Adirondacks Vacation

I live in DC now and had a summer home on Raquette Lake for years. Black Flies should not give you a major problem in early July but you never know.

You really can't do all you are suggesting in 1 week from Baltimore. It will take you a day to drive to Lake Placid. That leaves 5 days of actualy sightseeing. I would stick with Lake Placid/Saranac lake.

Try using mapquest and entering in your points of interest. You will see how long it takes to drive to these places.

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I could extend my trip up to 10 days if I had to.

Hi asdaven,

If you do decide to do a day trip to Montreal, be sure to check wait times at the border on Canada Border Service Agency website... what may appear to be a little over a 2-hour drive can actually be a good bit longer with border waits combined with traffic coming into Montreal, especially around that time of year (Canada Day, July 4th, various Montreal festivals), especially at the Lacolle crossing. Four hours each way combined with hunting around for parking time might seem less appealing for a day trip into Montreal....

Border Crossing Times Website (do note it's February now, so things are faster):

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/general/times/menu-e.html

Due to the potential tediousness of border crossings into Canada and then subsequently the US, I would not recommend going into Canada to try to get to Burlington. Perhaps others will know more as I've never actually done these options only investigated them, but the Plattsburgh-Grand Isle ferry crossing appears to be only 12 minutes long if the vertigo-susceptible member of your party could endure a short ride. Alternatively, looking at the map, there appears to be a road that crosses the narrowed lake at Rouses Point, NY right before the border...

Enjoy whatever you do decide! Daniel

Just a heads up - the bridge that crosses from NY to VT at Fort Crown Pt - the fort I HIGHLY recommend as a stop if you have time, is gone for the time being. They're in the process of building a new one, but it won't be ready next summer. Rouses Pt is really your only choice for a land crossing to Burlington. The ferry is really nice if your travelling companion can hack it and it's short.

Also, the 4th of July week is the big Lake Placid Horse show runs from June 29th- July 11th, so hotels will be more crowded than usual.

I second Daniel's warning about the border. I've waited 3 hrs to cross into Quebec on the July 4th weekend (JazzFest happens in Mtl that weekend). Check before you plan to go.

The 1000 islands are really pretty and cool. If you stay in Alexandria Bay on your way up you can take a boat tour of some of the islands and then head to Saranac Lake/LP the next day. They have sunset cruises that might interest you, although I guess your travelling companion would have to stay on the land. There really isn't anyway to see the islands except by boat. you can take 81 into Ontario to Hill Island and go up the tower for a view. You get a view of some of the islands from the bridges, but you can't stop, so it's a bit short. Again, A Bay fills up in the summer, so make sure you have a hotel reserved if you're going to spend the night.

If you decided to skip the 1000 Islands, I recommend taking NY Rt 28 to Rt 30 to Tupper Lake and then over to Saranac Lake. You'll go through Raquette Lake (a bit of a tourist trap) and then Blue Mtn Lake where you'll find the excellent Museum of the Adirondacks and then Long Lake (which we love to stay at) and in Tupper Lake there's the Adironack Wild museum which we've never been to, but would like to check out some time.

If any of you are Little House on the Prairie Fans you can check out Almanzo Wilder's boyhood home outside of Malone NY.

We go to the 'dacks all the time and really enjoy just driving around looking at the scenery. Let me know if you'd like any recommendations for hikes.

Alright, it looks like I might skip going into canada. However,I would like to get to Burlington if possible. The Thousand Islands it looks like I may skip also. I still would like to plan it so I'm coming up I-81 through PA and Syracuse up north then east to the adirondacks. It looks like a nice drive and I've driven I-87 a couple times but haven't been north of Saratoga Springs. So, maybe spend the first night in Watertown then head east to lake placid/saranac lake? In addition to Burlington, I may also want to explore the southern part of the adirondacks like around blue mountain lake and/or Fort Ticonderoga.
Thanks

Watertown is a hole. Fort Drum does nothing to enhance the area. I'd pick somewhere else on Rt 28 or Rt 30 that will be much more scenic. Most of the hotels in that area are small mom and pop type places. Raquette Lake has a bunch of options. Check out TA for recs. I do highly recommend taking Rt 28 just north of Syracuse. That way you can check out Blue Mtn Lake on yr way north. A couple of years ago we spent 2+ hrs at the Adirondack museum and didn't see everything.

I think you'll be spending much more time in LP than Saranac Lake. SL doesn't have much going on.

On your way back down I-87 do try to stop at Ft Crown Point and at Ft. Ticonderoga. Both are worthwhile.

Thanks-
Guess I'll skip Watertown also. The original plan was to take I-81 to Route 3 in Watertown east to Lake Placid. But I guess I ll look into what you all are suggesting. I still want to come in from I81 and head east on the way up. And that way I'll see more of the adirondacks. So, there's no real good hiking in the Thousand Island, it can only be seen by boat? My main interests for this trip are scenic drives, nice towns, hiking, natural scenery, and historical sites like forts.
Thanks

The Adirondack Museum at Blue Mt Lake is very interesting, worth a stop. If you are interested in history, also check out the John Brown homestead in NOrth Elba near Lake Placid.

The view of the Green Mts on one side and the Adirondacks on the other from the middle of Lake Champlain is spectacular so the people in your party who can tolerate the ferry might want to ride back and forth on one of the ferry routes. The ferry between Charlotte and Essex is a good option.

There is a bridge from Rouses Point over to the Champlain Island for a land route to Burlington.

Re Canadian border crossings: we often take the smaller ones east and west of the main crossing on I-87 and have not encountered long lines there. There are several interesting forts on the Canadian side along the Richlieu River, Fort Lennox and Chambly and an old blockhouse in Lacolle. A good on-line guide to the area
http://www.monteregie-travelguide.com/

If you're inclined to go North on I-81 then the best route is probably take Rt12 north out of Utica, connecting to RT-28.

You'll go through the western Adirondack towns of Old Forge, Raquette Lake, Blue Mtn Lake.

Then loop north from Ble Mtn Lake on RT-30 to RT-3 towards Saranac Lake & Lake Placid.

We live in Wilkes Barre (right off of I-81) and our usual route to Lake Placid is as follows:

I-81 N to just outside of Binghamton where we get on NY 12
We then stay on N Y12 all the way up to Utica and keep going north until NY 28 heads off to the east towards Old Forge etc. Then we get on NY30 at Blue Mountain Lake and take it to NY3 at Tupper Lake and then to Saranac Lake.

Taking NY 12, Utica is just under 3 hrs from Wilkes Barre (170 miles). It's definitely more direct than taking 81 to the NY Thruway at Syracuse and then east to Utica and there are some really pretty towns along the way (Oxford, Norwich) and in Sherburne you can stop at Gilligan's Island and have one of the best malts ever!

John Brown's home is very interesting and is just outside of Lake Placid.

Thanks
Looks good. That does look like a shortcut. So, I think I might spend the night in Utica then, then onto Lake placid the next day. Telechick- I'm a little confused, route 28 goes through old forge before blue mountain lake. But, you're saying from Utica, go route 12 north, then east on route 28 to blue mountain lake then route 30 north then over route 3 right?
Thanks

Just north of Utica, Rt 12 and Rt 28 run together. Then at Alder Creek Rt 28 peels off to the North/east (right anyway) and heads to Forestport and Old Forge then Raquette Lake etc. That is what you want to take.

At Blue Mtn Lake you'll veer a little to the left and get on Rt 30/28N (Rt 28/30 heads right towards Indian Lake).

At Long Lake you'll head left again and stay on Rt 30 while 28N heads right towards Newcomb.

At Tupper Lake you'll make a right turn and get on Rt 3/30 to head over to Saranac Lake.

The one place that might be a little confusing is in Binghamton. You will want to get off of I-81 at Exit 6 on to Front St/US 11. At the light at the bottom of the off ramp, make a right. Drive North on US 11 for a bit (less than a mile I think) until you come to a light where US 11 will be a left turn and NY 12 will be basically straight ahead.

I hope that makes sense. If you look at it on Google maps it's pretty clear.

Utica isn't much of a city any more (definitely past its prime) but you should be able to find somewhere to stay. From Wilkes Barre, Lake Placid is about 6.5 hrs taking the route I've described.

Thanks-
I have a goal of not traveling more than 6-7 hours a day on the trip. So northern pa is about 3.5-4 hours from my house. So, Utica would be a good stopping point? As long as it has restaurants and hotels that's fine, actually we don't want a big city. Coming home on I87 I'm looking into hopping on I84 and stopping for the night in the Delaware water gap area. I would also like to include Fort Ticonderoga and Burlington on this trip. I might be able to add a couple more days to the trip, so I'd have 9 days.

Utica was past it's prime 100 years ago, but it's an ok place to stop for a chain hotel and chain restaurant.

Once you're north of there you're into wide open spaces with really no place worthy of an overnight until you get to Old Forge.

I just want to reiterate my plug for Fort Crown Point. It's very different in feel from other forts in NY I've been to - it's almost European in setting and feel and is one of my favourite places to visit. If you stay on 9N from Keene Valley and don't get on I-87 you can head over to Westport and then down 9N/22 to Crown Point. Fort Ticonderoga is then just a little further south on 9N/22.

In Utica you should be able to find some sort of chain hotel.

Have a great trip.

Thanks again- Isn't the Saranac Brewery in Utica? Is that worth a stop? So, I would be better off spending the night in Utica rather than going up to Watertown? I will look into Ford Crown Point. Is Burlington worth visiting? I am really mostly interested in the views of the lakes and mountains but if its a quaint town, then I guess I want to go there.
Thanks-

The Crown Point historic site has ruins of the fort--much less than Ft Ticonderoga or the two Canadian forts I described in my earlier post. It is an interesting place to visit, but don't expect to see much of the actual buildings.

Burlington is a nice small city in a beautiful setting on Lake Champlain. There is a pleasant park area along the lake, a good pedestrian street for shopping, lots of good restaurants. It is the big city to us in the rest of the state so "quaint" would not be my description.

Thanks again-
Is taking the land route through Rouses Point that much longer than taking the ferry over? Its looks like it might be scenic. I noticed on my map that there was a bridge over Lake Champlain around Crown Point, but I looked it up and they have since demolished it. Fort Ticonderoga is a must on my list. I have one other question. There are two gorges, which one is better for walking through? Ausable Forks or High Falls Gorge? Or Both?
Thanks-

Yes, the Crown Point bridge was found to be unsafe and was blown up earlier this year. There is replacement ferry service but that doesn't work for your group.

Driving up to Rouses Point and back south is definitely longer than the ferry but it is quite pleasant/scenic through the Champlain Islands

I haven't been to the brewery since the days when the beer they made was called Utica Club. Back then it was a pretty good brewery tour, if you like those kinds of things. Friends of mine collected the annual steins, until that ended.

Saranac is a step (or 2..) up from Utica club beer. If you're there when they offer a tour then by all means stop in (and have a taste).

If you're in Lake Placid, definitely take a boat cruise of the area (if your friend can)...really nice to be out on the water and see the views, and lots of good descriptions and houses to see.
Also, go up Whiteface Mountain!!! Gorgeous views in the summer time.

The easiest/quickest way to Burlington from that area is water unfortunately...the ferry is super quick, they can stay right in the car if it helps. Otherwise, going up through Rouses Point would add a good 45 mins, if not more. Enjoy!

There is a temporary ferry now at Crown Point, taking only 12 minutes to cross to Vermont. It is an even shorter ride from Fort Ticonderoga (very worthwhile visiting) on a cable ferry that should not bother your friend with vertigo. It lands in Shoreham VT, a lovely rural community. From there your can connect with Rt. 22A, then Rt. 7 in Vergennes for your drive on up to Burlington. Another alternative is to take Rt. 74 east from 22A to the college town of Middlebury, which offers lots of nice shops, restaurants, etc... Middlebury is about one hour south of downtown Burlington.

If you do decide you can take the ferry from Crown Point, the Chimney Point historic site on the Vt side is an interesting place to stop. It has a lot of information on Native American and French colonial history
http://www.historicvermont.org/chimneypoint/

If you go to Rouses Point, you could check out one of the small border crossings in New York or the Champlain Islands to see whether there are lines at the Canadian border.

Since you are interested in the forts, you would probably enjoy reading about "Fort Blunder," built on the wrong side of the border
http://www.historiclakes.org/explore/Montgomery.html

I think Im going to skip Burlington and focus on the Lake Placid area. That being said, I still want to goto fort Ticonderoga and maybe check out Lake George also. Also, which gorge tour should I do? Ausable chasm or High falls gorge?
Thanks

Okay, I need to set up a itenerary. I'm planning on taking 9 days and spending the night partway on the departing and returning leg of the trip. Going up I plan on spending the night in Utica or maybe even proceding onto Old Forge. Returning I plan to take I-87 to I-84 into PA and spend the night in the Pocanos. That leaves me with 7 days in the Adirondacks. I would like to visit Camp Sagemore, the Adirondacks Museum, the Olympic sights at Lake Placid, do some hiking in the High Peaks and other areas (looking for scenic shorter hikes),drive up Whiteface Mountain, High Falls Gorge and/or Ausable Chasm, visiting Fort Ticonderoga and maybe some other forts, and visiting Lake George. I decided to skip Burlington,VT and focus on these other sites. So, should I just base myself in Lake Placid to see all this? Or should I move around? I want to focus most of my time on the Lake Placid area.
Thanks

I don't know about the gorge options. For a spectacular short hike, see this description:
http://www.adk.org/trails/Indian_Head.aspx

I worked at the Ausable Club for several summers many years ago and loved the Indian Head hike. The club itself is also interesting to see--an old style resort club

I was also looking at Bald Mountain near Old Forge.
Thanks

In addition, are any of these trails pet- friendly?

Bald Mtn is a nice, relatively easy hike. You get a good view of the nearby lakes and the western Adirondacks. I don't recall being able to see the high peaks from there, but you'll get a good feeling of how undeveloped the area is.

All (or at least nearly all) of the trails are pet friendly. Leash & control are required and you must clean up, but there are lots of dogs on the trails. Narrower areas like the chasm/gorge might limit dogs, but they're definitely ok whereever I've hiked.

Great!! I think im going to give myself 5 days in Lake Placid with a daytrip to Fort Ticonderoga, which doesn't look too far. Days 1 and 7 will be spending the night on the drive up and the drive home. Going up, I will spend the night in Utica or Old Forge. Coming home, I will spend the night in the Pocanos around Bushkill. My remaining question I guess, other than the hiking and sights around Lake Placid and Fort Ticonderoga, I am also looking at Ausable Chasm. But, there is also the High Falls Gorge closer to Lake Placid. I can't really see walking both. They both carry hefty admission prices also and look similar. Unless the drive to Ausable Chasm is really scenic or it is necessary to see both, I may just do High Falls Gorge? I don't know, what do you think?
Thanks-

you might consider buying or taking a look at (at REI/EMS/the library) the ADK High Peaks Trail Guide: http://www.adk.org/new_store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=GHP

It gives you a tonne of info about various hikes and which ones are pet friendly - mostly all, but there are some near the Ausable Club (I think) that aren't. They also give you an idea of difficulty.

A really nice short (20 min) hike is Owl's Head which is just off of Rt 73 below the Cascade Lakes before you reach Keene. It actually gives you a really nice view of many of the High Peaks for not a lot of effort.

Two of my other favourites are Pitchoff (just up Rt 73 towards Lake Placid) which is a bit of a slog in places but gives you amazing views of the peaks and Hurricane (in Keene) which is a classic Adirondack hike. Both can be done with a dog, although there are a few sections of rocks that might require some lifting if his/her jumping skills aren't that great. again, try to get a copy of the guide to help with your planning.

If you can stand the extra 1+ hr of driving, I'd push on to Old Forge your first night. It will be a much more pleasant start to your trip than Utica. Definitely base yourself in Lake Placid for the whole time. Distances aren't all that great. There are a number of dog-friendly hotels in town.

I've never been to either gorge so I can't comment.

Should I bother going to Lake George? Is there anything I need to see there? It sounds crowded with amusement parks. We re a family, but don't have any little kids. Pretty much all adults and teenagers interested in the outdoors and some of the historical sites. So, pretty much my remaining question after that is which one should I do or both, Ausable Chasm or High Falls Gorge? They looks similar. Ausable Chasm is bigger, but High Falls Gorge is closer to Lake Placid. Should I just check out and go up in the ski jumps as far as the Olympic sites? The museum dosen't sound interesting enough to me for the money and the bobsled rides are too expensive. But, going to the top of the ski jump sounds cool.
Thanks-
Thanks-

Asdaven -

I spend a ton of time in the Adirondacks, and just noticed this thread. Do not underestimate the size of the place - personally, I have found some "side trips" to feel like we spent all day in the car. (Which I don't like.)

Plan your trip around outdoorsy activities. Do not miss kayaking some flat water, no-motor-boat spots.

Bugs may or may not be an issue, depends on the weather and wind. If you are hiking you will need to pack a head net just in case (they are cheap and small).

The Adirondacks has very limited accommodations in general. That first week in July will be very booked up. Make your reservations now - if you can get anything.

There is a wonderful Adirondack forum. In general, I hate posting other forums on Fodors, because this forum is so great, but so few Adirondack people are on here...
http://www.adkforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=8
(You have to ask to be invited on there - but it is worth it!)

Lake George = The only thing there that interests me is Davidson Bros. microbrewery, which is actually in Glens Falls. http://www.davidsonbrothers.com/
I avoid Lake George like crazy. (Unless you want to do a beastly hike - Tongue Mountain is amazing.)

Have a great trip. Adirondacks is best either in its glorious wilderness or in its smallest towns that you just don't find in the northeast anymore.