When you hire a New York State Licensed Guide, you gain the extensive outdoor experience, medical training, and local knowledge of an expert in the field. Our purpose is not only to keep you safe and use what we know to improve your experience, but also to share our knowledge to help prepare you for your solo adventures in the future. Beyond helping craft an activity plan to your liking, having a guide can provide you and your group the peace of mind that there is someone with the knowledge, knowhow, and wilderness medical training to ensure that your experience will be safe, fun, and authentic.

You know that rare intersection of experience, knowledge, passion, joy, and true love and sense of place? That’s what we at Guide ADK bring to the table. With decades of combined experiences in the Adirondacks, we take our enjoyment of this incredibly special place pretty seriously, and we really want to share that with you! With a respect for wild areas and a passion for adventure, Guide ADK will work to give you a truly authentic Adirondack experience. While we can never fully guarantee anything in this wild and crazy world of ours, we can say with relative certainty that if you take a trip with one of our guides, you won’t be disappointed!

Our Request a Guide form enables you to request dates and experiences online, as well as share some important information with us. Once you submit your form, we’ll reach out regarding availability and to chat with you personally to discuss the more detailed logistics of your trip planning! If we don’t have availability, we’ll work to find other dates or options that fit your schedule.

That is OKAY! Everyone has to start somewhere, and we look forward to meeting you at your comfort level to ensure that you both have a great experience and feel safe and comfortable in the process. Plus, education is core to our values and teaching you new skills is a big part of why we’re here!

Our pricing is based on the types of adventure, gear to be used, length (time & mileage), and the number of people on your trip. If you have questions or concerns about pricing, please contact us to discuss details further!

We can help with that! At Guide ADK, we want to ensure that access to gear is not a barrier preventing you from taking part in an outdoor adventure. We can provide most activity-specific gear and are happy to advise and assist with the acquisition of other personal equipment for your experience.  See each activity page for a specific packing list and please contact us with any questions you might have!

If you cancel 5 calendar days or more ahead of your booked trip, we will provide you with a full refund. If you cancel your trip less than 5 days ahead, you forfeit your deposit.  We operate with this system to make sure our guides’ schedules are respected, acknowledging that they have planned around that income and a last-minute change can be disruptive. For exceptions during the time of Covid, please see below.

While we at Guide ADK typically tend to think of rain & snow more as “Liquid Sunshine,” and we do operate on a rain or shine mentality, we do acknowledge that sometimes the weather is just too dangerous to safely head out into the backcountry. If our guide determines the conditions to be unsafe for your activity, we retain the right to cancel your trip. In that event, we are happy to  reschedule your trip, issue a credit, or offer a full refund. 

Please be aware that the Adirondacks is filled with small communities and a health care infrastructure that can be easily overwhelmed. If you test positive for Covid during the window within which you’ve booked a trip with us, we do ask that you notify us with proof of a positive test, at which point we will issue a full refund. This is an area where we greatly appreciate honesty and transparency.