All things considered, the Adirondacks have been rather fortunate in names, more so than one might expect.

DUDE

In 1985 I climbed my first Adirondack mountain. The rest, as they say, is history.  

Hi. I'm Erik Schlimmer, aka "Place Name Dude." Though I have backpacked, mountain biked, bushwhacked, snowshoed, skied, camped, and canoed throughout the United States, my greatest adventures have taken place in the Adirondack Mountains. These include a 110-mile circumnavigation of High Peaks Wilderness Area, two thru-hikes of the 243-mile Trans Adirondack Route, and four traverses of the 133-mile Northville Placid Trail. I became first to traverse High Peaks Wilderness Area's 268-mile trail system, first to climb the 601 peaks above 2,500 feet, second to climb the 217 peaks above 3,000 feet during winter, and third to climb the 100 highest peaks during winter. All named features within Giant Mountain Wilderness Area, Hoffman Notch Wilderness Area, Pharaoh Lake Wilderness Area, Siamese Ponds Wilderness Area, Silver Lake Wilderness Area, Hammond Pond Wild Forest, Lake George Wild Forest, Shaker Mountain Wild Forest, and Wilcox Lake Wild Forest have been visited – more than 800 features across 800,000 acres. I love sharing my passion and leadership expertise and have taught wilderness leadership courses in this range for more than 200 days.

My thirteen books include Blue Line to Blue Line (second edition, forthcoming),Wicked Awesome Adirondack Chronology (2024), Cranberry Lake Fifty Place Names (2024), With an Ax and a Rifle (2023), Deep History (2023), From Northville to Placid (2021), Cradle of the Union (2019), Color Remote (2019), Among the Cloud Splitters (2016), My Adirondacks (2015), History Inside the Blue Line (2015), Blue Line to Blue Line (first edition, 2013), and Thru Hiker's Guide to America (2005).