Al Samuels, who has been president of the nearly thousand-member-strong Rockland Business Association for six years, says he has had many professions to help prepare him for his job: working in the media, serving in the military and his passion, mountain hiking. “You have to have stamina ”“ mentally and physically ”“ for all those jobs,” he says.
He may a “leg up” on others when it comes to endurance hikes, thanks to his service in the U.S. Marine Corps where two separate stints in active duty ”“ including one in Vietnam ”“ have given him the stamina to climb mighty mountains, which he took up in earnest back in the late 1990s. His wife of 16 years, Marilyn, often comes along for the hike.
“We first went up to Greene County and started hiking in the northern Catskills near Tannersville,” said Samuels. Huckleberry Point is a favorite spot. “We”™ve also hiked the Devil”™s Path, it”™s the second most strenuous hike up there: 4.2 miles and rising 1,500 feet within two miles, a rocky terrain.” The first time the Samuels took on Devil”™s Path, if climbing to the top was a challenge, getting back to the trail head was just as challenging: “We literally slid half the way down, and Marilyn broke a finger.” Still, “It is an incredible hike, despite our first trip coming down!”
Once a year, the Samuels travel to the Adirondacks”™ High Peaks region, where “Elks Lake Lodge and its 12,000-acre reserve offer Dicks”™ Range and the Oreos. We go for a week each year,” said Samuels. “No phones, no cell phones, no television, no computer. You are really away from civilization. It”™s just great to really be able to get away.” This year”™s trip was sidelined by a happy occasion: “Our daughter”™s wedding,” says the association president. “So we”™ll have to put off our High Peaks adventure for 2008.”
Rockland”™s worries, woes, work force challenges and economic development may weigh on Samuels”™ mind when he”™s at work: “and I live my work, literally, and I do love it. But when I”™m hiking, it”™s gone. I literally feel one with the environment. It”™s incredibly therapeutic, but I don”™t feel the exhaustion. It”™s relaxing and emotionally calming. I did rodeo for many years, and I enjoyed that; I still wear my cowboy boots. But mountain hiking is really a spiritual exhilaration that let”™s me get away from everything, a good way to get that really needed break from the everyday action.”
While he”™ll miss visiting the High Peaks this year, he and Marilyn plan to hike the Catskill trails this autumn. “The scenery and changing colors are unbelievable to see and experience, especially when you are out there climbing.”
Samuels can be brash, outspoken and funny all at the same time. He usually has no problem talking about everything except one subject: his military service. Although the former Marine staff sergeant is gung-ho when it comes to the nation”™s veterans and active service personnel, he prefers to keep his military experience to himself. “I”™d rather focus on the veterans. They are the people we need to put first.” Samuels participates in many memorial activities but notes with sadness that younger vets are not joining the ranks of local VFW”™s or American Legion groups. He hopes they will pick up where their older colleagues are leaving off. “We are losing 1,000 World War II vets each day,” said Samuels. “I hope the men and women coming back will get more involved. We need our veterans to be honored and remembered. We need them to be cared for ”“ and to care for each other.”
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