Musings of a sleepy soon-to-be "Adirondacks Kid"

I’ll be waking up in less than seven hours to head to the Adirondacks. I should really be asleep—however, my room is surrounded by a cluster of Friday night parties and since Milbank is currently bumping with tunes, I figure that in lieu of sleep I’ll just write a quick blog post.

This will be my first real foray into the Adirondack park. I’ve had some contact with the park: I was in Adventure Writing my freshman year with Maurice Isserman, and I went on a small hike, followed by a short kayaking stint. Still—the class didn’t really focus on the Adirondacks, but rather on other wildernesses like the Himalayas and adventures like those of Lewis and Clark. Even now, I feel a huge disconnect from the Adirondacks.

I’ve spent my entire life in Seattle, where I’ve grown up hiking those mountains and adventuring on the Olympic Peninsula. I have this great fondness for seeking out remote places, climbing up and over rocks, seeing the world from an elevated and entirely new vantage—everything’s better in the woods. The food tastes better, the air smells crisper, the water more refreshing. I have a profound connection with nature, but not this nature.

I think this "disconnect" started when I was a freshman at Hamilton. I didn’t do pre-orientation, because I had a homestay sister—Anastasia—staying with me for the summer. I thought it would be unfair if I abandoned her to hike for a week through the Adirondacks. When I arrived on campus, I was surrounded by people who described their “Adirondack Adventure” as the best experience of their lives. That week in the woods was all my roommates could talk about. And there I was—I was suddenly the kid who didn’t hike, or kayak, or climb—the kid who didn’t have this connection to wilderness.

I guess that from there I somehow fell into the rut of not being an “Adirondacks kid.” There were the people who did Outing Club, the people who applied to be AA leaders, and then there was me. I felt like I didn’t fit into that crowd because I didn’t get inoculated when everyone else did and it was too late to start. I began to make excuses for why I wasn’t getting outside (and by outside I don’t mean walking from Milbank to the Science Center). I told myself that I had too much work—thoughts like: “I can’t go on 46 peaks if I have a soccer game the same weekend,” or “I can’t spend an entire day kayaking if I have a paper due” or “I can’t join this club if I don’t know anything about the Adirondacks.”  

Long story short, there’s been a lot of “I can’ts” when it comes to this place—at least for me. And yet, I think there is something out there for me. I belong in the wilderness, maybe not all the time Bill McKibben-style, but certainly enough to get my bearings. I never got my bearings before I began my college career, and I am positive that this has impacted me a lot. I began my freshman year off-kilter, and had a hard time adjusting. I have always felt like I was missing a key component of the college transition process and perhaps that was it.

I’m excited for this trip because it gives me a more thorough look at what I’ve only had glimpses of. It is my hope that interacting with this land, its wildlife, and its people will help me to connect more with these woods, and this place in general.

P.S. – Some quick thoughts on the reading:

It seems that the controversy with Phil Brown and the Mud Pond waterway is a classic example of Adirondack “foot in the door” politics. If Brown wins, he sets the precedent that (potentially) all waterways could be made public (under the criteria of “navigability”) and therefore fair game to paddlers like Brown. However, according to the opposition (attorney Dennis Phillips), so-called navigability extends far beyond the question of whether a kayak can fit through the channel: in order to be made public, the waterway needs to be suitable for commerce. (Side note: Phil Brown vs. Dennis Phillips – that is a lot of Phils in one courtroom!). Anyway, this case seems very representative of the land rights disputes that have troubled the Adirondacks since day one. 

P.P.S.

Here's a fun video from outside my roommate's house! Elk might be a rare sight in the 'Dacks but at least they feel comfortable strutting the streets of Colorado. Also if you turn your volume up and listen close you can hear the sound it makes....