Charlotte Staats grew up in Westport hearing stories from her mother about being a volunteer trail crew leader for the Adirondack Mountain Club in the 1990s.
Now Staats is a member of ADK’s professional trail crew and was the crew boss this summer, leading projects throughout the Adirondack Park.
In late July, Staats joined four other women on the backside of Mount Colden, where the Adirondack Mountain Club has been installing ladders on steep sections of a trail to the summit.
Explorer contributing writer Betsey Kepes visited the women for a few hours while they were at work and wrote a feature story for the September issue of the Explorer. A couple of days later, I hiked up and photographed them at work.
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Above is a photo gallery from my visit. Check out the photos and be sure to read the current issue of the Explorer learn more about this impressive group of women.
Undisturbed by human activity…pick and choose much?
Mr Lynch, the Adirondack Explorer should be aware that women contribute heavily to trail work in the High Peaks and elsewhere on the Adirondack 46er Trail Crew. In fact, there has been special Womens-Only Work Weekend put on by the 46ers, where every year they engage in trail projects akin to what the ADK’s professional trail crew does.
I sincerely hope the AE will take into consideration the contributions of the Adirondack Forty-Sixers organization towards conservation efforts such as trail work, the Trailhead Steward Program as Cascade, etc. and the thousands of dollars the organization contributes to other programs such as the Summit Steward Program. The 46ers are simply not just a peak-bagging organization, despite the perception of many.
Thank you. –john
I appreciate and applaud the efforts of the all female pro trail crew, any trail crew for that matter! There’s a lot of work to be done out there. Sure would be nice to see it mentioned that the 46er organization contributes significant funding to this trail crew and how about an article about the volunteer 46er trail crew! We get no love!
How is this OK in a wilderness area but a bike trail in a wild forest is not?
Don’t really know what you mean. This is trail maintenance, not construction.
Great photos and amazing women!! Show these pictures to little girls everywhere!!! Mountain gals rock!
Where can I get the ADK EXPLORER
Click on “Subscribe”. Otherwise, take your chances at your newsstand.
Good work Mike. Thanks for putting this out there.