The Adirondack

This official book published with the Adirondack Mountain Club celebrates America's original hiking destination through breathtaking contemporary photography, maps, rarely seen archival photos, and a text that brings the history of the trails to life. The Adirondack Park is home to the largest protected natural area in the lower 48 states--six million acres including more than 10,000 lakes, 30,000 miles of rivers and streams, and thousands of miles of hiking trails running from mountain summits through a wide variety of habitats including wetlands and old-growth forests. How better to view this wilderness than afoot on the many trails, many leading to some of the most picturesque summits in North America. There are trails for everyone in the Adirondacks. Today, thousands enjoy hiking, skiing, and snowshoeing trails to backcountry destinations all around the park while others aspire to climb all 46 peaks. Water trails include the historic Fulton Chain of Lakes, Raquette River, and Saranac River routes, in addition to more intimate paddles across wild lakes and waters that meander through towering mountains and verdant forests. Every season has its own charm, all portrayed here in this one of a kind volume of history and photography along Adirondack trails. This is a book for anyone who enjoys travelling through the Adirondack backcountry and includes unique and picturesque destinations throughout the Adirondack Park in addition to a comprehensive history on hiking in the Adirondacks. From the dramatic beauty of the Lake George Wild Forest, to numerous fire tower summits and open ledges and mountaintops scattered around the park, and the rugged splendor of the High Peaks and bucolic beauty of the Champlain Valley, this book covers it all.

The Adirondack Reader has become almost as much of an institution as its original editor, Paul Jamieson, who died in 2006 at the age of 103. --Christopher Angus,Few fully understand what the Adirondack wilderness really is. It is a mystery even to those who have crossed and recrossed it by boats along its avenues the lakes; and on foot through its vast and silent recesses....Though the woodman may pass his lifetime in some section of the wilderness, it is still a mystery to him. --Verplanck Colvin, 1879This is a book about what Americans have sensed, felt, and thought about our nation s basic heritage of wilderness, the heritage that makes us unique among modern nations. Out of the woods we came, and to the woods we must return, at frequent intervals, if we are to redeem ourselves from the vanities of civilization.

A stunning tribute to one of America’s natural treasures in panoramic photographs of the Adirondack Park’s grand mountains, pristine woods, and picturesque waterways. Covering more ground than Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon combined, the Adirondack Park is one of the great wilderness areas in this country. This volume presents an all-new selection of images, with a focus on how the seasons transform the landscape: the tree-covered mountains in autumnal glory, rivers hushed by winter snow, verdant meadows alive with spring, wildlife such as bears and moose, as well as historic resorts and villages. Each chapter covers a different corner of the park, from Lake Placid and the High Peaks to Saranac Lake, Lake George, and the Fulton Chain. To appreciate the wonders of the Adirondacks through the lens of one of the area’s most accomplished photographers is like exploring them for the first time.

Attitudes about land use, Catherine Henshaw Knott suggests, may reflect profound differences in class, religion, and life experience, pitting urban Americans who see nature at risk against rural Americans whose lives are dominated by nature's forces. She documents the thoughts and feelings of people whose lives are intimately connected to the forest, including loggers, trappers, craftspeople, and guides, as well as tree farmers and maple syrup producers. After describing the key players in the conflict and chronicling battles and bridge-building between stake-holders, Knott concludes that the participation of local people in decision making is the only process that can shift an increasingly hostile cycle toward resolution.

The author does a thorough job in explaining the beginnings of rustic architecture and why it has a permanent place in the culture. The mix of social background and the history of the early Adirondack camps provides a designers guidebook.