Peaks and Valleys

The burgeoning interest in backpacking, camping, and climbing has greatly increased pressure on mountain-tops, trails, camping areas, and leantos. The results have been the development of herd paths on trailless peaks, damage to fragile alpine vegetation, erosion of trails, accumulation of trash at overused lean-tos and campsites, and destruction of trees and vegetation around lean-tos, especially those at high altitude. These effects of misuse and overuse diminish the very qualities of wilderness which many seek in the Preserve.”

The above quote could have come from a recent newspaper or magazine, but it actually appeared in the January–February 1972 issue of the Adirondack Mountain Club’s magazine, , written by Dave Newhouse, then chair of the club’s Conservation Committee. At that time, many articles commented on the marked increase in hikers and backpackers during the previous four or five years. Newhouse didn’t mention the increase in the number of searches and rescues, but