ll hike into the lodge on Friday, do the climb up Marcy on Saturday or Sunday (depending on the weather), and another hike on the off-day, then hike In Memory of Robyn Stockton out on Monday. Amenities are basic but comfortable: co-ed bunk rooms with pillows and blankets (bring your own sheets or a sleeping bag, and towels), and washrooms with hot and cold running water and indoor toilets (no showers). Although food must be carried in and out, guests have full access to the kitchen (stove, refrigerator, pots, pans, dishes and cutlery). Coffee, tea, and lemonade are provided free by a caretaker. For the 10-person bunk room, the per person rate is $40/night on Friday and Saturday, and $35 on Sunday night (add $5 per night if you want to stay in a 4-person bunk room). There is a 10% discount for ADK members. Reservations must be made by June 30 and can only be made over the phone. Please call (518) 523-3480 and speak with Rachel. For more information about the lodge, visit: https://www.adk.org/stay/johns- brook-lodge/. An avid outdoor enthusiast and backpacker Robyn Stockton living in New York City first joined the Part 2: 7 nights (Monday, September 10-Sunday, Knickerbocker Chapter and later in 2010 joined the September 16) at Wildwood on the Lake in Lake Mohican Chapter. She enjoyed hiking, canoeing, Placid. All rooms have free WIFI, a refrigerator, cross-country skiing, and Adventure Travel with the microwave and coffee maker, and a balcony or patio Adirondack Mountain Club. In 2011 while hiking with facing Lake Placid. Coffee and muffins are served in the Wednesday Group in Harriman State Park, she met the morning. The motel has an indoor and outdoor her partner Jane Smalley. Together they co-led for pool; a hot tub and a sauna; a large lakefront area with several years canoe/kayak trips for the ADK Paddle free use of their paddleboats, rowboats and canoes; a Outing held in July at Paul Smith’s College. nightly bonfire (weather permitting); and plenty of lakeside chairs and tables for our happy hour. More It is with sadness that Robyn passed away December information about Wildwood can be found on their 13 after a short illness with pancreatic cancer. She will website at http://www.wildwoodmotel.com/index.html. be greatly missed by her friends, fellow hikers, and For those staying the full 7 nights, our rate is $575 plus paddlers. Our chapter has made a donation to ADK in tax for a standard room with 2 queens or 1 king bed; Robyn’s memory. other rooms are available with more amenities at a higher price. Shorter stays for the standard rooms cost $88, $98 or $108/night, depending on the number of nights and whether the stay includes a Friday or Saturday. Because of the area’s popularity, reservations must be made by May 31, so the sooner New Members you make reservations, the better. To reserve, contact Month Member Wildwood by email at [email protected] or call November Erich Frerking, Dean Gallea, Kimberly and (518) 523-2624. Nicolae Hortopan, Jeffrey Klarsfeld, Paul O’Connor, Mary Beth and Scott Thornton, When making reservations at either or both locations, Raymond Wright please tell them that you’re part of the Westchester Rejoined: William and Angela Michalski Trails Association group. Then contact Eileen West at December Rejoined: David Osler [email protected] to let her know you are January Cathryn Macdonald coming or for questions. Rejoined: Ronald Paproski and Linda Rousseau We hope to see you in the Adirondacks in September! 2 MARCH - MAY 2018 This column is dedicated to you, our Harting, Sarah Davis and Von DelGreco (not in members, whose lives, events, and picture). We started on a woods road from Rt. 106, up achievements on and off the trail are to to the Dunning, then to Time’s Square. We climbed up be recognized and shared. If there is a the RD trail and when we reached the ridge, we all had special event, vacation or achievement to give in and put on our traction aids. At the in your life you would like to share, intersection of the R-D and the Lichen Trails, we please send in your news to Annette paused to remember Robyn Stockton, who had died a Grau at [email protected]. few days earlier. Each of us knew her from different outdoor activities and we all had touching and loving memories of her. She was a beautiful and kind person. It was a perfect day for winter hiking, with no wind and Sunday December 3 a refreshing chill in the air. Getting around a huge Around the County blow-down on the wood’s road gave us a chance to On Eileen West’s polish our bushwhacking skills, with help from Part 1 hike around Howard’s GPS. In the photo, we are at the top of a the County, we hidden trail that gives a complete panorama of the found ourselves at surrounding mountains. It was a fun, relaxing outing. the home and Submitted by leader Sarah Davis farmstead of Caroline Wright Monday, January 1 Reis which she New Year’s Day Greenwich Point Park Hike donated to the Town of Somers in 1967 for “recreational and academic purposes” and still stands as the largest historic donation to the town she loved and served. Caroline was a fifth generation Somers resident and as proof that she was a woman ahead of her time, she graduated from Pratt Institute in 1902. Jane wearing her festive hat While the Somers Historical Society was preparing to while taking the plunge A frigidly cold day hold the “Pumpkin Festival” later that afternoon, they brought out a large were so gracious and allowed us to tour the house, eat group of hikers to our lunch on the porch and gave out hot cider.