AMC Outdoors, June 2002

By Katharine Wroth

As he started down a trail in New York's Harriman State Park, Marty Cohen was confident. He had planned his hike carefully and felt ready for anything he might encounter as a leader. Except for this: no one was following him.

The walk was Cohen's first with AMC Outings for Kids — a program started by New York-North Jersey Chapter volunteers that brings urban youth outdoors — and he hadn't bargained on the kids' curiosity slowing them down. Peering back at the trailhead, he realized "they were busy looking at the grass, the trees, the surroundings. It was all new to most of them." He has learned to pace his hikes accordingly.

Cohen, 68, got involved with AOK about four years ago and now chairs the committee, which plans dozens of outings a year in conjunction with area agencies and schools. "It's in my nature to be an educator," says the former software engineer. That instinct — honed by raising two daughters of his own — helps him answer questions like "Why can't we litter?" or "How do I hold a canoe paddle?"

Now retired, Cohen boosted his own outdoor knowledge nearly 20 years ago, joining the Adirondack Mountain Club and AMC in the mid-1980s. Now "I do six things outdoors," he says. "I hike, run, cross-country ski, bike, paddle, and swim." He pauses. "But not all on the same day."

In his spare time, he plays saxophone in four community bands and — with his wife and fellow AMC member Wanda Davenport — is active with the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference. He is currently measuring 35 trails for the conference's New Jersey Walks book.

Though he finds satisfaction in that solitary work, Cohen enjoys being part of something bigger. He points out, too, that the small AOK committee relies on AMC as a resource, for everything from facilities to finances. "Being part of a big organization makes the program more likely to succeed," he says. "An individual can only do so much. A team can do so much more."

—Katharine Wroth is Senior Editor of AMC Outdoors.