Hiking with Albany-Schenectady ADK
Left/top: Five Mile Mountain on Chapter hike to Northern Tongue Range in June 2025
Right/bottom: Chapter snowshoe hike to Mt. Colden in December, 2025
The Albany-Schenectady ADK Chapter offers hikes (and occasional snowshoe and x-country ski outings) at all levels. We are fortunate in that we have beautiful scenery and hills to hike through right here in the Capital District and are also close to mountains in all directions, including the Adirondacks, Lake George Area, Catskills, Berkshires and more.
Check our Outings Calendar (be sure to scroll down the page) to see current offerings. Check often as new outings are added at irregular intervals. You can also get announcements of outings at Chapter meetings and in the monthly Chapter email news that comes out middle of the month. Chapter emails go to ADK members that have designated Albany-Schenectady as their chapter; or you can sign up for future newsletters at our homepage https://albany.adk.org/ (scroll down to “Sign up for Updates”).
Our outings are rated on an “ABC” system, as determined by ADK. Our leaders are volunteers who have gone through the training outlined by ADK for the level of difficulty outings they lead. Check out our “Meet Our Leaders” page to learn more about them.
- C level (easy) hikes are usually 5 miles or less (but may be up to 8 if rated C+) and less than 1000’ of elevation gain throughout the hike.
- B level (moderate) hikes are 5-10 miles and have between 1000’ and 2000’ of elevation gain.
- A level (strenuous) hikes are generally 5-15 miles and have between 2000’ and 4000’ of elevation gain, with A+ hikes sometimes being more.
When you see an outing you are interested in, contact the leader to ask questions and/or to register (contact information is in the description of each outing). Leaders will help you to determine if the outing is appropriate for your skill level, will indicate what is necessary to bring on the outing and will provide details on exact time and location for start of outing. IMPORTANT: Before attending an outing, please read over the ADK participant responsibilities.
We are always looking for new leaders and new ideas. If you have any interest in this, please contact the Chapter outings chair, Debbie Van Ryn, at dmvanryn@gmail.com for further information and to discuss possibilities. You can also get a sense of what the process requires by looking at the ADK Outdoor Leader’s Guide. We are in need of more leaders, so please consider this if you would like to see more outings! It is a great way to gain new skills and meet new people.
Finally, a few local areas to check out for walking/hiking:
Mohawk-Hudson Land Conservancy
Five Rivers Environmental Education Center
