Orra Phelps Nature Trail Gansevoort, NY

BREAKING TRAIL REMARKABLE WOMEN OF THE ADIRONDACKS by Peggy Lynn and Sandra Weber From the chapter "Orra Phelps, Nature Lady" By her sixties, Orra Phelps (1895-1986) knew the Adirondacks better than most people know their own back yards. She knew every plant by common name and Latin name. She knew the mountains’ geological composition and land forms. She knew every bird, not just by sight but by song. She was also familiar with the region’s human history and had joined others in the fight for the preservation of wilderness areas. She not only climbed many smaller mountains, but all forty-six high peaks twice. Although she never had a permanent residence within the Blue Line, she spent most of her free time hiking there. After she retired in 1962, she spent several summers living at Adirondak Loj, so she could be near the Adirondack Mountain Club’s (ADK) Natural History Museum on the shore of Heart Lake. She was the first naturalist there and had donated many of the specimens of rocks, bones, plants, eggs, feathers and snakeskins to the museum. Orra was never satisfied with knowing about the Adirondacks. She wanted to share all she could with anyone who had the interest and curiosity to learn. She had worked her whole life toward the independence and freedom she enjoyed while hiking. Both her parents were college-educated people with great interest in natural history. Her mother, Orra Parker Phelps, was an expert botanist and taught Orra much on frequent excursions to gather specimens. Her father had a brilliant mind but often a troubled one and he had difficulty keeping a job. This made for much moving around; financial woes dogged them as well. Young Orra, one of seven siblings, capably took on many household chores as well as care of the younger children and managed to keep up her studies. When it was time for college, Orra hoped to go to Mount Holyoke as her mother had, but with two older brothers already in college, there were not enough funds. By that time the family was living in Canton, New York. Orra spent her first two years of college at nearby St. Lawrence University, living at home and also working to pay her own expenses. From there she went on to Mount Holyoke College and studied geology and zoology. Since her mother had attended the school, Orra became known as “younger Orra.” Later, she taught at New Hampshire College for two years and began to look toward a medical degree. Once again, family financial needs took precedence and Orra had to work, wait and save. Orra was finally able to begin medical school at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in the fall of 1921. Her financial constraints forced her to work two jobs and she spent too little time studying for her advanced courses. She left the following spring, having failed one course and feeling completely exhausted. Fortunately, Orra found a job working at Silver Bay, the Christian Conference Center on Lake George. There she learned to swim and handle boats, and from that southeast corner of the Adirondacks Orra began to venture out onto the mountain trails. That summer, two of her brothers climbed Mount Marcy and wrote to Orra, expounding on the terrific views from its peak. Orra would have to wait two more years, working and saving before she could see that view for herself. Orra deferred from returning to medical school that fall, taught school and helped out on the family farm. The next summer she returned to Silver Bay. She wanted to resume her medical training in the fall of 1923 but the bacteriology course she needed to take wasn't offered until the spring. During that spring semester, Orra was careful not to work too much and did well in her courses. She rewarded herself with planning a trip up Mount Marcy. Now she would see the terrific views about which her brothers had boasted. That first ascent of Mount Marcy in 1924 got her hooked on hiking in the Adirondacks. She climbed it with her mother, brother and a friend. They rolled up blankets and used belts or rope to sling their bedrolls from shoulder to hip. Sleeping bags were not yet widely available, nor were freeze-dried foods. Orra would carry a small spade with which to dig worms and a short axe to cut a sapling branch. Using these along with string, a weight and fishhook, she often caught fresh fish for supper. Any hike was also considered a botanizing trip, so they would also carry a canister to hold specimens, a hand lens magnifier, and a notebook to record their experiences and findings. Orra’s second year in medical school went more smoothly. She was careful not to over-extend herself and passed all her courses. As soon as the semester ended Orra and her friend Mary McGehee embarked on an astounding journey. They hiked from Baltimore to her parents’ farm in Wilton, near Saratoga, New York. They left June 4, 1925, and braved a summer heat wave to finish the 350-mile trek on June 17. They walked up through the Susquehanna Valley and the Catskills, taking advantage of trolleys in the large cities. They camped out, using the bedrolls they carried on their backs, all but four nights. Orra was glad to have packed an extra pair of shoes, for they were needed after just one week. This would have been an arduous trip for anyone, but it was all the more daring for two women to travel alone through unfamiliar cities and countryside. This hike bolstered Orra’s confidence and prepared her for the next phase of life. After finishing both her degree and her residency, Orra got a job as a physician for an entire school district, working out of Fort Plain, near Utica, New York. It meant driving many miles and the pay was not going to make her wealthy, but she enjoyed working with children. She often exceeded her job’s requirements, educating families of children with special medical needs. She was involved with church activities, led a Girl Scout troop, and took her troop to hike in the Adirondacks as often as possible. “Orra was a ‘low impact’ camper long before the term came into general use,” recalled friends. “[S]he kept the weight of her pack down by using a skillfully erected tarp shelter and the simplest of cooking equipment. While we were making the final ascent of the peak from our campsite along Skylight Brook, Orra remained behind to break camp and to eliminate any signs of our having camped there. As usual, she taught much more by example than by lecturing.” During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Orra struggled financially, but still managed to pay off her student loans. She spent every possible weekend and vacation hiking in the Adirondacks. She joined ADK and made many friends who shared her passion for climbing. Busy as she was, she volunteered to compile the first comprehensive trail guide for the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks for ADK. She spent countless hours soliciting information from people who had recently hiked trails, camped in lean-tos, or tried new trailless routes with the use of topographic maps. She read and re-read all the previously published materials on trails in the region. Orra hiked all of the trails herself, checking mileage accuracy and trail markers. She finished the project in time to have the guidebook published in 1934. That first book set a standard of thoroughness and accuracy that ADK follows in each subsequent edition. Another important event in the 1930s was the Centennial Celebration of the first ascent of Mount Marcy. All participants in this event decided to meet at the top of Marcy after scaling its height by one of the routes used by its earliest climbers. Orra arranged to meet someone who was going to follow the circuitous route used by Professor Emmons in 1837. The trip leader did not show up that day, so Orra resolved to climb this most difficult route by herself, bushwhacking a large part of the way. She met a friend at the base of Mount Colden and climbed on from there. The other climbers were a bit concerned about Orra, but she arrived unscathed and in good humor. She shared a poem which she had written called “Tahawus,” sung to the tune of “Austria.” It became a popular anthem for both the Adirondack Forty-Sixers and the Adirondack Mountain Club. Tahawus Great Tahawus, we salute thee, Mighty cleaver of the skies. Of the summits of the forests Thine the crown that towers most high. Suns of summer, snow of winter Make thy grandeur more sublime, We come humbly seeking blessings That thou givest all who climb. On Tahawus’ slopes we tarry Build our evening campfires bright. Comrades of the trail together Here find shelter for the night. Wind for music, stars for wonder, Mystic dawn, then glorious day. Great Tahawus, strength thou givest For life’s ever upward way. During World War II, the ever-adventurous Orra enlisted in the U. S. Navy and was assigned as a Lieutenant to the medical staff of a torpedo facility near Washington, D. C. It was challenging for her to face the nearly all-male world of medical military personnel, but she saw the opportunity to see new places, further her career and secure her financial future. Orra was a diligent physician, visiting some of the wounded in hospitals in her off time. After the war, in 1946, Orra went to work for the Veterans Administration in Albany, living most of the year at her family’s farm in Wilton. Once again, she was living within a few hours’ drive of her beloved Adirondacks. Orra wasted no time in resuming hiking. She became a Forty-Sixer in 1947, becoming one of only forty-seven people who had climbed all forty-six mountains above 4,000 feet in elevation. Twenty of those peaks had no marked trail and necessitated following a topographic map and often bushwhacking. But for Orra, the challenge had little to do with bragging rights. She loved looking for fragile alpine plants on the summits and listening for rare birds. Elsa Jane Putnam Turmelle, (nicknamed “Put” by Orra), who Orra mentored from Put’s Girl Scout days through college and her early career, described a trip up Haystack with Orra: "That was one of the most marvelous times I ever had on a mountain top. With Doc when you got on the top of a mountain, you didn’t just sit and look at the view, you walked around to see what kinds of plants were growing there. . . . In one spot we spent three hours, just [walking on rock] around the top of the mountain. . .each side of it, so we could get the different [micro]climates." When asked to contribute a recipe to a compilation of favorite foods from outdoor experts, Orra highlighted some of the ways cooking outdoors had changed: “When I started camping in the 1920’s, a blanket roll was hung from one shoulder and tied at the hip. Inside the bed roll there might be a can of soup, half a dozen potatoes, and a few carrots. . . . We were fortunate to be able to buy dried soup imported from Switzerland. . . . It came in a round stick…Each stick was cut into six pieces, and each piece made enough soup for one person. We called the result ‘dynamite soup.’ It was good!” One of her favorite supper dishes was “Campstyle Salmon Wiggle.” She made it by adding canned salmon to dried cream of pea soup, diluted only enough to make it creamy. Then she served it on whole wheat snack crackers. She also related what she considered an ingenious method for transporting eggs without the chance of having broken eggs in their bedrolls. They would be carried in a pail, padded with torn-up shredded wheat biscuits. After she retired from her work with the Veterans Administration in 1962, Orra plunged into the next satisfying stage of her life. She became ADK’s first ranger-naturalist at Adirondak Loj. During the first three summers, Orra started the small natural history museum housed in a tent, keeping her resource books in her own car. Orra taught organized groups and passersby about the flora and fauna of the Adirondacks. She marked a short interpretive trail and renamed it the Kelsey Trail. She wrote a pamphlet for the trail and tagged special points of interest. Orra was forever expanding her own knowledge so she could challenge everyone from fellow botanists to those who had never set foot in the forest before. And she related well to people of all ages, especially children. Orra had a great sense of humor and an entertaining way of illustrating scientific concepts. She was once heard to say, “Birds, like people, may be summer residents or ‘tourists’ enroute to or from Canada.” When Claudia Swain, who later became one of ADK’s naturalists, first met her at the museum, Orra said, “Looks to me like you’re being measured for a new shirt,” as she lifted an inchworm off Claudia’s sleeve. In 1965 Dr. and Mrs. Arthur Newkirk funded construction of a wooden building for the museum. Orra continued creating displays for the museum, incorporating specimens donated by enthusiastic hikers. She gave the public the opportunity not only to see but also touch everything from owl pellets to garnet crystals, from bird’s nests to beaver-chewed branches. Although her ten-year position as ranger-naturalist did have a nominal salary, most people who knew Orra would say she probably invested more in the museum than she was ever paid. As always, it was never enough for her to be satisfied with one job at a time. During those years, Orra wrote articles for several publications, mentored budding female botanists and helped catalog alpine plants fast becoming endangered on high peak summits. For this conservation effort she was awarded the Oak Leaf Award from the Nature Conservancy. She also developed slide shows on Adirondack flora, birds, fungi, ferns, geology, and forest ecology. She presented these slide shows weekly through the summer at Adirondak Loj and was also asked to share them with garden clubs and many other organizations. In 1972 Orra retired as naturalist. But she still spent part of the next several summers there, remarking the nature trail, training the new naturalists and being welcomed as an honored guest at Adirondak Loj. She continued to hike and camp into her eighties. Having hiked several sections of the 132-mile Northville-Placid Trail with her mother in the 1920s and 30s, she finished the final section at the age of 83. Orra received many honors and accolades from organizations of botanists, gardeners, hikers and conservationists. When the Orra Phelps Natural History Endowment Fund was created to benefit ADK natural history programs, Dr. Ed Ketchledge, professor of botany, described Orra, writing, “If we individually are to be judged by the lasting impact we have had in enriching the lives of our fellow human travellers on God’s green earth, then Orra Phelps has reached higher summits than most of us who have pursued other responsibilities in the Adirondack Mountain Club and elsewhere.” Throughout her long life, Orra was influenced by relationships with her family, friends and colleagues. Her mother shared a vast knowledge and love of the outdoors. She could also be prejudiced and controlling, which spurred Orra on to the field of medicine, which was out of her mother’s sphere. Orra had several male friends, some of whom were suitors, and she received three marriage proposals. When faced with the choice between becoming a doctor and becoming a wife, Orra chose the former. She stayed close to everyone in her life by being an avid letter writer. She wrote many detailed letters describing her work, relationships and recreation. Orra spent as many years as she could enjoying her Wilton home. In her eighties, small strokes robbed her of most of her speech and mobility. She went to live in a nearby nursing home. Visited by many who had hiked with her, Orra would listen with fascination to their detailed stories of recent hikes. She would consistently ask whether her guest had seen a certain plant or bird. Orra Phelps passed away in August 1986. The eleventh and twelfth editions of the ADK High Peaks guidebooks were dedicated to Orra. She was honored by New York State with a roadside plaque proclaiming her a “Distinguished Woman of Saratoga County.” Orra’s niece, Mary Arakelian wrote an in-depth biography, Doc: Orra A. Phelps, M.D. Adirondack Naturalist and Mountaineer, using many of Orra’s letters and those of her mother. Though she was honored in many ways by many organizations, Orra’s greatest satisfaction was to see a look of wonder on a child’s face. Whether known as “younger Orra,” “Doc” or the “nature lady,” she was respected by all she taught, healed, led and mentored. Orra forged her own trail, paving the way for many others.