Father Allen on Mount Marcy photograph by Ben Stechschulte
“I love Algonquin,” says Reverend Philip Allen. “I’d like to do that again. It’s all business and the views are great, and it’s the first mountain I ever did. I did go up barefoot at that time. That was 1958.”
From his couch in St. Mary’s Church’s rectory in Indian Lake, Father Allen recalls the mountains he’s climbed. And there are lots of them. He’s finished the Adirondacks’ 46 highest peaks in all seasons 25 times. He’s hiked New Hampshire’s Whites, Vermont’s Greens, and the mountains of Maine. Then came the Long Trail of Vermont, next the Appalachian Trail. (At more than 2,000 miles, that one took seven years of vacations to complete.) He’s climbed Mounts Kenya and Kilimanjaro and hiked Ellesmere Island, in the Arctic. But he’s also scaled plenty of smaller Adirondack mountains—two weeks ago he was on Moxham; next week he plans to go up Blue, a trek he’s made some 50 times. Severance is also a regular—“That’s a simple morning walk,” he says.
At 92—this year marks the 67th anniversary of his ordination—Father Allen is finishing his assignment in Indian Lake and will soon retire. But there’s no plan to stop hiking. His body might be in better shape than the average 92-year-old, he admits. “I’m still using my original knees.”
He says his quest to be a 46er started when “an elderly priest gave me his guidebook.” In those days hiking—particularly completing the 46—“was quite a hobby among us priests.” Father Allen would accompany those who wanted a companion when they weren’t too sure about the less traveled peaks. But “a lot of my hiking was done solo,” he says. “I prepared sermons on the way.” And there’s “some reality” to being higher to the heavens. “You do feel closer to God.”
Hiking Marcy in winter has been one of Father Allen’s choice treks. In December 1969 he rescued a man on the mountain. “He was in a lean-to … he was just passing time there and he had no understanding that it was a dangerous position. He had been eating raw brown rice. I went back a week later and he was still there. He hadn’t gone out of the lean-to and was just eating snow. His shoes were just loafers and they were like wooden shoes because they were frozen. I persuaded him to go with me and he had frostbite on his feet. I took care of him for a couple of days, gave him boots and a bus ticket. He was Hare Krishna. He thought fasting and yoga would be all you need to be strong.”
Father Allen grew up on his family’s dairy farm in Peru. (He still keeps a garden there, growing pumpkins, squash, tomatoes and other vegetables and donating them to the church.) Throughout his career he’s been assigned to parishes across the North Country—Ogdensburg, Saranac Lake, Lowville, Au Sable Forks, Heuvelton, Lake Placid, Redford, Elizabethtown, Evans Mills, Port Leyden, Indian Lake, Blue Mountain Lake, Olmstedville. When he had parishes with schools, such as Au Sable and Redford, he’d lead groups of students up nearby mountains, like Catamount and Silver Lake. Years later, he says, the now-grown kids tell him they fondly remember those adventures.
Of all the places he’s lived, the one that’s closest to his heart? “They were my favorite place when I was there,” he says with a smile.
In the more than six decades that he’s been exploring the Adirondacks, he’s witnessed change: Debris from the 1950 blowdown is gone. The behavior and sensibility of hikers has improved thanks to outdoor education.
And while there seem to be more hikers than ever, “the wilderness is still there, it hasn’t been lost—you just have to go off-trail sometimes to find it.”
Hiking’s been a critical part of Father Allen’s life. He reflects, “I’m grateful for the prayer and meditation that it’s helped me with. I’m grateful for the people I’ve met … some who have given me support and I’ve given support to. There’s a community in the woods. You make yourself a little vulnerable out there and you’re glad that people aren’t so involved with their own ambitions that they won’t stop and help you.”
