Abbreviation | ATIS |
---|---|
Formation | 1897 |
Type | Nonprofit |
14-1486436 | |
Legal status | 501(c)(3) |
Headquarters | Keene Valley, New York |
Executive Director | Ben Runyon |
Website | https://www.atistrail.org/ |
The Adirondack Trail Improvement Society (A.T.I.S.) is a nonprofit organization based at the Ausable Club in St. Huberts, New York, founded in 1897 first to develop and maintain [1] and later to ensure regular maintenance and consistent marking of the trails in the St. Huberts and Ausable Lakes area of the Adirondack High Peaks. [2] Later, the organization began hiring trail counselors to lead hiking and camping trips, thus expanding its mission to include education on the proper use and enjoyment of the Adirondack wilderness. [3]
Today, the organization hires a seasonal trail crew and a counselor staff. The trail crew maintains over 100 miles (160 km) of public hiking trails during a season that runs from May to August. In June, the counselor staff conducts High Peaks Camp, a two-week residential wilderness camping program for 20 children aged 12–15. During July and August, the same staff supervises daily and overnight hiking and canoeing trips for children aged 6–15. [4]
There is also a schedule of volunteer-led trips for adults, and occasional lectures and other events during the summer season. Each month's activities are culminated by a picnic supper at the Lower Ausable Lake. The picnic includes water sports, canoe races, recognition of achievements and, in August, a skit.
The A.T.I.S. is funded by donations from its membership, which is open to all who share the Society's goals and ideals.
Keene is a town in central Essex County, New York, United States. It includes the hamlets of Keene, Keene Valley, and St. Huberts, with a total population of 1,144 as of the 2020 census
The Adirondack Park is a part of New York's Forest Preserve in northeastern New York, United States. The park was established in 1892 for "the free use of all the people for their health and pleasure", and for watershed protection. The park's boundary roughly corresponds with the Adirondack Mountains. Unlike most state parks, about 52 percent of the land is privately owned inholdings. State lands within the park are known as Forest Preserve. Land use on public and private lands in the park is regulated by the Adirondack Park Agency. This area contains 102 towns and villages, as well as numerous farms, businesses and an active timber-harvesting industry. The year-round population is 132,000, with 200,000 seasonal residents. The inclusion of human communities makes the park one of the great experiments in conservation in the industrialized world. The Forest Preserve was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1963.
Mount Marcy is the highest point in the U.S. state of New York, with an elevation of 5,343.1 feet (1,628.6 m). It is located in the Town of Keene in Essex County. The mountain is in the heart of the Adirondack High Peaks region of the High Peaks Wilderness Area. Its stature and expansive views make it a popular destination for hikers, who crowd its summit in the summer months.
The Ausable River, also known as AuSable River and originally written as "Au Sable", runs in the U.S. state of New York, from the Adirondack Mountains and past the village of Lake Placid and Au Sable Forks to empty into Lake Champlain. It has an East and West branch that join at Au Sable Forks. The river forms a partial boundary between Clinton County and Essex County. The Ausable River is known for its gorge, Ausable Chasm, located a few miles east of Keeseville.
Northern Tier High Adventure is a collection of high adventure bases run by the Boy Scouts of America in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of Minnesota, Ontario's Quetico Provincial Park and Canadian Crown Lands, Manitoba's Atikaki Provincial Wilderness Park, Woodland Caribou Provincial Park, and points beyond. Northern Tier is the oldest of the four National High Adventure Bases operated by the Boy Scouts of America; the others currently in operation are Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, Florida Sea Base in the Keys, and The Summit in West Virginia. The oldest, largest and most prominent of the Norther Tier bases is the Charles L. Sommers National High Adventure Base. Central to its programs is trips into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA) and Quetico Provincial Park
Dix Mountain is the sixth highest peak in the High Peaks Region of the Adirondack Park, and is located roughly on the boundary between the towns of North Hudson and Keene in Essex County, New York. The peak was named in 1837 after John Dix (1798–1879), who was the Secretary of State of New York at the time, and later became the state's governor.
New York's Forest Preserve, comprises almost all the lands owned by the state of New York within the Adirondack and Catskill parks. It is managed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
Haliburton Scout Reserve (HSR) is a 22 square kilometres Scout camp, originally a frontier Canadian logging camp, located east of Haliburton, Ontario and just south of Algonquin Park, one of Canada's natural wonders situated deep and secluded within the Canadian shield. Being one of the oldest camps in Canada, the Haliburton Scout Reserve opened in 1947 and has been operated consistently by Scouts Canada. HSR is located in the heart of the Haliburton highlands with 18 lakes and a rolling natural landscape rich in nature and untouched beauty. Centered on Kennabi Lake to the southeast of the property are 24 campsites accessible by water. HSR is Canada's largest Scout camp and third largest in North America. Scout troops normally come to the camp for week-long summer camps. The young and energetic HSR staff provide numerous adventurous programs for tens of thousands of scouts from around the world. HSR, as it is commonly known, is currently operated under Greater Toronto Council supervising the 50-70 young, well-trained resident staff who cooperate to run the diverse camp program throughout the summer months.
Robert Marshall was an American forester, writer and wilderness activist who is best remembered as the person who spearheaded the 1935 founding of the Wilderness Society in the United States. Marshall developed a love for the outdoors as a young child. He was an avid hiker and climber who visited the Adirondack Mountains frequently during his youth, ultimately becoming one of the first Adirondack Forty-Sixers. He also traveled to the Brooks Range of the far northern Alaskan wilderness. He wrote numerous articles and books about his travels, including the bestselling 1933 book Arctic Village.
The Great Camps of the Adirondack Mountains refers to the grandiose family compounds of cabins that were built in the latter half of the nineteenth century on lakes in the Adirondacks such as Spitfire Lake and Rainbow Lake. The camps were summer homes for the wealthy, where they could relax, host or attend parties, and enjoy the wilderness. In time, however, this was accomplished without leaving the comforts of civilization behind; some great camps even contained a bowling alley or movie theatre.
Raquette Lake Camps is a group of summer camps located in the center of the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York, west of Lake George and south of Lake Placid. Campers can canoe for a radius of 100 miles (160 km) in all directions. The majority of the adjacent land is owned by the state and is utilized as a state park.
The Dix Mountain Wilderness Area is the name previously given to an area of New York's Forest Preserve in the Adirondack Park, and is located in the towns of Elizabethtown, Keene and North Hudson, Essex County. It is roughly bounded on the north by NY 73, on the east by the Adirondack Northway (Interstate 87), on the south by Blue Ridge Road and on the west by Elk Lake Club and Ausable Club lands.
The High Peaks Wilderness Area, the largest Forest Preserve unit in the U.S. state of New York, is located in three counties and six towns in the Adirondack Park: Harrietstown in Franklin County, North Elba, Keene, North Hudson and Newcomb in Essex County and Long Lake in Hamilton County.
Phelps Mountain is a mountain located in Essex County, New York. The mountain is named after Orson Schofield "Old Mountain" Phelps (1817–1905), who cut the first trail up Mount Marcy and named several of the Adirondack peaks. It is the 32nd highest peak in New York. Phelps Mountain is flanked to the southeast by Table Top Mountain.
Allen Mountain is located in Essex County, New York. It is part of the Marcy Group of the Great Range of the Adirondack Mountains, and is flanked to the north by Mount Skylight.
Street Mountain is a mountain located in Essex County, New York, named after Alfred Billings Street (1811–1881), a poet and New York State Librarian. The mountain is the high point of the Street Range of the Adirondack Mountains. Street's northeast ridge is Nye Mountain.
The Taylor Pond Wild Forest is a discontinuous 53,280-acre area consisting of tracts of state land and easement land spread over a 567 square mile area designated as Wild Forest by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in the northeastern Adirondack Park. The area comprises
Noonmark Mountain is a 3,556-foot (1,084 m) mountain near St. Huberts in the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks in New York, United States. The prominent peak provides 360-degree views, including the Great Range, the Dix Range, Giant Mountain, the Ausable River valley, and the village of Keene. When seen from the nearby hamlet of Keene Valley, where it dominates the view, the peak of Noonmark Mountain is more or less directly beneath the sun at mid-day.
The Ausable Club, in St. Huberts, New York, is the name of a club and the clubhouse of the Adirondack Mountain Reserve (AMR), which upon the initiative of William George Neilson, formed in 1887 to save the lands around Beede's Hotel from the lumber industry. The Reserve once owned most of the Adirondack High Peaks. The club is also the home of the Adirondack Trail Improvement Society, known as A.T.I.S, which developed and still maintains many of the trails to the high peaks. The clubhouse property, also known as St. Hubert's Inn, Beede House, or Beede Heights Hotel, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Adirondack Woodcraft Summer Camps is a co-ed, sleep-away summer camp in the Adirondack mountains in Old Forge, New York. Also known as AWC or Woodcraft, the camp was founded in 1925 by William Abbott. Abbott, with the backing of investors, bought the property after coming across two small lakes while scouting the area for New York State. The camp was later bought by the Leach family and was directed by John Leach and Dave Leach for 40 years. Adirondack Woodcraft Camps is currently owned and directed by Doug Bartlett & Christina Schibli Bartlett.