Noah John Rondeau
1883—1967
The Hermit of the Adirondack Mountains was able to mix it up with the
wilderness due to his past life as a guide of the vary same region
(some contrast to his final job before his death, as Santa Claus in a
New York state mall). Rondeau
walked away from what he believed was the ‘Big Business and Industry
Slavery’ of 20th century America. He lived alone in the Cold River area
from 1929 and was considered a real man of nature—climbers frequently
visiting the region nicknamed one of his huts (Rondeau built several
wigwams and tepees throughout the area) the ‘town hall.’ An amateur of
astronomy, and a consummate violinist (his music could sometimes be
heard by hikers in the river valley), Rondeau was above all else a
superb woodsman displaying brilliant bush craft skills, which he’d
learned as a young man from a member of the Abenaki Indian tribe.
Perhaps the most bizarre part of Rondeau’s story is his fame. Throughout
the 1940s and 50s he appeared at numerous sportsmen’s shows across
Northeast America to talk about his success in big game hunting and
trapping. On one occasion he was even airlifted to an event by
helicopter. Regardless of his brief stint in the spotlight, throughout
his life, Rondeau was an incredibly secretive person. All of his
journals were written in a cipher, which wasn’t cracked until some 25
years after his death in 1967.
You have to give this type of individual plenty of credit for walking the walk! They did what many of us only talk about doing! I wonder if many of us really have what it takes to do this, and especially to do it this well!
Coffee out on the patio this morning. Temps should warm up to the 80s, I think!
