Hiker authors farewell to region

Erik Schlimmer has been immersing himself in the Adirondacks and assembling an impressive hiking resume since 1985. The fruits of his labor are on display in his latest book, “Color Remote: Bushwhacking the Adirondack Mountains.” So it was with some shock when a recent email to him received an automatic reply informing me he was in the process of moving to Colorado. In addition to “Color Remote,” Schlimmer is also the author of six other books, including, “Blue Line to Blue Line: The Official Guide to the Trans Adirondack Route,” a book describing a route traversing the Adirondack Park (a route Schlimmer invented); “History Inside the Blue Line,” which describes the stories behind the 125 named features found along the route; “My Adirondacks,” a memoir chronicling 20 years of his adventures; and “Among the Cloud Splitters: Place Names in the High Peaks Wilderness Area.” Locally, he may be best known for “Cradle of the Union: A Street by Street History of New York ’s Capital City,” which documented the history behind the names of Albany ’s 785 streets.

“I never thought I’d leave the Adirondacks,” Schlimmer admitted when I caught up with him. He said he spent two weeks in Colorado this summer on a backpacking trip for veterans (Schlimmer served in the Army) and really liked what he saw.

“I’m intrig ued about living somewhere where it ’s sunny every day,” he said. “It was just a good opportunity — the right place at the right time.”

Schlimmer said when he started working on “Color Remote,” he had no intention of leaving the Capital Region. But in the end, the book, which features more than 300 photos from years of his hiking adventures, became a fond farewell to the mountains he has loved so well.

“It did become kind of this last hurrah, because it ’s 15 years’