Anne LaBastille, Woodswoman, passes
Anne LaBastille, author, photographer and Adirondack guide, passed away on Friday in Plattsburgh. She was 75. LaBastille was born in Montclair, New Jersey.
LaBastille built a small log cabin on a remote lake near Old Forge in the early 1970s. She earned her guide’s license and began offering backpacking and canoe trips throughout the Adirondacks.
She became know as the Woodswoman through a series of books about her experiences living alone with her dogs in the woods.
She was a also prominent environmentalist and served on the Adirondack Park Agency board.
In a tribute this morning, the Adirondack Daily Enterprise credits LaBastille with changing “the image of women, the Adirondacks and outdoor recreation:”
LaBastille’s stories and photographs helped reinvent and revive the guiding profession. She reshaped the image by offering activities such as hiking, climbing, paddling and birding, and modernized the industry by offering experiences that went beyond the traditional bait-and-bullet adventures. She portrayed a softer side of “roughing it”…
Where did she pass to?
Sorry but the correct way to report this is to say she died.
Anne was a true pioneer and a kind & gentle soul. Rest in Peace.
I loved her book and was inspired by it in many ways, I was in highschool when that came out and it is still relevant today. She was great and an asset to humanity, when so many are failing in that respect today.
She was a national and international treasury. May her life inspire women’s freedom to every corner of the universe. Anne confide me she was not optimistic about the future of the environment. She is is survived by her Southern Brazilian family. We will miss her forever.
She was a modern pioneer, and not just for women. She will be greatly missed by the causes she felt so strongly about.
I am saddened by this news. Only a week ago I discovered her 3 books in the Woodswoman series, and felt as if I knew her because of her wonderful descriptive writing. Her sorrow over the degradation of the earth’s environment was palpable in that 3rd book and ends with a feeling of little hope. I finished reading the book the night of July 1st, and learned today that she died that day. I am deeply moved and so sorry to know she is gone. But I think her spirit is rejoined with her beloved German Shepherds. Thank you to Anne for her unselfish lifetime of hard work to save our earth.
I just read about her in the current addition of Adirondack life. The short article mentioned that she suffered from Dementia and had been living in a hospital outside the Park. I hope her passing was as painless as possible. It sounds like she was quite the human.