By Rick Karlin | Times Union, Albany
Keene, N.Y. — With lower-than-expected ridership this year following an attenuated schedule last year, one of two shuttle buses established in recent years to serve hikers entering the Adirondack High Peaks is in danger of being discontinued.
A free shuttle bus, funded by the state and operated by Essex County, that had been transporting hikers between the Marcy Field area along Route 73 and the Chapel Pond and Round Pond areas several miles to the southeast of the field will likely not be operated this year, Keene Supervisor Pete Joe Wilson said Thursday.
Another shuttle service that runs the roughly 3.5 miles between the Marcy Field and the frequently jam-packed parking lot known as The Garden will continue. That service is operated by the town of Keene, and charges $10 per trip. It is planned to operate from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends, and they hope to start in early July, assuming they get enough drivers, Wilson said. That service has operated for more than a decade.
The newer state/county service, started three years ago on a pilot program basis and administered by the state, doesn’t appear to have caught on with hikers. “It didn’t have good ridership,” Wilson said.
In 2022, the state/county service from July 16 to Oct. 10 only served 214 people, according to previous reporting. The Keene shuttle, by contrast, served 1,625 during the summer.
Last summer, the state/county shuttle ran on weekends from Sept. 23 through Oct. 9 — a total of seven days. The total ridership for all days of operation was 20 people, acccording to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
A DEC spokesperson said a final determination had not yet been made on the future of the Chapel Pond/Round Pond shuttle.
Both of the shuttles were devised to help address the chronic lack of parking at popular High Peaks trailheads along Route 73, which is narrow and twisty with scant shoulders in many places. The stretch of highway connects the Adirondack Northway with Lake Placid and can get busy during peak hiking seasons in the summer and fall.
For years, local officials and state planners with the DEC have been trying to figure out how to safely accommodate the hordes of High Peaks hikers attracted by social media. During the COVID-19 pandemic, countless people in New York and along the East Coast descended on the region for outdoor adventures.
The state several years ago started to ban parking in some spots along the shoulder that were too close to the roadway to be safe.
There has been some progress on the parking front, including a permit system started in 2021. Under that program, 70 spaces at a time can be reserved free of charge at the privately owned Adirondack Mountain Reserve, which provides foot access to some of the oft-visited High Peaks including Gothics, Dial and Nippletop.
While the lot is small, it proved popular: During the last hiking season, the AMR online booking system took about 17,000 reservations, with nearly 10,000 of reservation-holders actually showing up. Another 1,960 people arrived without a reservation last year and were turned away.
Reservations can be made at https://www.hikeamr.org/.
Wilson said he has been told that one of the buses used in the state/county program will remain in use as a mobile education station. The re-purposed bus will travel to the busiest trailheads with DEC stewards on site to advise hikers on safety as well as hiking options that may be less crowded in the area.
The Marcy Field has ample parking and Wilson noted, that some innovative and energetic hikers have taken to parking their cars there and riding bikes to other trailheads such as the limited-parking Garden parking lot.
Wilson, the Keene supervisor, said the shuttle/parking situation is evolving but it is clear that hikers and other visitors would rather be near their cars when they head off into the woods.
“It’s difficult to separate people from their car,” he said. “They have to be close, and the shuttle route has to be short and direct.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story said the cancellation of the Round Pond/Chapel Pond shuttle had been decided; it remains under consideration.
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