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Trip Leader Biographies   Updated: December 23 2023

I have been a member of the ADK Glens Falls – Saratoga Chapter since 2012. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to make new friends and learn from many who have taken the time to share their outdoor experiences with me.

Looking to give back, I became more actively involved with our chapter upon my retirement in 2018. As of Jan 2024 I will serve as Chapter Chair and Education Chair. I enjoy volunteering as a hike leader and as a trail and summit steward so that others can enjoy the outdoors safely and with care for the environment.


I grew up on Long Island and developed an interest in hiking while exploring Bear Mountain State Forest with my friends. After relocating to the Capital Region, I began working as an internal auditor at Pioneer Bank and serving on the Bank’s Making Change Committee. I continue to enjoy working and learning in that role. I volunteer with the Adirondack Mountain Club on the Audit Committee and with the Glens Falls-Saratoga Chapter as the Young Member Chair and Nominating Committee Chair.


After raising my family, I had some time to begin my own adventure.The woods were an instant love affair. I found ways to make it a part of my every day life, and hope to share that with others. As a volunteer outings leader I get to do just that. The Adirondack Mountain Club has been a great way to explore the beauty in our own back yard and learn together about ways to respect and protect it.


I grew up in the suburbs of Syracuse and Buffalo knowing that I loved to be outdoors. I would spend endless hours riding my bike through interconnected neighborhoods or running around the high school track. When I moved to Saratoga County over 30 years ago, my love for the outdoors expanded to rivers, lakes and the woods. I joined the Saratoga Stryders running club, where I met my first hiking friends who took me up Goodnow Fire Tower, which opened my eyes to a new world above tree line. My next hike was Dix and Hough where I was introduced to the Glens Falls-Saratoga Chapter and the 46 high peaks. As a marathoner, the mountains are my cross training.

My work in sustainable libraries and outdoor organizations like the Adirondack Mountain Club and Adirondack 46ers, Wilton Wildlife Preserve and Park, and my local running group, the Saratoga Styrders, all represent who I am and how I like to spend my time.

I enjoy leading casual walks, enjoying the sounds of nature and catching a fluttering Karner Blue, along with epic runs, cycling trips, and technical hikes.


I grew up in the Mid-Hudson Highlands and started camping and hiking at an early age in the shadows of West Point, Black Rock Forest and Storm King Mountain. My first Adirondack adventure was a canoe and camping trip from Old Forge to Blue Mountain Lake along the Fulton Chain of Lakes when I was about 14. I was smitten by the site of Blue Mountain, rising like a pantheon high above the lake that bore its name and hosted a mirror image of its namesake. While attending Albany Law School, I first travelled through Keene Valley to Saranac Lake each summer to play in the Can-Am rugby tournament, and would camp overnight at Chapel Pond. My initial sense of wonder, enthusiasm, and inspiration are still present today each time I enter the Adirondacks to experience the land I love best.

My Adirondack mountain climbing started in earnest in 2002, when I climbed Cascade and Porter, and then Marcy the next day. By 2006, I completed the 46, and later added Wallface and MacNaughton. I found climbing Wallface like a religious experience since I was often on my hands and knees pulling myself up though the dense forest. During this time my twins, Laura and James, were my steady companions, who also completed the 46 in 2012. I also did a lot of solo hikes, and found a treasure-trove of information on the late Joel Dobson’s comprehensive and witty website, Adirondack Journey. His shared knowledge, detailed maps and trip reports, made the trail-less peaks manageable on my own, and especially guided me through the three Santanonis.

To me, the mountains are not just places; they each have their own personalities. They are dynamic, personal and intimate. Some spots are just magical, and draw me back again like the Sirens. Many I hope to see again. I continue to climb the high peaks, but have also newfound enthusiasm for winter hiking and snowshoeing, as well as bushwhacks. The ADK-GFS Chapter has introduced me to a new group of like-minded enthusiasts that share a sense of adventure in the land that I love. It was just a matter of time before I was encouraged to become a trip leader. I look forward to leading and joining many challenging and rewarding outings for years to come, and perhaps the good-fortune of meeting you and sharing the experience along the way.

Some of my favorite source materials include: The Adirondack or Life in the Wilderness by Joel T. Headley, published in 1849, The Indian Pass by Alfred Billing Street, published in 1869, In the Wilderness by Charles Dudley Warner, published in 1878, Report of the Topographical Survey of the Adirondack Wilderness of New York for the Year 1873 by Verplanck Colvin, first published in 1874, and annually thereafter, The Adirondacks by T. Morris Longstreth, published in 1917, Peaks and People of the Adirondacks by Russell M.L. Carson, published in 1926, The High Peaks of Essex by Bill Healy, published in 1992, and Contested Terrain by Philip G. Terrie, published in 1999. The older works exude romanticism and spirituality, and are among my favorites, critics aside. Orson Phelps’ musings and quotes are among some of my favorites.


I have photographic evidence of one of my first Adirondack summits as a very young boy – Cascade Mountain on a sunny day with my grandpa and sister, wearing Velcro strap shoes and a wild grin. I did lots of hiking in the Adirondacks with my family as a kid and plenty of camping with my Boy Scout troop. When I moved back to the area in 2016, I finished my 46 High Peaks and hiked the Northville-Placid and Long Trails. My new love is winter hiking and I especially look forward to those frigid days when the snow starts flying and the trails get quieter.

I’ve met some great people on ADK hikes and credit them for introducing me to winter hiking. In addition to hikes, I also lead bike outings on our beautiful north country roads and paths. I occasionally write about my trips and my day job (teaching math and special education) on my blog at www.dustdisciple.com.


Currently, our Chapter's Outings Chair, I began serious hiking with a hiking and backpacking class in college that took me to the White Mountains and the Franconia Ridge. And so began a serious and still worsening addiction to summits.

After graduate school in the flat lands of Iowa, I returned to the northeast to spend a few years in New Jersey, and to hike the Jersey Highlands and Catskills. During this time I also contributed to an edition of the Long Path Guide. It was then on to Florida where hiking opportunities were, well, rather limited.

In 1990, I gratefully followed my wife to her new job at Skidmore College because I knew the hiking would be great (well, that wasn't the only reason for coming north, but it was a good one). I soon joined ADK but, with a young daughter, my time on the trail was limited. Once my daughter was through high school, I returned to hiking in a big way, soon becoming a 46er. Along the way, I began participating in club hikes, and soon took the next step to become a leader. I subsequently finished the winter 46, and hope to complete the Northeast 115. I like helping others enjoy the trail as Outings Chair and a trip leader.


I have been wandering around in the woods since my teens, but I did not seriously start hiking the Adirondacks until I needed something for rehab of the knee operation from a fire department mishap in the spring of 1987. The orthopedic / sports doctor who did the arthroscopic surgery said I probably would never run again, so I started out with lots of smaller hikes to strengthen the knee. I still remember vividly counting 100 steps uphill and resting. And the downhill felt like my knee was going to just keep bending past the normal straight leg and that I would roll down hill, head over heels, or "ass over teakettle", as my grandmother used to say. Eventually my 100 steps evolved into longer hikes and my first ascent was Gothics on 10/15/1987. 3 1/2 years later I finished my Winter hikes before my Summer ones on Whiteface on 3/19/1991 and the Summer ones 7 months later on Cliff on 10/23/1991.

Family responsibilities brought me back to Clifton Park and my hiking and canoeing became family and scouting events. Now, with my family grown, I am looking northward and upward to see if things have changed. In the past couple of years I have followed and led on a couple of dozen high peaks and top 100s and I can only say that they have gotten a little more busy and the trailless 46er peaks that I remember aren't really trailless any more. The people out there are the same though, still fun to be with, out enjoying the great outdoors.


Having stayed a number of times at ADK Loj on vacation, I made it a priority to join ADK when I moved from NYC to Glens Falls in 1998 on a job transfer. I had led cycling and XC ski trips for HI/AYH for 20 years and became an ADK leader soon after moving to the area.

I specialize in fall hikes (bugs find me tasty during the summer) and cross-country ski day trips, especially to lesser-known areas. I enjoy hiking with other leaders who know more about the Adirondacks than I do. My favorite walks are in Moreau Lake State Park and the 13th Lake region.


Neal has been an avid outdoorsman and adventure traveler for most of his life. He grew up in a farming town in Northern New Jersey and accompanied his father on many hunting and rafting fishing trips in the wilds of Canada. He learned to fly airplanes and captain boats and traveled many parts of the world, including many trips to Africa, where he flew briefly as a bush pilot and participated in many safaris. His favorite hiking peaks include Mount Hood, Mount Katahdin, Mount Washington, Pilot Knob Mountain, and the peaks surrounding Lake George.

He has been a group leader with ADK for 25 years and still is active. His favorite line is THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS BAD WEATHER, ONLY BAD CLOTHING!!!