where to start in the adirondacks?

[B.A.]

ok so first i should probally start with my life story. i was born and lived in rockland county until july when i moved in with my sister. currently living in clifton, NJ. if you've never been here.... don't bother coming unless you like traffic and buildings. my family also owns a farm in the catskills on the northern edge of the park which is where my parents now live.

i love the outdoors and try to spend as much time outside as possible. i started hiking, fishing and hunting at a young age and since then have picked up mt. bikes and motorcyles. although most of the other activities got pushed aside when i bought the motorcycle. thats why this summer i plan to explore the adirondacks.

so now onto the meat of the post.....

where do you guys think a goo place to start would be? my plan is to take weekend trips with my girl friend. starting in june. i hope to be back in the shape i used to be by then. hopefully all through spring i'll be visiting bear mt. and the parks in northern N.J. to get back into shape.

ok so now i'm done rambling on... so lets hear it.

[Mavs00]

Drive north on I87 and find your way to Lake Placid. Once you get there, look around, find a mountain and start climbing. There are too many trail guides to mention, but seriously, pick one (online or not) and start hiking. If you like it you like it, If not, you won't.

That's what most of us did. You will love it.

[Gray Ghost]

While you're waiting, I'd suggest picking up one of the ADK guidebooks, which are organized by region. As a local, I had always spent a lot of time outdoors, but I had never even phathomed the number of backwoods ponds/lakes and mountains there are to explore. I blew the dust off my dad's eastern region guide a few years ago and came to this realization. Now I spend even more time outside, and I am thankful for that.

[Dick]

Or you might try one of Barbara McMartin's books, which give a little more flavor of the various areas. Remember, there's everything from extended trips covering several peaks to nature trails, and everything in between. Know your and your partner's limits. And prepare for bugs in June!

Dick

[Stimack]

For some of your early hikes this summer the area around Lake George has a lot to offer and probably would cut at least a hour off your drive up to Lake Placid. You would have Prospect Mountain, which is usually pretty crowded but a fair hike. Have the Tongue Mountain Range on the west side of the lake and then a ton of options on the east side of the lake like Shelving Rock, Black and Buck mountains.

All of these hikes except Prospect Mountain are outlined in the book that Dick suggested from Barbara McMartin. The name of the book I was thinking about is 50 Hikes In the Adirondacks. It also highlights many hikes from other areas of the park as well as giving ratings on difficulty and views.

If your looking for High Peaks, some of the best ones to do early on to build stamina as well as make sure your girlfriend enjoys it would be Cascade and Porter (will be very busy but has good views!) and Phelps.

Also what Gray Ghost said about the ADK Guide to Adirondack Trails are like the bible for hiking and really do a great job breaking down hikes.

Stephen

[B.A.]

thankx for the help guys i'll prolly pick up a book or 2 this week. my girl friend works at barnes and noble and gets 30% off :-)

[Lookwhos]

I'm in a similar situation as B.A. (New to hiking) and I have both of those books. They are great!!! I'll be starting around Lake George and my goal is to do a couple of the High Peaks this year as well as a few multi day hikes.

[fvrwld]

I assume by "a weekend" you mean camping. I think a weekend at the Putnam Pond state campground is a great place to start. You can stay at the campground and hike to (and fish) the various ponds around Putnam pond. There is a nice loop that would be a pleasant day. If you feel like a mountain Treadway is a short hike with great views reaching all the way to the high peaks in the west and Lake Champlain/VT in the east. If you want to be a little more adventurous you can reserve a "remote site" (sitesR1-R9) which are part of the campground but are accesable by water only. If you don't own a boat you can rent a canoe or row boat at the campground to take to the site.

http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/do/camping/campgrounds/putnam.html

http://www.reserveamerica.com/jsp/co.../newindex.html

[drucifer]

Adirondak Loj is a great place to start on the High Peaks; especially if you are new to backpacking... All it really takes from there is some basic packing list gear and a desire to bag a few of the high peaks. There's easily 6 or 7 peaks that could be done as a dayhike. The guidebooks are a great idea. You can purchase the ADK High peaks book with a great topo for about $20. A bargain at twice the price!


BTW, Ilove the Frost in yer sig...

[kurtteej]

I started with what drucifer said.

[Wldrns]

my plan is to take weekend trips with my girl friend. starting in june.

I hope your girl friend has a sense of humor. Seriously, if she (and you) have never experienced June blackflies, it could be a permanent turn off to ever going again. Don't let it be, just be prepared. June is the worst month for the little critters. Later in the season the bugs are much less, or not at all, making life much more pleasant. I'm not saying don't go, best plan is to buy a headnet and repellent of your choice, keep moving and don't plan on much sitting around quietly relaxing.

[JClimbs]

Couple of notes:
May/June are blackfly months; if you want your girl to have a good time you might want to wait a bit or make sure you've got a breezy day before coming up.
If you're camping, I second the idea of Putnam Pond; it's beautiful, relatively easy to find, and generally a bit less crowded than most state campgrounds these days. Eventually you may want to learn how to camp in the backcountry to really get away from the entire mess, but to start out, a state campground works well.
While Prospect Mtn has a nice trail, in summer it is mobbed. Hadley Mtn is tricky to find but generally offers a quieter trip. Buck Mtn gets busy but there's plenty of room to spread out the crowd. Black Mtn is great but also a bit tricky to find the trailhead. Crane Mtn is phenomenal but also tricky to find and often very busy. If you're going to Putnam then Pharaoh or Treadway are excellent climbs.
In the HP there are dozens of great mountains, unfortunately there are thousands of hikers, sometimes it seems on EACH one (slight exaggeration perhaps ;-) ). Plus it has become a bit of a hassle, what with finding a parking space, filling out a day permit (don't get me goin' on those!), and listening to various smug holier-than-thou junior rangers talk about alpine flora. To leave the strictures of urbania only to find them waiting for you every step of the way in the middle of the tallest mountains in our state is a bit of a let-down. If it doesn't bother you then have at 'em; they're great hiking. And yeah, the general wisdom is Cascade and Porter first, though I've never done either. Noonmark, while not an official High Peak, is an excellent climb with awesome views, as an alternative that I can vouch for.