People are increasingly flocking to the forests and hills of the north. Sources say the area has some of the oldest, most accessible and well-maintained trails, and hiking is on the rise.
According to kurufootwear.com, New York ranks 3rd among the top 10 states for hiking. In New York state he has more than just one city. With just under 1 million hiking reviews statewide, 43% of trails are rated easy, making them accessible to a wide range of outdoor enthusiasts. ”
Alltrails.com also says, “No matter what you're looking for, you'll find a wide variety of New York's best hiking trails to fit your needs.” The site states, “There are 2,309 family-friendly hiking trails, (and) 314 wheelchair-friendly trails with helpful accessibility guides.” He says there are 3,318 routes in New York that offer waterfalls and scenic views.
Michael Barrett, executive director of the Adirondack Mountain Club, said membership has remained steady, but interest in the club, its chapters and hiking in general is growing.
“We are a 100-year-old program, and before the internet, chapters were a way for us to exist as an Adirondack Mountain Club in a particular community, hosting hikes, lectures, etc. ” he said. “We have 27 chapters in New York, northern New Jersey and Connecticut, and that has been the paradigm since the organization’s inception.
“With the advent of the Internet, people now know about us and our services even if they don't have a local organization,” Barrett continued. “So people engage with us in a variety of ways. We have chapters and a lot of people get involved through chapters, but we also operate Heart Lake, the busiest trailhead in New York State. That one trailhead alone has over 100,000 visitors.”
Barrett said prioritizing outreach and education has given the club solid footing.
“We operate two visitor information centers, one at the trailhead at Heart Lake and one at the Cascade Ski Center (now located at) which we purchased two years ago between Northway and Lake Placid. (It's called the Cascade Welcome Center.) With 2 million vehicles coming in each year, this is an opportunity to attract novice hikers who come looking for something to do and don't quite know where to go. Our staff strives to ensure our visitors have a safe and responsible adventure, whether at Heartlake's High Peaks Information Center or the Cascade Center, which takes into account time of day and preparation. , don't bite off more than you can chew, make sure you have everything to stay safe and reduce our unnecessary rescues: a physical map, plenty of hydration, a light source, proper footwear, etc. This includes making sure that the already overburdened Ranger force.
“Additionally, we offer naturalist classes, outdoor education skills classes, and are a ‘Leave No Trace’ masterclass provider, so we teach people how to manage the land they use,” Barrett said. continued. “Traditionally, if you think back to when the Adirondacks were recognized in the state constitution…we wanted to give people access to the great outdoors of New York, so we used mountaineering clubs to do trail construction. Founded in 1922, our first mission was to build the Northville-Placid Long Trail, so we've always been focused on access, and now with the Cascade acquisition, we're underrepresented. We can increase program opportunities for valued groups: Veterans with disabilities can come to our locations to play winter sports and have winter sports at heart throughout the season. At Lake, we educate about 500 fourth graders each year, so we really have something for everyone: physical magazines and guidebooks that people have come to rely on. It's both an opportunity to preserve what's been there, as well as new engagement.”
For Peter Manning, executive director of the Catskill Mountain Club, adapting to changing trends is helping the club, which has about 300 members, stay where it is. Manning said the club was founded 20 years ago to coincide with Catskill Park's 100th anniversary. Also around the same time, he said, the club formed an annual October event called “Lark in the Park.”
“The club was founded in 2004…but back then, the Andean Hikers Club really helped the core of the club,” he said. “They were a hiker's club, so they really evolved into people coming together to go hiking for social and recreational purposes. Membership numbers have remained steady. It seems like we have a lot of members from out of state, and other members of the club agree, many from New Jersey and New York City, and they think the Catskills is a special place and they do it as much as they can. I think you feel that coming here and also wanting to support the Catskills, we have a lot of core members from all over the region.
“What's driving membership and interest is that we have several hiking challenges,” Manning continued. “These are things that you patch and complete. There are six trails that we created, and if you hike them all, you get a CMC hiking trail patch to complete all CMC trails. It's been a while. We are currently working on our seventh trail. Next, we created an all-trail hiking challenge to hike every trail in the Catskills Park, which is approximately 300 miles long. It's a long checklist because it corresponds to…and that generated a lot of interest. It was created by (former executive director) Wendell (George). It's based on the outdoor experience of the place. , some people like to explore alone, but many people prefer to explore with friends, meet new people, and have someone to guide them. I think it's meeting people and experiencing new places, and having these incentives, these patches, is the core of what helps (the club's) longevity.”
Manning said the club offers several other patches that can be earned by hiking all the high peaks in the Catskills within a specified time period, and prizes are given out at the annual dinner. He said the facility is also participating in the state Department of Conservation's Fire Tower Challenge.
Mr. Manning also spoke about the importance of gradual engagement.
“We have also worked with many other organizations and worked with state legislators and representatives to help advocate for the Catskills in Albany.As a result, more resources are coming to the region and people are coming here. ,” he said. “Expanding parking lots is a good example. Or building more trails or connecting existing trails to create a network, which has been done for years and will continue to be done.” This will continue to improve the experience.”
Sources say the combination of modern challenges and incentives and dynamic approaches means the hiker population is growing.
“There are some mergers going on,” Barrett said. “People aren't participating in things like they used to, like Rotary, the Elks Club, the Knights of Columbus, the VFW. These are public spaces where people have interacted for decades, but we don't have them anymore. So our membership is flat, but it's been flat for a long time. Our number of households is 17,000 and it doesn't tend to fluctuate much from year to year, so the number of people who are members. I have been a member for decades.
“But what we're seeing is that young people in particular are against something called membership…otherwise it's not just for their own entertainment, but to advocate for a cause. “I'm very keen to get outside for the sake of it,” he continued. “So when it comes to our parking lots, they're as full or fuller than ever, and the level of outdoor engagement is higher than ever, especially among traditionally underrepresented populations. The way people get out of their cars at the trailhead looks a lot different now than it used to, and it's amazing. They may not be motivated to sign up as members, but from a supporter's perspective. When we talk things out, we find that they are much more interested in engaging with us. We embrace a myriad of other ways that people want to engage with us, even more so in the number of people who go outdoors, but they don't necessarily get through the narrow door of membership. Not.”
“Certainly the pandemic has increased (interest) significantly,” Manning said. “But visitation to the Catskills, especially outdoor trails and resources, had been increasing for years before that. I think that was due to ease of access.” However, the number of participants from metropolitan areas is increasing because the climb can be done within three hours from the city. People go to Minnewaska State Park, and that place has really seen a lot of use over the years. They've done a great job absorbing that (increase in usage), and we're doing something similar here, but in a different way. I think people have realized that it's more accessible and social media plays a really big role as well. Connecting hamlets and villages with trails is what is happening now and it is the wave of the future. Many of the trails in the Catskills are scary and don't always have easy loops. So I think the trails we did were family friendly and in some cases connected to villages. These are 2-4 mile trails that people can easily walk. If you are interested, you can continue the pattern. ”
According to March 2024 data from statista.com, “more than 61 million people in the United States will participate in at least one hiking activity in 2023,” “the highest number recorded in a North American country since 2010.” ”.
And given the pace of modern life, Barrett says it's no wonder that attendance is at its peak.
“It's an escape,” he said. “When I started working in the state capital and my cell phone was always attached to my arm,[hiking]was a way to escape and spend some time in solitude without reception. There's something about being able to see and hear things inside that you can't experience any other way.
“The Catskills and Adirondacks make up about 30 percent of[New York's]total land area, so there's no shortage of opportunities,” Barrett continued. “There are about 2,300 miles of trails combined, so you're not in a situation where you're going to be doing the same trails every day. So if you have one good experience and want to try something else, it's accessible. New York is a populous state…but whether you live in the city or in Rochester, Buffalo or Albany, (the mountains) are never far away. It's the abundance, the solitude, the accessibility. ”
For more information, visit adk.org or catskillmountainclub.org. Additionally, find Catskill Mountain Club on Facebook and visit the group's events page for specific hike dates and times.