There I Was . . . Adirondack Guides Share Their Stories of Woods and Waters Adventures"
July 7, 2014
moderated by Betsy Folwell, with Pete Burns, Don Mellor, and Becky Pelton
Monday, 7:30 p.m. in the Museum Auditorium
FREE for
museum members, $5 for non-members
Guiding
in the Adirondacks may be the oldest profession here, dating back to
the 18th century and the men who could find their way safely through the
war-torn woods as soldiers followed.
In the last century and a
half the Adirondack guide has risen to mythic status, as someone who
could catch a mess of trout and fry them perfectly, put the trophy buck
in front of a neophyte hunter, and even make a snug balsam bed for the
sports' restful nights. Every watershed and mountain range had its
resident experts whose skills were in demand.
In the 21st century
we have guides for any outdoor passion, from bird-watching to
snowshoeing, rock-climbing to whitewater rafting, fly fishing to
snowshoe hare hunting.
This evening guides from Lake Placid,
North Creek, and North River talk about what they do, how they learned
their specialized knowledge and where they take their clients to show
them the best of the Adirondacks.
The program begins with a brief
overview of historic guides and then modern-day guides take turns in
the spotlight. There will be plenty of time for woods wisdom, tall tales
as well as questions from the audience.
ABOUT THE PRESENTERS:
Betsy Folwell is creative director of
Adirondack Life,
where she has written hundreds of articles over the past 25 years, led
its transformation into one of the top regional journals in the country,
and enlightened thousands with Adirondack stories past, present, and
future. She served as the first director of education at the Adirondack
Museum and was the director of the
Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts for many years. She and her husband, Tom Warrington, live in Blue Mountain Lake.
Pete
Burns, grew up in North River, N.Y., a fifth-generation Adirondack
native with the wilderness waters in his blood. His grandfather "Jack"
Donohue was in charge of the log drives on the Hudson River watershed
for nearly 40 years. Pete himself has been guiding professionally for
more than 30 years, in New York, Maine, Canada, and the Pacific
Northwest. In 1991, he started Beaver Brook Outfitters in Wevertown, N.Y., where he and his staff guide fishing, whitewater,
canoeing and kayaking, caving, and hiking trips full-time from April to
October each year. In the winter, Beaverbrook Outfitters offers ski
rentals, and Pete also coaches the Johnsburg Central Alpine ski team.
The man who fished the Adirondacks almost daily as a child and never
tired of exploring the local streams, rivers, and ponds ("It was better
than mowing the lawn") has found a life of excitement and exuberance in
sharing his outdoor-adventure passions and skills. He and his wife,
Diana (they met while both were guides on the Lehigh River in
Pennsylvania) live in North River about one hundred feet from where he
grew up, with occasional visits by their three daughters, all of whom
have been, or are, Adirondack guides as well.
Don Mellor is a
climber, teacher, writer, and guide who has spent most of his 40+ years
of climbing here in the Adirondacks. He has been guiding professionally
for more than 30 years, and gets more of a kick from seeing the light
go on in the eyes of a newcomer than from any climbs he gets to do on
his own. As a climber, Don knows the area's rock and ice potentials as
well as anyone. And as an educator, he understands not only how to teach
skills but also how infuse an appreciation of the wild places that
climbing can take you. His resume ranges from multi-day ascents of the
biggest rock walls in Yosemite to first ascents of ice routes in
Newfoundland. Locally, he's done more than 100 first ascents, including
Big Brother (NEI 5), Airie on Moss Cliff (5.12) and the first free
ascent of Mental Blocks (5.12) on the big back-country cliff of
Wallface. Among his books are four rock and ice guides to the
Adirondacks, the instructional
Rock Climbing: A Trailside Guide, American Rock, and
Alpine Americas.
Don also serves as a volunteer for a high-angle rescue team, a
peregrine falcon restoration project, and the steering committee of the
Lake Placid Outing Club.
He's been seen on The Outdoor Life Channel, The Travel Channel, NBC
Morning News, and NBC EXTRA! Don holds a master's degree in counseling
and serves as school counselor at Northwood School.
Growing up in a suburb of Albany,
Becky Pelton
learned how to swim in her backyard pool. Her passion for clear, cool,
moving, mountain water came from her family's regular summer vacations
camping in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It was there, on the
pristine Saco River, that Becky canoed on class-one whitewater at the
age of 10. While studying communication sciences and disorders at
Plattsburgh State University, she discovered the Ausable Chasm and the
opportunity to guide her first raft of people on the Ausable River. She
became a licensed guide on the Hudson River, and has been on it ever
since. She feels a special affinity for the Hudson River because in
1636, her ancestors settled along its shore in Albany. After working for
the biggest rafting company in the Adirondacks as a guide, and then the
smallest one, Becky and her husband, Nate, started
North Creek Rafting Company
in North Creek, N.Y. When off the river, Becky is a speech and
language pathologist at Long Lake Central School; she also has a private
practice in which she sees individuals at all levels of development in
their homes.
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