LOCALadk Magazine

Lean 2 Rescue Story by Kristi Brennan Photos by Peter Davis It's 6:30 a.m. on a crisp November morning. My headlamp is on as the sun has yet to rise above the trees. I am standing on a river bank with ten people I've never met and we're about to load materials, tools, and equipment into canoes, then paddle this precarious cargo across the Middle Branch of the Moose River, unload it, and then carry, push and pull it nearly a mile to the work site where a new lean-to will be constructed. Once across the river and at the lean-to site, I am told that the first order of business is to locate rocks large enough for a foundation and then move them, under our own power, to where the new lean- to will be located. What have I gotten myself into? I have volunteered with a group named Lean2Rescue. Their mission is to repair, or build from scratch, lean-tos across the Adirondack Park. Founded in 2004 by an energetic man named Paul Delucia, of Baldwinsville, N.Y., this all-volunteer group has "rescued" 60 lean-tos, built five bridges, and repaired one fire tower over the past ten years. Sam Eddy who has been a volunteer since the group's inception and has adopted ten lean-tos in the Five Ponds Wilderness, and is also an ADK 46er Trail Master, explains why he has worked with this group over the years: "I like the people. And I like the challenge." Day 2: Same pre-dawn hour and I've returned, along with the volunteers from yesterday. I didn't think I would. I'm told we moved ten tons yesterday. I can believe it. The aches and pains in my body tell me it's true. But there was something about this group of dedicated individuals that drew me back. Was it their ability to overcome any LOCALadk 38 Winter 2014

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