John Winkler passed away

[Peakbagr]

John Winkler, ADK author, photographer, and first to bushwhack the 46 passed away on 10/13.
John was a good friend and hiking companion of many. He had a great sense of humor and was as nice a person as walked the Adirondack woods.
Additional details are in the Albany Times Union or its website.

 

[Bhoody]

Sad news

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Winkler at a book signing back in 1998 - we discussed some of his bushwhack routes in the Dix's - very nice man...

 

[una_dogger]

Seems like alot of the forerunners have been leaving us of late.

Godspeed, John.

 

[Barb Harris]

I have nice/funny memories of hikes I did with John and his good friend and main hiking partner for over 30 years, Kathleen.

Kathleen would amuse me with some of their adventures. One I'll never forget. After one of their hikes in the Indian Lake area on their ADK 100 quest they were in Stewart's after the hike...tired, hungry, scratched and weary. The waitress came over to Kathleen...who was bleeding..and whispered "would you like me to call the troopers?"

 

[Peakbagr]

One of my memories with John is his hiking garb. John was perpetually 'chilly' and his standard garb on our hikes was his old army fatigue set. Heavy green cotton pants and heavy cotton green shirt, always buttoned to the top. Spring, Summer, Autumn. Cool, warm, or hot, always the same, buttoned to the top. No matter how I tried to extol the virtue of cold weather and winter hiking, no-go for John. Tried to convince him of the fun of snowshoeing. Then, mysteriously, he started hiking and leading trips in the winter. And, then, as the story goes, was a long history of winter outings.
That and the fabulous license plate collection in his attic. He had a tale behind the acquistion or history of each license plate. Some of them very interesting, are just a couple of the stories that bring a smile to mind.

 

[Skyclimber]

Very sad to hear about John...I never had the honor to meet the man....but Barb and Kathleen have talked about him to me....He sounded like a wonderful man.

 

[Doc McPeak]

Last year I had several great conversations with John about an obscure place I wanted to visit. Of all the multiple round 46ers, and even all the 100ers I asked, only John had been to the spot. We had a great talk about the mountains, bushwhacking, and as the conversation went on he remembered more and more of the hike. He had left a peanut butter jar and some stamped postcards hoping to hear from anyone who had made it this place, but had never received one in the 10 or so years since he left them. I searched but never found them.

As Christine mentioned, John had all but given up on the bushwhacking thing. However, when I called after my hike, and told him of my trip he became excited with the different route I ended up taking and why. Along the way I found something he felt he had to see, and by the end of the conversation he had decided he had to make another trip to this place. And of course we would be bringing another mason jar and postcards!

As irony would have it, just before my trip a friend found another person who had journeyed to this very place, and only the week before my hike. Two days ago, I met this guy for the first time and we compared our routes and talked about our trips. I mentioned I had gotten some advice from John, and that I still needed to send him some pictures from the trip. (John has no email, and I had not gotten around to printing them up) It made me think of John and that we still needed to make that trek. The next morning over breakfast I heard the news he had passed away. While looking through the beautiful pictures of his two books, I couldn't help think that the night before, in that remote parking area, commiserating after an obscure and rewarding bushwhack, John would have been right at home.

May the hills above welcome another intrepid tramper, and the light be always warm and perfect for capturing the perfect shot.

John could always invoke the sublime with his photographs. This is the last one I took before hearing this sad news. Somewhere, I think he approves: