What Are the Adirondacks, Anyway?

Photo taken by Jeanne D., Constantia, NY from www.visitadirondacks.com

    

I know I've mentioned the Adirondacks quite a bit lately, ESPECIALLY since buying our little piece of property there, and it didn't dawn on me until recently that some of you probably don't know much, if anything, about the Adirondacks.

  

From the Adirondack Park Agency website (www.apa.state.ny.us):

    

"The Adirondack Park was created in 1892 by the State of New York amid concerns for the water and timber resources of the region. Today the Park is the largest publicly protected area in the contiguous United States, greater in size than Yellowstone, Everglades, Glacier, and Grand Canyon National Park combined. The boundary of the Park encompasses approximately 6 million acres, nearly half of which belongs to all the people of New York State and is constitutionally protected to remain “forever wild” forest preserve. The remaining half of the Park is private land which includes settlements, farms, timber lands, businesses, homes, and camps."

They've already had snow this fall!  

From Tails and Trails of Northern NY 

      

There are also quite a few "tourist" areas like Lake Placid (where the winter olympics have been hosted twice) and Lake George Village.  There are restaurants where you can get anything from German food to Bar-b-que, and sports from parasailing in summer to snowshoeing in winter, and shopping from Oakley watches to rustic furniture.

But head out of the villages and you can find lots of quiet, undisturbed, stunningly beautiful places with breathtaking scenery and wildlife.

 

 

From thebackpacker.com  

This is a view from the top of Mt. Marcy, the highest peak in the Adirondacks.

And no, that is not us! :-)

Can ya TELL why we love it there??  :-)

Oh, and hey, a couple of Adirondack blogs I like:

Adirondack View
Along the Ausable

The end.