Great Camps and Glamping

Many people enjoy being surrounded by wilderness, but are less inclined to “rough it.” In The Adirondacks: A History of America’s First Wilderness, Paul Schneider discusses the conception and evolution of the Great Camps in the Adirondacks. These were luxurious compounds owned by many of America’s wealthy elite. Some of these compounds included up to 40 structures sitting on thousands of acres. These properties had various amenities including dance halls and bowling alleys, a few even had their own private railroads. While most of the Great Camps are no longer in use, there are still similar luxurious camping opportunities for those who wish to experience the outdoors without the hassle of backpacking. While reading about these extravagant properties I could not help but think about a similar practice, which has become very popular today.

Glamping stands for glamorous camping, and is attractive to “travelers who want to experience the positive aspects of camping without the uncomfortable negatives.” While glamping, a guest is able to enjoy the wilderness without having to pitch a tent, build a fire, or sleep in a sleeping bag. The accommodations can come in the form of spacious tents or haute rustic cabins. I had recently been reading an article from The Collective Quarterly entitled Glamping on the Old Frontier. While the photos depicted a stunning farmstead in Montana equipped with immaculate cabins and a beautifully large dining room, I struggle to understand how the old frontier and luxury camping can go hand in hand. Similarly, how can luxury camping be associated with the Adirondacks, which was once an indomitable landscape? I believe that when we are in the wilderness we should feel belittled by the landscape, by the magnitude of our surroundings. Glamping dominates the wilderness and so we are not able to fully appreciate it. While glamping speaks to a crowd that may not be enticed to backpack or camp traditionally, it also goes against the idea of stepping out of our comfort zone and enjoying all the wilderness has to offer.

The Adirondacks: The History of America’s First Wilderness, Paul Schneider

The Collective Quarterly, http://collectivequarterly.com/issue-1/

Glamping.com, http://glamping.com/blog/history-of-the-glamping-movement/

The Wolf Man

source: xploitme, Flickr

On our tour through the Adirondacks this past weekend we met some really interesting characters. There were the crazy luge, skeleton, and aerials athletes from the Olympic Training Center, as well as the couple running a farm full of goats. But there’s no doubt that the most interesting person was Alex, the wolf handler from the Adirondack Wildlife Refuge. The way he interacted with the wolves was incredible, and to any sensible person kind of scary. The wolves at the wildlife refuge were all raised there by the owners and share a strong bond with their human care takers, but they are still wild animals. Working with wild animals is risk that Alex understands and accepts, but there many people who do not fully respect the creatures they work with and pay a great price.

The poster boy for not fully respecting the wild animals he worked with was Timothy Treadwell, better known as the “Grizzly Man.” Treadwell is famous for having lived among grizzly bears in Alaska’s Katmai park for 13 years, before being mauled to death in 2003. A movie titled “Grizzly Man” was released in 2005 using footage filled by Treadwell along with interviews with those who knew and interacted with him. The most common points mentioned in the film are that Treadwell failed to take any precautions to ensure his safety, and that by staying late in the fall he put himself at an extreme risk which likely caused his own death.

On the other hand Alex is a good example of someone who balances the risks and comes out with a beneficial relationship with the wolves. There are others as well like Mark Dumas who is famous for his wild animals, especially his polar bear Agee. Mark is a professional animal handler and has great respect for the animals he works with. In addition to their respect for the animals Alex and Mark share one other trait. They are both PROFESSIONAL animal handlers. So let’s leave the wild animal handling to them, and give the animals the respect they deserve.

Sources

http://www.katmaibears.com/timothytreadwell.htm

http://grizzlyman.com/

http://www.beyondbears.ca/info.aspx

Towns and Wildlife Centers

There is no doubt, small businesses in the United States have suffered the past couple decades. This is due to the death of the town center, which coincides, with the mass growth of retail parks, and chain department stores. This is not the case for every town however. Many towns in the Adirondacks rely solely on tourism. On our past tour of the Adirondacks this past weekend we drove through many of these towns. The recession certainly hit them hard, buildings are boarded up, and other ramshackle structures are collapsing. The obvious cure to this problem is to gain back industry from tourism. If it were that simple though we would not have seen these impoverished towns. Nature provides tourism, especially in a place as special as the Adirondacks, however you can’t have nature in a town the two contradict themselves. Our professor suggested we think whether the nearby multi million dollar wild life facility, should be closer to its neighboring town, or if those multi millions should have been invested in the wildlife center. The nature center is beautiful and its distance from the town adds to its natural feel. Its location is better for the town in the end, by creating a popular tourist attraction

Like it or not we live in a capitalist society. Not everyone can be successful. There are well off towns and not well off towns. If we went around spending millions of dollars trying to save them we would bankrupt a lot of the NGO’s that work to save what is left of nature in this country. To have a wildlife center not surrounded by nature would not be profitable as a wildlife center and therefore a bad investment for the NGO’s that did give them the money. The money from these organizations would have never gone directly to the town. But now because there is a tourist attraction near the town there will be jobs. Even if people go to the center and then drive through the town, someone still needs to work for the center. The center creates a perfect tourist option by being in nature, and by being a successful tourist attraction it creates jobs for the struggling locals. Who in turn can put their money back into the town and begin to rebuild the town.

Forever a Lover's Paradise

Meadows full of wildflowers fringed in mountains, fall leaves tumbling over brooks, summits ringed in the glow of freshly fallen snow — walk into any store in the Adirondacks, and you will be sure to see postcards, books, posters, CD covers, and paintings exemplifying the spectacular nature of the park.  Many may say the Romantic movement is long over, but the same landscapes that drew city-folk of the 19th century to the lakes and peaks of the Adirondacks draw even more today.

The Romantic period never ended with the onset of the 20th century, it instead took a different form.  Romanticism in the late 19th century, especially in writing, poetry, and art, offered an ethereal escape for those living in cities.  Concrete jungles and constant work surrounded these people, and the Adirondacks offered a haven for the mind and body away from these toils.

This past weekend visiting the park, I payed particular attention to what aspects of the Adirondacks business owners were capitalizing on.  The Mountaineer in the town of Keene lures outdoor sportsmen from ice climbers to fly fishermen into her midst, advertising for prominent brand names on its facade, such as Black Diamond and Patagonia, which are likely not found anywhere else in the Adirondacks.  For the "armchair outdoorsmen", those for whom nature may no longer be easily accessible for, books of poetry praising the solitude of the wilderness and majesty of nature abound at this store, and local Adirondack writers speak of tales of tried and failed back country expeditions within the park.  Even the postcards The Mountaineer sells, far from the focal point of this outdoor retail supplier, adds an air of mysticism to park.  These pieces of paper, intended to be sent far and wide to friends and family of visitors, are a source of advertisement in themselves, enticing outsiders to venture into the wilderness just as artists did over a century ago.

Our means may have slightly changed, but the ends remains the same.  Adirondackers use the beauty of the forests to lure visitors into the park, mainly using postcards and outdoor recreation books instead of philosophical novels and paintings.  In a world full of technology, we can expect these means to change once again.  But if local businesses cannot harness the power of social media, the romantic ideals of the Adirondacks will have a tough time reaching a generation with their heads in their phones instead of in the woods.

Olympic Sacrifices

It isn’t everyday you get to sit in a small room with Olympic Athletes and hopefuls. Saturday evening my class had the opportunity to do just that at the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center. We learned the ins and outs of how each athlete became involved with USA olympics. This included a 26 year old skeleton athlete who was scouted after playing college field hockey at American University, and a luge athlete who was identified in a nationwide talent search funded by Verizon. The other three athletes, all 16 and under, were aerial skiers; two became involved through USA Gymnastics and the third: a ski instructor from Indiana was recommend for the program by his boss. The aerial skiers discussed summer jumping into aerated pools and on trampolines, the role of weather, and the process of clearing jumps for snow after success in the pool. The luge athlete, who competed in Sochi, described the Olympics as everything you could imagine and more. While all this information was interesting it was actually the hardships they expressed that surprised me.

    It is not news that Olympic Athletes make numerous sacrifices to train including missing high school, living away from their family in order to train with the best, and putting in countless hours of taxing practice. It was, however, surprising to me that many of the athletes have other jobs and attend online college while training. The skeleton athlete detailed how she works in the summers to pay her way through graduate school, and often has to cover her own travel expenses on top of rigorous training. The younger three skiers described training for 6 hours a day only to come back to do three hours of online school. In terms of finances, the younger skiers families are responsible for equipment and traveling.

     I think I had a glamorized idea of the lifestyle of an Olympic Athlete, but speaking with the athletes at the training center opened my eyes to the difficulties they face on a daily basis. Not every Olympian gets the sponsorships that household names, like Michael Phelps and Lindsey Vonn, receive. While I doubt any Olympian regrets their experience, it isn’t always a path to a life of luxury.

     I have always idolized Olympians, but I certainly have a newfound respect for the athletes. Team USA bores the hardships of regimented training, but every hour leads to the culmination of a dream: competing in the Olympic Games.

Suspended in Time

After going to the Adirondacks, I was struck how my conceptions of time and space were greatly altered during my experience in the park.  On more than one occasion I lost track of the date and time; I also felt very separated from my academic and athletic obligations.  The Adirondack Park has a way of suspending time and capturing individuals in specific moments, and this aspect of the park has made it attractive to tourists and visitors.

            As I visited different places in the park I became interested in and seemingly invested in the lives of each person we encountered.  Specifically, at the Wildlife Refuge, I enjoyed learning about wolves, coyotes, and owls and at that moment, nothing else seemed of greater importance.  Yet, on our tour of Asgaard Farms, I noticed that my thoughts shifted to farming.  Why do people farm?  How do people run successful farms?  What is the most reliable source of income?  How much money do farmers make?  Consumed by farming and the associated variables, I was convinced that nothing was more interesting.  This kind of infatuation came with each place we visited in the park, from John Brown’s farm to the 1980 Olympic Hockey rink in Lake Placid.

            Lake Placid captured my attention more than any place we visited.  Strolling through the quaint downtown area, it was impossible not to notice the USA Olympic attire in shop windows, the skating oval in front of the high school, the toboggan run shooting out onto the icy surface of Mirror Lake, and of course, the hockey arena, sitting up on a slight hill, tall flags guarding the sacred site like soldiers.  Entering a kind of trance, I stood mesmerized by the town and its history.

With Christmas lights strung across buildings and trees and snow falling regally from the sky, Lake Placid encapsulates the essence of winter and the Adirondacks.  It glorifies winter activities and proudly promotes itself as a former Olympic site, spurring a sense of patriotism and loyalty.  The town does this so well that time stops and is seems that the Olympics are still being hosted there today.  I was certainly compelled to muse about the 1980 Olympic games and forget my academic and athletic responsibilities.   Moreover, I felt connected to and a part of the town and its history and I believe it is this intimacy and suspension in time that causes people to travel and return to the Adirondacks. 

While I was in the Adirondacks, other concerns were disregarded as places like Lake Placid brought the beauty and history of the park to the forefront of my mind.  Time became irrelevant as I focused on each place we visited and person we met.  For me, this is what makes the park unique and what has made it so attractive to Civil War veterans, Olympians, politicians, and families.  The park is truly a separate peace.

The Wild Center

One of the main events of our field trip this past weekend was the Wild Center.  Located in Tupper Lake, the museum combines indoor and outdoor activities to give everyone a complete experience of the natural history of the Adirondack Park.  On our way home, many of us wondered about the funding for the museum and how such a successful attraction affects the surrounding areas, which are not nearly as well off as the booming tourist town of Lake Placid.  So, I did some research, and what I found was pretty interesting...

The idea for the Wild Center was conceived by a group of friends who were enjoying the summer weather on the shore of Long Lake in 1998.  As they sat around Betsy Lowe's cabin, they noticed the forest that was damaged greatly by the ice storm and realized that no one had ever tried to display the natural history of the Adirondacks.  From there, the idea grew and more than 100 regional organizations backed the Museum and the citizens of Tupper Lake voted to donate the 31 acre property along the Raquette River to the project.  The first fundraising effort involved a simple letter mailed to local homes and raised $500,000, a huge amount of money for the area, which allowed the volunteer committee to hire an architecture company to start the planning process. After that, the donations began to come in at an increased rate, with $10 million dollars raised to start site preparation for construction in 2002.  In 2004, the total funds raised by 5,237 private donors was $28.3 million and the non-profit Wild Center officially opened on July 4, 2006, drawing a crowd of over 5,000, the largest gathering in the Adirondacks since the opening ceremony for the 1980 Winter Olympics.

Though the Wild Center draws many visitors to Tupper Lake each year for its exhibits, activities, conferences, and weddings, many of us worried that the center brought people to town only for the day, after which, they retreat to their hotels in Lake Placid, preventing economic growth in a town that really needs it.  However, on its website, the Wild Center has a page of information about where to stay and eat, which are all located in the village of Tupper Lake.  While the site does have a list of other attractions in the park, including the Adirondack Museum, Fort Ticonderoga, and a variety of places in and around Lake Placid, the emphasis is on Tupper Lake and clearly encourages tourism in the town.  Though I wouldn't say that the Wild Center has been a tremendous economic boom for Tupper Lake so far, it, at the very least, provides some employment opportunities and draws people to the town, encouraging them to stay and eat there too.  Even if Museum visitors venture into town only to get gas for their cars and to grab a quick snack, they are contributing to Tupper Lake's economy and likely wouldn't have done so if the Wild Center didn't exist.  The Wild Center has become an important part of Tupper Lake's economy and will hopefully help it become more prosperous while educating the public about the natural history of the Adirondack Park.


Sources:
http://wildcenter.org/about-us/our-story/the-history-of-the-wild-center
http://wildcenter.org/visit/near-the-wild-center-visit