During my first decade in New York City, exploring what the Empire State had to offer outdoors-wise wasn’t exactly high on my priority list—flying west was faster and easier anyway. Then a contributor submitted a photo essay from a canoe camping trip to a small lake just south of the New York State-Canadian border and I realized there was a whole world that I was missing, way up north—the Adirondacks.
A unique wilderness area composed of public and private lands, the Adirondack Park was designated “Forever Wild” in 1892, permanently preserving six million acres of pristine wilderness for future generations to explore and enjoy. To put this into perspective, that’s bigger than Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Great Smoky Mountain, and Glacier National Parks combined.
The Adirondack Park is home to the oldest mountains in North America—once the territory of Iroquois-speaking Mohawk and Oneida, and the Algonquian-speaking Mahicans—and the state’s highest peak, Mount Marcy. Not to mention nearly 30,000 miles of rivers and streams and more than 3,000 lakes and ponds, including Upper, Middle, and Lower Saranac Lakes. Within these three lakes exist 86 individual islands of varying size, upon many of which you can camp (if you manage to snag a ReserveAmerica reservation six months ahead of time). It’s the perfect place for a casual canoe camping trip.