New York - The Adirondack Forest Preserve

We have spent the last 6 nights in Wilmington, NY, which is in the Adirondack Forest Preserve. It's an area one fifth the size of New York, and was originally created to prevent deforestation and desertification of the area. There was concern that if the entire area was logged, the water levels in the Erie Canal would suffer. There is much private property ownership, but not a large amount of new development.
Lake Placid was the site of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics. It's surprising what a remote area it is. One wonders where everyone slept and ate. The speed skating track is outside. It's an oval concrete ring that they flooded. That was surprising.

An eatery in Lake Placid with a view of the lake.


Look across the lake at the large summer homes.


This was taken in AuSable Forks. It's one of the many itty bitty cute little towns that dot the landscape.

Now we are in Saranac Lake. It's another itty bitty cute little town.




Where we are there are rolling hills. The Adirondack Mountains are part of the preserve, but we did not get there. There's a lot of bucolic loveliness.


These are the ski jumps from the 1980 Olympics. They look really other worldly from the road.


There are a lot of bicyclists in the area. Saturday there was a road race in Wilmington, and Sunday there was a criterium in Saranac Lake. There are riders everywhere. The drivers are nice, we rode on the weekend and were not threatened at all. The road surface is another matter, some of the shoulders look like they've been carpet bombed.


Due to the intense rain storms that we've had here the rivers are pretty full.


Today, finally, the sun came out for awhile. We did about 23 miles on the mountain bikes, on the road. Getting the road bikes out requires that we completely dismantle the RV basement, and it wasn't worth it for one day.




So, I've had requests for a report on the Adirondacks. Obviously we did not see the entire area. Two days were spent dealing with my ear infection and other life issues, so that consumed some time. We didn't see the mountains, so I can not report on the hiking there. Plus the weather just SUCKED. The area is beautiful. If you don't fish or bicycle, I'm not sure what you'd do for more than a couple of days. If you're in a big RV, you probably will not like the parks here. They are heavily forested, really dark, and the interior roads were designed for coaches much smaller than ours. Hotels abound, however. I'd come back here later in the year when the weather is better, and I'd stay in a different park. There are hundreds of miles of places to ride and hike, when it's not raining. Did I mention it rained a lot?
Anyway, tomorrow we are off to Montreal for 3 weeks. Hopefully it will stop raining! I have switched our cell phone and aircard to really expensive Canadian plans so we are still on the grid while out of the US.
Hope you are all well.