Adirondack Sports March 2024

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44 Adirondack Sports 518.584.3500 490 Broadway, Saratoga Springs www.SaratogaOutdoors.com GET OUT ON THE WATER THIS YEAR WITH A NEW BOAT FROM SWIFT Visit our website and place your order today! DISCOVER INLET And all the Beauty That Surrounds Us DAVE SCRANTON/ADKPICTURES.COM For maps & more: Inlet Area Information Office 1-866-GO-INLET www.inletny.com ONLY 36 LBS! SCAN THE QR CODE FOR MORE INFORMATION SPECIALIZED • GIANT • FELT • DAY 6 ROAD – MOUNTAIN GRAVEL – HYBRID – COMFORT BMX – KIDS – E BIKES • Apparel, gear, accessories of all styles • Yakima & Kuat racks & accessories The best-selling all-wheel drive cars in America for the past 10 years “CARS YOU CAN COUNT ON. PEOPLE YOU CAN TRUST.” Louis Garneau snowshoes in-stock! FOR YOUR SERVICE & CYCLING NEEDS Bikes on Sale! 3149 Route 7, Pittstown 10 min east of Troy (518) 663-0083 • TomhannockBicycles.com Tu/W/F 10-6, Th 10-7, Sat 10-5, Closed Sun/Mon 616 Quaker Rd Queensbury NY WWW.NORTHCOUNTRYSUBARU.COM (518)798-1577
MARCH 2024 45 By John Slyer COMMUNITY Appalachian Trail Hike for SkyHigh Adventure Center The Dream – Just like every kid has some far-fetched ideas, as a kiddo I had plans for lots of crazy big adventures. Flying a cardboard airplane with my brother Charlie and jumping fire on bikes like Evel Knievel with my brother George were just the beginning. I was lucky to grow up free-range with parents who gave me freedom and the courage to take risks. We regularly did 20+ miles on our bikes and skateboards and even started skydiving in high school. Our childhood was filled with sky high adventures. In 1974 I went on a weekend backpacking trip with Camp Scully to Little Rock Pond in the Green Mountains of Vermont. We backpacked to a shelter on the Appalachian Trail where our counselors gave us time to follow a stream, scrambling up and down the rocks. I tripped while rock-hopping doing a swan dive into three inches of water, hence my Appalachian Trail name, Diving Swan! I didn’t know much about the AT until we met a thru-hiker on their way to Maine. The distance seemed impossible but thought I could do the AT someday. The Planning – AT planning started when I was a young man. I enrolled in mountaineering, winter backpacking, survival skills, EMT and rescue classes. I joined organizations with lots of like-minded folks. The AT would be the thing I’d do when I retired, until the pandemic hit and the trail was officially closed in 2020. I put off my hike and invested time creating a not-for-profit, Sky High Adventure Center (SHAC Center) in Averill Park. The SHAC has a mission to help others be healthy, active and engaged. I would head out on the AT in 2023 and take a break from the SHAC. Little did I know how hard it would be to be away and that SHAC would become my motivation to get through the hard parts. During the pandemic, I prepped by doing research on gear, navigation, hostels, history, challenges, and highlights of the legendary Appalachian Trail. I knew I was going to start heavy and unload stuff along the way. ▲ JOHN AND KATHY SLYER (AKA DIVING SWAN & SUNSHINE) AT AMICALOLA FALLS STATE PARK, GEORGIA. I got my backpack weight down to 22 pounds, but with a full five days of food and three liters of water, I would get up to almost 40 pounds. Getting off-trail in some areas is not easy; I chose to carry more food than others and it worked well for me. The biggest impact of carrying lots of food was that I would not be able to trail run as much when I was completely resupplied. As my start date approached, the final plans were set. My wife, Kathy (aka Sunshine), would hike with me up Springer Mountain, Georgia on February 25. Springer is the southernmost terminus of the AT and it’s where most thru-hikers start for a northbound (NOBO) hike. I would get off-trail at Harpers Ferry, W.Va. in late May and flip-flop my hike. Flipflopping would allow me to hike NOBO so I could get off- and on-trail for family, SKYHIGH Adventure Camp and Kids Triathlon, and to compete at Ironman triathlons in Texas, Lake Placid and Western Massachusetts, along with the Bar Harbor Marathon. During my time home I would also tackle most of Massachusetts. At the ■ PACER AND DIVING SWAN AT BLOOD MOUNTAIN SHELTER, GEORGIA. end of July, I would then flip up north to Mount Katahdin in Maine, and return to the trail SOBO where I would finish the Appalachian Trail at Harpers Ferry on October 15. That was the plan. The Start(s) – I love the feeling of excitement that I get before doing something hard and scary. I was excited to meet new people, and see new places, not to mention the thrill of trying to do something that has a 75% rate of failure. What’s so scary about hiking in the woods or up some mountains? I’ll be doing it with others, at least when I start. Will the others be cool, will they be know-it-all gear junkies, or will there be ■ PACER, DIVING SWAN AND SWISS REACH 100 MILES NORTH OF SPRING MOUNTAIN, GEORGIA. ■ DIVING SWAN, MOUNT WASHINGTON, NEW HAMPSHIRE. people like me trying to do something hard that they have dreamed of for years? I met them all. I was excited to push myself without knowing just how far I would get pushed physically and emotionally. My NOBO start with Sunshine went well and I found that the NOBO portion of the trip went quickly. There were lots of thru-hikers and the excitement of the hike kept us all positive. There was rain, snow, ice, very cold weather, and wind that could blow you over – and yet it was a thrill. Making the first 100, 200 and 500 miles was also thrill that was celebrated with a trail family. The last miles of the AT would be celebrated alone in solitude and with some loneliness. After completing the southern half of the AT, Sunshine and I hiked up the northernmost terminus, Mount Katahdin on July 31. Katahdin is probably one of the hardest climbs on the trail and the weath- See COMMUNITY 47 ▶
Page 1 and 2: COVERING UPSTATE NY SINCE 2000 FREE
Page 3 and 4: MARCH 2024 3 Outdoor Oil Paintings
Page 5 and 6: MARCH 2024 5 CONTENTS 5 FROM THE TE
Page 7 and 8: News Briefs NYSOGA Winter Rendezvou
Page 9 and 10: BICYCLING MARCH 2024 9 ◀ BILLY’
Page 11 and 12: ▲ MUD? NO PROBLEM AT FARMER’S D
Page 13 and 14: RUNNING & WALKING MARCH 2024 13 ■
Page 15 and 16: RUNNING & WALKING continued from 13
Page 17 and 18: MARCH 2024 17 18th Annual NY’S LA
Page 19 and 20: MARCH 2024 19 18TH ANNUAL EXPLORE T
Page 21 and 22: MARCH 2024 21 EXPO HIGHLIGHTS ■ G
Page 23 and 24: RUNNING, BIKING & TRIATHLON Adirond
Page 25 and 26: MARCH 2024 25 LOOK WHO’S EXHIBITI
Page 27 and 28: MARCH 2024 27 FINALLY, THE MISSING
Page 29 and 30: MARCH 2024 29 2021 CARDIAC CLASSIC
Page 31 and 32: Listings with bold type, more detai
Page 33 and 34: MARCH 2024 33 21 Bike ADK: Bike the
Page 35 and 36: MARCH 2024 35 28 Findley Lake Triat
Page 37 and 38: MARCH 2024 37 13 Helderberg to Huds
Page 39 and 40: MARCH 2024 39 Sunday, March 24 IT
Page 41 and 42: ALPINE SKIING & SNOWBOARDING Gore S
Page 43: MARCH 2024 43 COMMUNITY continued f
Page 47 and 48: COMMUNITY continued from 45 er made
Page 49 and 50: COMMUNITY continued from 47 MARCH 2
Page 51 and 52: MARCH 2024 51 NON-MEDICATED LIFE Me
Page 53 and 54: RACE RESULTS GORE MOUNTAIN CITIZENS
Page 55 and 56: RACE RESULTS MARCH 2024 55 EMPIRE S

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