LOCALadk Magazine

Sender the Cat poses on one of the bunks at the hostel. LOCALadk 21 David purchased the former Jackrabbit Hostel, which had been in bad shape after a 2007 fire. Terri, a doc- tor of psychology who spent her career working at New York State Office of Mental Health, "contributed her retirement fund" to secure the property. It was a risk she felt could mean she would "have to work forever" if the venture failed, but she and David were committed to finding a permanent base camp in the Adirondacks. "Are we really doing this?" they asked themselves while standing in the Roaring Brook parking lot on the way to sign the papers, knowing it was a "LOT of money, com- mitment and not a small gamble." The purchase of the property was made official at midnight on December 31, 2009 – the start of a New Year, and the start of something special. The early years required extreme personal sacrifice to keep the business viable and affordable. From 2010 until 2019, Terri maintained a 150 -mile commute every weekend from her job in Utica to provide the financial "fail-safe" for the business. She would often get up at 4:00 a.m. on Mondays for the drive back to work after a full weekend of hosting with David. To ensure every bunk remained available for guest income, the couple spent their first two winters sleeping in a pop-up Cole- man camper parked inside the unheated garage. They frequently woke in the night to "shovel a path from the garage door to the back door" just to use the hostel's common bathroom. David provided the "sheer force of will" to renovate the space, managing upgrades through "excessive amounts of elbow grease" and You- Tube tutorials. "I make beds and scrub toilets pretty damn well," David says, touching on his transition from metal fabrication and pizza delivery to hostel manage- ment. Community over profit Unlike traditional hostels that cater to people simply passing through, Lake Placid's TMax-n-Topo's was de- signed as a "homey" environment where guests could drop their guard, relax, and converse with one another. The facility offers a "restaurant grade kitchen" with a six-burner Garland Range, which was the first feature that appealed to them during their initial tour. David notes that for most guests, the true value isn't a fancy lobby, but "the feeling of boots off, a hot shower, good company to tell hiking stories to, and a comfortable bed". I'm sure that this far into the story, you're wondering where the hostel's names came from. "TMax" and "Topo" were chosen as a way to build "street cred" within the hiking community. Terri was already well-established on hiking forums as "TMax," while David used the handle "topofgothics." The social fabric is anchored by two unique residents. Topo MountainFrog, a green stuffed frog, is a "Hiker Extraordinaire" who has completed the Appalachian Trail and numerous rounds of the Adirondack 46 with David. Topo even has his own voice in the hostel's sto- ry, claiming he "telepathically" reached out to Terri in a store because he knew she was special. Then there is Sender, a rescued feral kitten who acts as the hostel's social ambassador. He is so woven into the fabric of the experience that many guests' first words upon arrival are simply, "Where's my cat?" Who needs an Instagram for marketing when you have a Sender? The campfire ethos The hostel's soul is found at the campfire, a place where you likely won't find many people's gaze pasted onto their phone. If you know David, you know he's a so- cial butterfly. He's known to actively introduce guests to foster a "culture that sets expectations for respect, decency and open and honest communications." This community-first approach creates a self-policing en- vironment. "Folks who can't meet those expectations typically decide that we are not the place for them," David and Terri say. Many of the folks staying at the hostel are hikers, and rather than educating in a preachy way, David's focus is more casual: a combination of providing the best infor- mation so hikers can make informed decisions, and laid back conversations around the fire. David is a straight-shooter, and his 15+ rounds of the 46 make him uniquely qualified to tell it how it is. This pragmatism is part of what makes the hostel feel like a true hiker's refuge rather than a commercial hotel,

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