Adirondack Mountain Club Publication Receives Award      

June 19, 2007


CONTACT: Andrea Masters, 518-668-4447, ext. 27; andrea[at]adk.org

Adirondack Mountain Club Publication Receives Award

Lake George, NY—The Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK)’s recent release, No Place I'd Rather Be: Wit and Wisdom from Adirondack Lean-to Journals, by Stuart F. Mesinger, received the Adirondack Center for Writing’s nonfiction award for Best Edited Collection at the Blue Mountain Center in Blue Mountain Lake on Sunday, June 10, 2007. The awards ceremony honored the best books published in or about the Adirondacks in 2006.

The Adirondack Center for Writing faced a difficult task this year, as it chose its award winners from an unusually large pool of thirty-seven entries. With support from the New York State Council on the Arts and Paul Smiths College, this nonprofit group presents workshops, conferences, and public readings to promote literary arts throughout the Adirondack Park. For more information on this organization, contact The Adirondack Center for Writing by phone at 518-327-6278,

and by e-mail at acw[at]paulsmiths.edu;

or visit their Web site at www.adirondackcenterforwriting.org.

No Place I’d Rather Be: Wit and Wisdom from Adirondack Lean-to Journals draws on hikers’ entries found in Adirondack lean-to journals and weaves in anecdotes and commentary from Mesinger’s own backpacking experiences. The book provides insight into the minds and motivations of those who venture into the woods and offers glimpses of life on the trail, with entries that include inspiration, hilarity, pathos, and melancholy.

“There is something to entertain and offend virtually everyone,” observes Tom Wheeler, past president of ADK. “The author has done a fine job of selection,” says Chris Jerome, author of An Adirondack Passage, “and his memories and observations knit the whole into a smooth and enjoyable narrative.”

Mesinger works as a planning consultant for The Chazen Companies, where he is vice president in charge of community planning and manager of Chazen’s Glens Falls office. An avid hiker, paddler, and angler, Mesinger first discovered hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains, before moving on to extended outings on the Appalachian Trail and in the Adirondacks. He holds a degree in geology and environmental studies from St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY.

This 192-page softcover book is available for $14.95 at book and outdoor supply stores, at ADK stores in Lake George and Lake Placid, through mail order by calling 800-395-8080 (Monday-Saturday, 8:30-5:00), or online at the ADK Bookstore.

ADK is a 30,000 member nonprofit organization founded in 1922 and dedicated to the protection and responsible recreational use of the New York State Forest Preserve and other parks, wild lands, and waters. The Club publishes a variety of books and maps, and conducts extensive trails, education, conservation, and natural history programs. Profits from the sale of ADK publications help underwrite the cost of these programs.