Adirondack Adventure
Winter Harbor Marina
Today we decided to drive up to Old Forge and see part of
the Adirondack State Park. According to the information I read the Adirondack
Park is the largest publicly protected area in the contiguous United States,
and the largest National Historic Landmark. The park covers some 6.1 million
acres, a land area greater than Vermont, or Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand
Canyon, Glacier, and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks combined. However, over
half of the area is privately owned. The drive up was beautiful, we drove along
the eastern shore of Oneida Lake and through a dozen small towns. Most people
think of New York as an urban place, but the majority of New York is very
rural...hundreds of small towns and farms. Old Forge sits at the end of First Lake and is full of cute shops, restaurants, outdoor activities and quaint
motels and cabins. This would be a great place to spend a week...or even a
whole summer. The Adirondack Park has over 2000 miles of hiking trails.
Our first stop was at the Forge Festival of Art & Crafts.
There were a lot of nice booths...I bought a pretty bracelet made by a man from
the Finger Lakes area. I really like finding locally made jewelry. After the art
show we wandered through town and found a great little spot for lunch...The
Sister's Bistro. It was the perfect spot; we sat on the porch and enjoyed a
wonderful lunch while we watched the world go by. Our next stop was Mountainman
Outdoor Supply Co, where we rented a kayak and took a two hour paddle down the
Moose River. It's actually just a small branch off the main river and was very
peaceful...no white water rapids. We didn't see a moose, but we did see a
beaver...we also saw quite a few turkeys and deer later in the day.
We couldn't leave the Adirondacks without seeing the view
from one of the mountaintops...so we did a little hiking next. We drove along
part of the Fulton chain of lakes to the trailhead of the Rocky Mountain Summit
Trail. The hike was only a mile or so round trip, but mostly straight up. We
were rewarded with a wonderful view of the lake and surrounding area once we
reached the top...well worth the hike up. We had a fun day and would definitely
like to spend more time here.
Old Forge, NY
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