The Adirondack Mountain Club’s Hurricane Chapter chairs, from left, are Chris Barnes, Mary Jean Bland, Bert Yost, Joe Bogardus, Monique Weston, Marcia Mosley and Ruth Kuhfahl. (Provided photo — Naj Wikoff)

On Friday, Aug. 19, members of the Adirondack Mountain Club’s Hurricane Chapter gathered at the Mountain House on East Hill (Hurricane Road) in Keene to celebrate the chapter’s 75th anniversary to the day of its founding.

The chapter was established by Edward Barlow, Walter Biesemeyer and S. Burns Weston as means of strengthening relations amongst those who lived on East Hill through social activities and getting out into nature together.

Additional founding members included Henry Bakewell, Mark W. Hale, Francis Hickey, and Robert Sickels. While written records are sparse on the subject, no doubt the founders’ spouses were no less involved, people like Hollis Barlow, Marion Biesemeyer, Dorothy Sickels and Simone Weston.

“I joined the Hurricane Chapter when I started coming up here,” said Jim Pugsley, a member since 1960. “My mother-in-law was Emily Easton. She built a house up here in 1959, and I joined a year later. As I kept coming up, kept hiking, and knew Walter Biesemeyer and developed lots of other connections, I’ve stayed with the club ever since. My favorite hikes include Giant coming from New Russia along Rocky Ridge as well as Algonquin, Boundary, and Iroquois then down to Lake Colden.”

“We moved here nine years ago and joined soon after arriving,” said chapter chair Chris Barnes. “Through the chapter I’ve met a lot of people, gone on a lot of outings, and then was convinced to take a leadership role. I love getting out in nature. Yesterday I paddled from Stony Creek to Raquette Falls though I didn’t make it all the way, it’s wonderful but long paddle. We also like to bike and hike. Many years ago. I did my 46. Now I like to stick to the lower ones.”

Bob and Nancy Kohlbecker and Adirondack Mountain Club Executive Director Michael Barrett (Provided photo — Naj Wikoff)

Today the chapter has a robust membership of 413 representing 256 households living in Keene, its surrounding communities and New York state, as well as Connecticut, New Jersey, Ohio, Vermont and Canada.

Club activities take place year-round no matter the weather. They include alpine, backcountry and cross-country skiing, ice and rock climbing, snowshoeing, hiking and paddling on lakes and streams. Activities also include trail maintenance, cleaning up roadsides and riversides of trash, along with a variety of conservation and education efforts. No less important are their monthly potlucks and other social activities.

Many of these activities were reduced, modified or postponed during the COVID-19 pandemic as to be expected, yet they still managed a robust schedule as so many of their activities are held outside, including the pot lucks, with people masking up, as needed.

“The Hurricane Chapter is a way to meet people who like to hike and do the same things that you do,” said Nancy Kohlbecker, a member since 1974. “Since we live far apart from our neighbors, we see it as a great way to meet people. I love any activity outside. We aren’t 46ers. We like to take the slow hikes where we can smell the flowers, identify the ferns, and see the crazy ways that trees grow. Being out in nature is so relaxing; our hearts are definitely in the Adirondacks.”

As exciting as all this sounds, the chapter was not always as vibrant. In the late 1990s, as their membership had reduced, officers felt it might be time to merge with the Keene Chapter. The turnaround came as a result of Tony Lucus stepping in as chair followed by the Mosleys. He did not turn around the club on his own; Lucas was ably assisted by wife Ellena along with George and Marcia Mosey, Ruth Kuhfahl, Joe and Elle Mcavoy, and others.

Anne Biesemeyer Baily and Bob Biesemeyer (Provided photo — Naj Wikoff)

They went back to the basics of promoting and making the chapter a great place for nature loving people to get outside and develop friendships with others so inclined. For many the hook was the potlucks. Go to one and you’ll want to go to another, not just for the food, but to be with other friendly engaging people. The next step was, let’s go hiking or padding together, or whatever.

“We developed a young persons’ challenge program to encourage families with young kids to join,” said Marcia Mosley. “We started a mentoring program wherein if someone was interested, we assigned a member or a couple to bring them to a meeting or a potluck, introduce them to others, and invite them to participate in activities. That’s how I met the Isabelle Six, women who paddle. I met them through the Hurricane Chapter. Pat Quinn and Cricket got me to organize the fall outings, an activity that really activated our membership. Then everybody knew or wanted to know Ruth Kuhfahl, so it was a variety of approaches.”

“It had to be back in the ’40s when I joined,” said Kuhfahl. “I joined because I like to hike, and I did many by myself because I didn’t want anybody to go as slow as me. I’m a 22er, not a 46er. I am still a member. I still get out and walk upright every day even though I am at Will Rogers (in Saranac Lake). It’s a wonderful place to walk even though they don’t have any mountains. I tell my younger friends, if you have something on your list to do, do it.”

By any measure, the club has remained active ever since. A reflection of their longevity and vitality is that the Michael Barrett, executive director of the Adirondack Club joined their celebration at the Mountain House.

Barrett shared his view of the challenges and opportunities facing ADK. A big one is that young people are not as interested in joining organizations as their parents and most Americans going back to the earliest days of our country. Many organizations across the country are struggling, be they social organizations like the American Legion, Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs to activities like Bingo Night and Trivia Pursuit. People, young people in particular, don’t want to go to meetings.

Sandy and Jackie Elder (Provided photo — Naj Wikoff)

On the positive side, Barrett said young people love the environment and want engage in outdoor activities year-round; and as part of that, they are attracted to ice and rock climbing. In addition, ADK’s educational programming has become very popular. Thus, he feels if the club and its’s chapters make good decisions, they can counter this trend of reduced memberships. He felt an important action is to expand access to wilderness experiences for minorities and other demographics that have heretofore not felt welcome.

“I grew up in the chapter,” said Bob Biesemeyer. “I thought being a part of it was normal, because my parents, their friends and guests were all involved. Some were so environmentally minded like David Brower from the Sierra Club (founder of many environmental organizations, including the John Muir Institute for Environmental Studies, Friends of the Earth, and the Earth Island Institute) who spoke about how much energy America wastes, this was back when I was a junior in high school. It’s too bad people didn’t listen to him then.”

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(Naj Wikoff lives in Keene Valley. He has been covering events for the News for more than 15 years.)