To the editor:

I left the Tri-Lakes in 1998, except for my heart, that is. I am telling you this because I have no vested interest other than for what I love bicycling and my Adirondack hometown being no small part.

Because I love bicycle touring, I have ridden many a rail trail and other such greenways in Europe and North America. Rail trails are not my favorite because I prefer rolling hills to the monotony of a steady, easy grade required of rail transportation. Nonetheless, a rail trail provides so many unique pleasures getting from here to there, with a here and a there that couldn’t get more unique when you think about this place we call the Tri-Lakes. A rail trail is all about an easy push-pedal to a destination, be it the Olympic Village, Saranac Lake – as unique a history as its architecture – and Tupper Lake, where the Lumberjacks are more its fabric than mascot. East and west, on both sides of the Atlantic, I have ridden rail trails and seen their impact on quality of life, be it recreation or economy. Some tent overnight, most look for a B&B, and they all eat.

Some national destination tours, like the Heritage Rail Trail, opted to spend a lot keeping a rail AND a trail, vying with each other for passage and more than twice as costly, given two contrasting construction designs jammed together on a narrow right of way, to say nothing of signage and other safety measures for the two contrasting modes to safely coexist. The rails are rusty from disuse. Wherever I happened to travel a rail trail to my destination, the only locomotives I ever saw were part of a rail trail museum, like this one on the Great Alleghany Passage.

As for the trump card in this controversy, already the rail bikes are causing traffic jams down by the old Big D, as I saw this summer. Can you imagine when the caravans get bigger? Best this private company investigate the less-traveled roads from Tupper to Sabbatis.

Experience tells me what a boost a rail trail will be to the Tri-Lakes’ economies. That is why it is so frustrating to see this whole thing drawn out. No one is taking away the right of way should the railroad resurrect itself from the past. Such is simply not in the foreseeable future. However, let’s suppose such a need ever comes about; by then, the antiquated tracks or what remains of them would have to be ripped up anyway. Market the Adirondack Tri-Lakes Trail, and they will come. It will be a premier destination for families and groups seeking a serene cruise through forests and past lakes to three unique destinations.

Respectfully,

Ken Youngblood

Taos, New Mexico