Open crags on the an overlook on the Blueberry trail system in Elizabethtown. Getting outdoors in the Adirondacks

Recreation in the Adirondacks

A long history of getting outside in the Adirondack Park

In his groundbreaking 1869 guidebook, “Adventures in the Wilderness, Camp-Life in the Adirondacks,” Boston preacher William H.H. Murray wrote that spending time recreating in nature rejuvenates both body and spirit for the city dweller: “I deem the excursion eminently adapted to restore impaired health. I most highly recommend a month’s experience among the pines.”

Since then, millions of people have sought “R&R” in the Adirondack region. With millions of acres of public land, containing hundreds of mountains to hike and thousands of miles of lakes and rivers to paddle, the Adirondack Park is a year-round destination.

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Two hikers in a flat field with mountains ahead

HIKING

Canoeists paddle on Rock Pond outlet in the William C. Whitney Wilderness, which lacks a unit management plan

PADDLING

NIGHT ADVENTURES

Guide Chuck Fries on the Ausable Chasm via ferrata. He’s clipped into the cable visible on the left.

CLIMBING

Getting outside in the AdirondackS

What you need to know

Find your next Adirondack adventure

The author faces the lake paddle in hand with one end resting on the sand on the lakeshore at the start of the journey in Lake George village.

Kayaking Lake George end-to-end: A 30-mile adventure to Ticonderoga

An adventure worthy of Tolkien By Alan Wechsler Planning a one-day kayak traverse of Lake George brought to mind the famous quote from “Lord of the Rings”: “One does not simply walk into Mordor.” It’s easy to think of author J.R.R. Tolkien when planning crazy adventures. “Lord of the Rings,” after all, is arguably the…