Adirondack Trails & Lodging System (ACTLS)

Leading E.D.G.E. is proud to be the project manager for the Adirondack Trails and Lodging System projected funded by the New York Department of State and sponsored by Hamilton County. 

In 2015, the Adirondack Community-based Trails and Lodging System project will:
  • Solicit ideas from the public on such a system through a series of public meetings,
  • Inventory and map existing trails and related lodging facilities in use throughout the park
  • Map potential circuits (round trips starting and ending at the same trailhead) and traverses (trips starting and finishing at different trailheads) that start, pass through, and/or finish in Adirondack towns and villages
  • Identify new opportunities to form interconnected, self-powered trails containing both front- and backcountry lodging, ranging from 5-star hotels, to quaint bed & breakfasts, to backcountry huts.

By developing a trail system with huts or other overnight accommodations modeled after the Great Walks in New Zealand, the trekking network in Norway, and the Camino de Santiago in Spain, the unique assets and amenities of the Adirondack Park can be leveraged to attract a global market of outdoor recreators and provide recreation opportunities that improve the quality of life for Adirondack residents.

To learn more about this exciting project visit the ACTLS website HERE.


BIOS of the ACTLS Staff
Jack K. Drury
Jack is co-owner of Leading E.D.G.E. and serves as Vice President and CFO. He has been facilitating experiential learning at an international level for over 25 years and currently provides training to educators throughout North America, the United Kingdom and the Middle East. He is Professor Emeritus of North Country Community College having founded and directed the college’s Wilderness Recreation Leadership Program for nearly twenty years. He is past president of the Wilderness Education Association and co-author of the definitive wilderness leadership text The Backcountry Classroom: Lessons, Tools, and Activities for Teaching Outdoor Leaders as well as The Camper's Guide to Outdoor Pursuits: Finding Safe, Nature Friendly, Comfortable Passage Through Wild Places. He is a contributing author to Hiking and Backpacking, Adventure Education: Theory and Application, and The Wilderness Educator.

Jack resides in Saranac Lake, NY with his wife Phyliss where he actively supports many Adirondack Park issues. They have five adult children.
Joe Dadey
Joe possesses a Bachelor’s degree in Forest Biology from SUNY-ESF in Syracuse, New York, a Master’s degree in Outdoor Recreation from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois and a PhD in Environmental Policy/Environment Communication from SUNY-ESF. He taught for twenty years at the college-level, including eight years in the Recreation, Adventure Travel and Ecotourism (RATE) program at Paul Smith’s College (PSC). Joe worked a couple of seasons as an Assistant Forest Ranger in the Adirondack High Peaks and has co-led numerous 40-day expeditions with adjudicated youth through Project USE of New Jersey. He has also co-instructed sixteen month-long outdoor leadership expeditions in the Adirondacks, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks and traveled with PSC students to study ecotourism in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Belize, the Dominican Republic and New Zealand. 

Joe spent a semester with his PSC students studying hut-to-hut travel and how it might be applied to the Adirondack Park.
Duane Gould
Duane Gould has worked for the Salvation Army as an administrative assistant, as the office manager of the Wilderness Education Association, and as business manager of another nonprofit, Parent to Parent of New York State. While working part-time as a research assistant on various Adirondack Park projects related to e-commerce, public health, tourism, and recreation, he co-authored a feasibility study for a rails-with-trails project in the Adirondack Park. Duane moved to Saranac Lake from NYC in 1983 to enroll in the Wilderness Recreation Leadership Program at North Country Community College and also has associate’s degrees in Business Administration and Recreation Facilities Management.