As town of Keene seeks solutions, safety concerns mount for trailhead stewards
By Tim Rowland
The town of Keene is used to dealing with frustrated hikers at its popular Garden trailhead, but this year relations have taken a darker turn.
“Our frontcountry steward was trying to talk about preparedness and a fight breaks out between two hikers,” Supervisor Joe Pete Wilson said at the board’s monthly meeting.
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Hikers have yelled, threatened violence, surrounded stewards and poked them in the chest, and illegally parked cars in the access road, warning stewards that the vehicles better not be towed.
“People are just leaving their cars in the road; this is so far beyond anything we’ve ever seen before,” Wilson said.
It’s reached the point where he’s worried about the safety of young stewards, who work solo. The stewards are provided by Keene and the Adirondack Mountain Club. With the escalation in confrontations, the state agreed to add an assistant ranger on Fridays and Saturdays.
The assistant rangers have uniforms and radios, but are unarmed and have no arresting powers. Wilson said crowds have matched those of last year, which were down slightly from the heavy use experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Access to The Garden — one of three main northern access roads to the High Peaks — begins in the hamlet of Keene Valley, winds up the mountain through residential neighborhoods and terminates at a lot capable of holding 44 cars, first come first served.
Unlike the ADK’s Adirondak Loj, there is no long, unpopulated access road that can handle overflow if the main lots fill up. And unlike the Adirondack Mountain Reserve, the Keene lacks the resources to go to a parking-reservation system.
Board member Ann Hough said the AMR’s reserved lot, which has been plagued by no-shows, might actually be driving more hikers to The Garden, because they can’t use the vacant AMR spaces.
The town runs a weekend shuttle from Marcy Field, but The Garden is filling up on weekdays too.
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Due to topography, private property and tree-cutting restrictions in the forest preserve there are few other options, if any.
“The big challenge we have always had is no parking, no parking, no parking,” said Board Member Bob Biesemeyer. “What’s the answer? I don’t know.”
Board members said they will ask for a high-level meeting with state officials to figure out a way forward.
Board Member Teresa Cheetham-Palen said the state bears some responsibility because it promotes park events that bring visitors, but has not followed up with the resources to manage those tourists.
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“We do want to have (visitors) here, but we need help,” she said. “A 20-year-old steward is not equipped to deal with an angry hiker. (But) the rangers are already strapped and they’re working tons of overtime.”
Board Member Chris Daly said he does not want to see the town abrogate responsibilities as it must protect homeowners.
Wilson said town resources are stretched thin, making it difficult to manage not just hiker parking, but also short term rental issues, stray dogs and events at Marcy Field. “As the town of Keene has taken on increasing management responsibilities it’s become more than we can do,” Wilson said. “We have to ask, how much is enough?”
Quick solve is that any spaces not filled at AMR by 7am become first-come first-served. That way they aren’t driving traffic to other trailheads.
Long term though the Garden needs to be expanded. 44 spaces for all the miles of trails and peaks served by that trailhead is absurd. Plus it’s the trailhead for JBL visitors.
Good thought, and not unlike Katahdin. Those with a permit get their spot, those without can gamble on open, first-come, first-served spots.
Or better yet, if the AMR is going to restrict access AND refuse to fill vacant spots, it would be a great time to have another look at their easement benefits.
I agree, the long term solution is expanding the lot. It is absurdly small, especially given the existence of the JBL. Pragmatically speaking, the impact of cutting a few trees around a pre-existing parking lot would have little impact on the character of the forest preserve as a whole. The current size of the lot is untenable, and the chaos that ensues from it takes away from the spirit of the wilderness that it was intended to serve.
If these supposed hikers cause problems, have them arrested. Have illegally parked cars towed. Why has law and ORDER become the problem? Bring civility back.
They need to start prosecuting rule breakers as far as they can and levy huge fines. I’m sick of everyone’s entitled attitudes and the destruction these hordes of people are doing to the trails. Find somewhere else to hike, preferably in another state so those of us who live here can get a chance to use the trails. Forever wild doesn’t include habitat for the overpopulated Dickhead Arrogantas.
Due to sympathetic lawmakers in this state who adopted bail reform we can’t even get juvenile car thieves held in jail until bail is met. They are released on an appearance ticket. You think this state is going to prosecute rule breakers and levy huge fines??? Never going to happen.
Time to revisit the long standing argument that hikers in New York State pay a trail fee. New York residents as well as out of state residents pay to hunt and fish as well as take a safety training course. Maybe instituting the same fees and education requirements will take the burden off from the rangers and volunteer rescue squads. Hikers will be better prepared and knowledgable. The fee can be used for trail maintenance and to help support rescue squads in the state. $10 per year, per hiker, would go a long way when you look at the numbers that access the high peaks just from the garden alone.
All the above suggestions sound good to me! I would gladly pay $10 for access, opening up no show spots in AMR and ticketing non-compliance is good too! But, please no tree cutting for more parking!
No Uber drivers in Keene Valley?
I think AMR reservation system is great!!
They should do it for garden lot as well!!!
I have used Marcy field shuttle —it is easy
Shuttles and drop off should be permitted at both sites
The Adirondacks have been my backyard my whole life …up until the COVID pandemic you didn’t even think about parking as part of your trip. Nowadays you better be planning ahead.
I liked the shuttle from Marcy field, I’ve also used the reservation system. The education for hikers is great if you actually get people to take it and better yet actually listen and use it. But I digress.
I have no way of counting how many times I’ve parked at lesser known trailheads in the last 4 years and added sometimes up to 8 miles to my roundtrip just so I won’t have to deal with this and still be able to make my objectives for the day. Hiking Marcy via elk trail is a very long day, gorgeous, peaceful, fun and exciting but oh sooo long.
This is going to take multiple prongs to manage. 1. Add multiple shuttle services that will pickup from multiple locations around town not just some field out of town, many people stay at the local bnb’s, hotels etc. Offer a system, $2 per ride or $20 for the season or something like that…..2. call every law enforcement agency that has jurisdiction, I can think if 3 just in Keene. Get them to patrol and actually issue tickets, to people that have broken the rules. I’ve seen rangers give people tickets or actually walk people out for not having a bear can, we can’t give them a ticket for parking on protected land??. 3. Use technology, let people pay for premium parking and issue them a sticker that can be scanned like a parking garage.
The answer will continue to be to expand the lot to allow for more parking! That parking lot is laughably small for the number of trails and terrain it accesses, and how popular the Johns Brook Valley is (for good reason). It’s size is not proportional to the area and popularity, especially when you look at less popular trailheads across the ADK. The state needs to figure out a way to expand parking, even if it requires a constitutional amendment. I would be the last person to advocate for cutting of trees on forest preserve land, but the idea of a forest preserve only works if the system is pragmatic. Not being able to cut a few trees to allow more people to enjoy access to the hundreds of thousands of acres of forested wilderness is just ridiculous. Recreational needs change overtime and the state’s management of the lands needs to be dynamic to adapt.
State bent over backwards for the AMR and this is one of the results. It’s time to build some sensible parking solutions.