Rickard was in the lobby of the visitors bureau — located on the first floor of the Lake Placid Conference Center on Main Street — with Visitor Service Manager Sharron Miller when she called the number as a test to see if Rickard was connected to the system.

It rang on his cellphone.

“That’s yours,” Miller said.

“Is that the hotline?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said. “That should be the hotline calling.”

“Then I guess I am getting them.”

Miller, Rickard and other staff have been answering phone calls on the Eclipse Help Line since it was launched last week, and on Tuesday they received a lot of calls about the total solar eclipse, which will take place on Monday, April 8.

There seems to be two types of callers: 1) those who already have plans to stay overnight in the region for the eclipse and 2) day-trippers driving in and out of the region on Monday. Answering questions for each type of caller is a different experience. For those who are booking rooms, the ROOST team is spending time, in part, telling people about where to watch the eclipse. For the day-trippers, the main message is “be prepared.”

“A lady called me the other day, and her husband is 96, so she’s asking where to go,” Rickard said. “She’s like, ‘Well, are there going to be rooms we can walk around?’ No, you’re in a field. So she wanted to know about the (speedskating) oval. I said the problem with that is you’re going to have to walk.”

The woman asked if there will be shuttles on Monday.

“Yes, there will be shuttles, but if they’re gridlocked, then you don’t have a shuttle,” he said.

Essex County Transportation will be operating its Placid XPRSS shuttle service around the village on Monday.

“Yeah, they’re not guaranteeing the schedule,” Rickard said.

Many Eclipse Help Line callers want to know about places to park, including those who need accessible parking. In addition to municipal parking lots and parking on Main Street and side streets, eclipse parking will be made available at the Lake Placid High School, 34 School St.; Shipman Youth Center, 61 Cummings Road; Wesvalley Road lot; and Lake Placid Club, 88 Morningside Drive.

The Lake Placid Village Board of Trustees Monday approved the closure of Cummings Road — located between the Olympic Center and Olympic Speedskating Oval — from the Olympic Center’s USA Rink lot to Main Street for accessible parking (a lane will remain open for emergency vehicles). The state Olympic Regional Development Authority is hosting eclipse-watching events at the oval and inside the 1980 Herb Brooks Arena.

Other Eclipse Help Line questions are about outdoor recreation.

“We’ve got a few people call wanting to know about hiking and climbing, day of (the eclipse),” Rickard said. “A lot of it is day of, and we’re trying to tell them, ‘Don’t come day of. You have to come the day before, early on Sunday, because a lot of people are saying (there will be) gridlock.”

Spring hiking conditions include an abundance of mud, snow and ice at this time of year. That’s why officials at the state Department of Environmental Conservation have asked people to stay off the hiking trails in the Forest Preserve during the eclipse on Monday. Many visitors come from areas that have little or no snow and expect summer-like hiking conditions, but that’s not the case in early April in the Adirondack Park, especially in the higher elevations of the High Peaks. Snow still covers the highest mountains, and more snow was in the forecast for Wednesday through Friday.

“Are the trails open?” Rickard said some people are asking. “Yeah, they’re open, but it’s going to be like Grand Central (Station). I told one guy it’s going to be extremely busy. … I said the snow’s not going to be gone, so you’re not going to be able to go hiking as freely as you think.”

Other Eclipse Help Line callers want to know about places to stay.

“I had one calling for Tupper Lake, and they wanted camping,” Miller said. “They had a van and needed a place to park, and I didn’t really have that information and apparently there is no place up there.”

Private and state-owned campgrounds don’t open until late spring in the Adirondacks.

On Tuesday, ROOST staff received an email informing them that the Lake Placid Airport is charging overnight campers $125 a day to park in their parking lot on Cascade Road — and $50 for cars to park.

“But it’s dry camping only, no plugs, electric or toilet,” Rickard said. “And no multi-day parking for cars, only campers.”

Many hotels in the region are booked for the weekend, according to Rickard.

“I talked to one of the hotels yesterday, and they’re booked solid through Sunday, not Monday, so leaving is going to be crazy after the eclipse, and we’re telling people that,” he said while Miller was answering questions on the Eclipse Help Line.

After the phone call was over, Miller said, “I just had (a call from) a couple that are coming up from Washington, D.C. So they’re going to go outside New York City and then travel up on Sunday. They did have a place to stay.”

“I’m worried about that woman with a 96-year-old husband,” Rickard told Miller. “Because they’re from New Jersey, staying in Lake George because they couldn’t find a room here. She said they’re going to leave at 6 a.m. from Lake George and come up. I told her, ‘Make sure you have a ton of water in your car, a ton of food in your car, nonperishable, because you could get stuck (on the highway).”

“They were recommending people pack their car as if you’re going out in a snowstorm, have water, have whatever you need because you might get stranded,” Miller said.

The Eclipse Help Line will be available from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily through Monday, April 8, staffed by a team of ROOST employees who will be on hand to answer questions regarding events, viewing locations, safety considerations, parking and other questions that may arise.

The number of visitors to the region is expected to be considerable, with area lodging properties and short-term rentals reporting high occupancy throughout the weekend. Visitors are expected to begin arriving as early as Friday, April 5 and staying through Tuesday, April 9.

ROOST Communications Manager Jane Hooper explained last week how increased visitation will impact local communities.

“The Adirondacks lie within the 115-mile wide ‘path of totality’ of the solar eclipse, so many people have decided to experience this once-in-a-lifetime event here,” she said in a statement. “We anticipate that those with hotel reservations will likely travel to the region on Saturday and Sunday, but we do not know how many people are planning day trips to the area. The Adirondack Park is within a day’s drive from more populated regions such as Boston, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, so the potential exists for an influx of visitors on April 8.”

Traffic on April 8 may be heavy and potentially backed up at times, as many may choose to leave the region immediately after the eclipse.

“It’s quite possible that many people will make the decision to travel to and from the region on Monday, depending on the weather that day,” Hooper said. “We are recommending that people stay for the community celebrations, have dinner or to stay overnight whenever possible, rather than leaving immediately after the eclipse to help alleviate potential congestion on the roads.”

ROOST is encouraging area residents to be prepared by scheduling errands such as grocery shopping, gas, prescription refills, and other essentials in advance of the weekend to avoid crowds and traffic.

“We are encouraging local residents to walk whenever possible and avoid unnecessary driving on April 8,” Hooper said.

The Lake Placid Visitors Bureau at 2608 Main St. is the Eclipse Information HQ in the village. Visitors can get information, eclipse glasses and eclipse stickers. People can also send their eclipse questions by email at email eclipse@roostadk.com.

Learn more about visiting Lake Placid at www.lakeplacid.com, and learn more about the April 8 solar eclipse at www.2024-eclipse.com.