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Jason Thurston

Jason Thurston is the Outreach Coordinator at International Paper-John Dillon Park in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains. He is also the Chairman of the Accessibility Advisory Committee to the DEC. Jason developed a love for the outdoors at an early age and is eager to share Adirondack nature with everyone, advocating for accessible features across New York state.

Aurora Pfaff

Aurora Pfaff is the Content Manager at ROOST. A rather obsessive reader based in Saranac Lake, she likes to think she is a cowgirl, race car driver, paleontologist, and astronomer. She is none of those things but she can write about them with aplomb. Her areas of expertise are history, stargazing, and dining.

Sydney Aveson

Sydney is the Communications Coordinator at the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism.

Traci Wagner

Traci lives to inspire others to step into their own life and live with everything she does, she’s always on board to try new things, discover new passions, and experience life to her personal fullest. She is a triathlete who lives, races and trains in the Adirondacks year-round. When Traci finds something that lights her fire, she goes after it fiercely and never lets it go. She is a health, fitness and wellness advocate and soon to be certified personal trainer, graduating with a Master’s Degree in Fitness Wellness Leadership. She has an Undergraduate Degree in Fine Arts with a focus in photography. She continues to find ways to integrate her creative side for the arts with her passion for fitness and wellness. Her days outside of work are spent doing anything from swimming, biking, running, skiing, and climbing mountains. But don’t be surprised to see her suddenly decide to paddle thirty miles on a standup paddle board, or try something completely new like fly fishing. She loves anything that works the endurance engine, puts her bodies strength to the test while being out in the Adirondack elements. You will most likely find her out on a 50-mile bike ride during the summer months going up through Cascade Pass instead of down, because biking the Ironman Course backwards through the Adirondacks just happens to be one of her favorite things to do, or you can find her out skiing during the winter months before the sun is up to catch the sunrise at the top of a mountain peak. Traci races Ironman 70.3’s and Ironman 140.6’s three of which took place in Lake Placid. The Adirondacks is the perfect playground, that she and her coach love to integrate it into her triathlon training year-round. She also has a big goofy dog named Maggi that she shares a large portion of her Adirondack experiences with. Keep up with Traci and you will be sure to experience all the unique ways to be active in the Adirondacks.

Andy Bates

Long hair, large nose, crooked teeth, he was once the picture of an Adirondack hermit, but he left the mountains and now writes about them through the lens of misty-eyed nostalgia. He still visits, though, putting out friends and overstaying his welcome, because goodbyes just don’t get any easier. He’s a stay-at-home dad who moonlights as a halfway-decent husband, novelist and freelance writer in Richmond, VA.

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