An Adirondack Mountain Reserve parking lot in St. Huberts is seen here full of cars on Oct. 5, 2019. (Enterprise photo — Elizabeth Izzo)

KEENE — The Adirondack Mountain Reserve’s reservation-based parking system, HikeAMR, will begin its third year on May 1. The reservation system will run through Oct. 31.

HikeAMR was piloted in 2021, in a partnership between AMR and the state Department of Environmental Conservation. It’s one of several efforts to mitigate the effects of increasing hiker traffic in the High Peaks — especially along the state Route 73 corridor in the town of Keene, where AMR is located. Reservations for a spot in the 70-car lot can be made up to two weeks in advance on a 24-hour rolling basis.

As HikeAMR enters its third year, it’s unclear whether or not the system will become a mainstay for hikers looking to access the Noonmark and Round Mountain trailheads, which are located on AMR’s privately-owned 7,000 acres, and other nearby peaks. AMR spokesperson Joshua Poupore said the reservation system is still being considered a “pilot” program this year.

The AMR reservation system’s 2021 launch started strong — more than 15,000 people created a login in HikeAMR’s online system May to the end of October that year. The number of people who created a HikeAMR login doubled to a cumulative total of more than 34,000 by Labor Day of 2022. With registrations already underway for the 2023 hiking season on Wednesday, the cumulative number of people with a HikeAMR login sat at exactly 35,782, according to Poupore.

The number of people who are actively booking reservations through the system is lower than the number of people who register with the system each year. From May 1 to Oct. 31 of last year, AMR fielded 10,122 total reservations.

Pouopore said on Wednesday that HikeAMR has made a couple of improvements to the hiker reservation system since its inception, including creating an email system that sends reservation-holders an email reservation reminder 24 hours ahead of their reserved time slot. Poupore said the reminders have led to fewer reservation no-shows and a more successful rebooking rate. Of the 10,122 reservations last year, 3,776 were rebookings from a total of 3,801 cancellations, according to Poupore.

AMR also funded a Google ad campaign for the reservation system last year, which Pouopore believes helped to maintain momentum and build visibility for the pilot program. He said AMR is planning to fund another ad campaign for the reservation system this year.

“We’re constantly looking at the data and using the feedback from that to adjust our digital ads,” he said.

Before the 2022 reservation season, AMR also installed an automatic one-way gate at the parking lot’s entrance to allow late-night hikers to depart from the lot after the lot attendant has left the premises.

Since HikeAMR’s launch, Poupore said AMR has heard some concerns that its parking lot never looks 100% full on reservation days. Pouopore believes those optics aren’t necessarily reflective of HikeAMR’s booking success. Reservations are made by the day, and he said some hikers might opt to hike for a few hours in the morning or a few hours at night — not all hikers are parked in the lot from open to close, he said. However, he said it’s fairly easy to come by a reservation, especially on weekdays. Saturdays tend to be those busiest for bookings, Poupore said, along with holiday weekends in the summer and fall.

AMR’s reservation-based parking system was created in 2021 to mitigate traffic safety concerns along the popular hiking corridor on state Route 73 in the town of Keene. AMR is a 7,000-acre reserve privately owned, the DEC has a conservation easement with the property that allows the public to access the property’s trailheads for Noonmark and Round Mountain.

Reserving a parking spot at AMR is free, and people can reserve a spot for a single day or for overnight use. People who are camping could reserve a spot for up to three nights. People getting dropped off or picked up in the AMR lot, or arriving by bicycle, would also need to register with the system. AMR won’t allow people to walk in without reservations, except people who have a Greyhound or Trailways bus ticket from within the past 24 hours.