Route thru the Adirondacks?

AlanS

We are seriously considering this tour.

Could Jan or someone else who has taken it . . . . . and has a good memory, is not directionally challenged, and familiar with maps (Googlemaps or Mapquest, etc.) . . . please answer two questions about the route taken through the Adirondacks?

1. After the stay at Lake Placid, does the bus head

(a) east to I-87 (Adirondack Northway) before heading south, then west on SR-8/28 to the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake?

or

(b) slightly northwest from Lake Placid on SR-86 to the town of Saranac Lake before arcing south on SR-3 to the town of Tupper Lake, then via SR-30 to the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake?

2. The shape of the route on the basic map here and the itinerary description hint ("A drive through the region’s beauties ends at Blue Mountain Lake") to the more desirable (b). If so, are there any vista or restroom stops enroute to Blue Mountain Lake?

When I was a kid (eons ago!!) my family spent several weeks each summer traveling around, camping, and boating in the Adirondacks- Our favorite spots were right on the water at Fish Creek Pond Campground which connects to and is just west of Upper Saranac Lake, and also on the islands of Lake George. After launching our boat at Bolton Landing, we would pass the Sagamore Hotel during each of the two trips it would take to haul our tent and all the camping gear to one of the many State-run island campsites on lake George. It has been many years since I traveled through this beautiful, unspoiled area with my wife.

FYI, though it certainly wasn't in the 19th century, tourism was still big at the Ausable Chasm when I went there during one of our Adirondack family vacations in the 1950's and 60's. We took a white-water trip on the Ausable River through the narrow chasm, but it was in an extremely heavy wooden (and beat up?) boat, instead of one of the inflatable rafts they use today. Those who wanted to stay dry and were less "adventurous" (? Depends on your opinion of the condition of the old steel walkway that clung to near vertical rock walls of the chasm, only a short distance above the water) could take the walkway through the narrow section. I'm sure the original walkway rusted away years ago, since they only offer a "rim walk" now.

jdurkin

Hi Alan,

I had to look up my photos, then compare them to google maps. I can't give you accurate road numbers, but I can tell you that we stopped for our morning break at the Adirondack Hotel on Long Lake, which makes it the #30 road. The hotel is right at the bridge at Long Lake. What a leap back in time it is .... and I don't mean the facilities! It really is a charming place. And the scenery all along that route and the whole journey, too, is really wonderful. The gifts of the geology and the ice age make for fabulous scenery. I went in early August and the weather was gorgeous. Whilst I imagine the scenery is beautiful in autumn, too, I'm glad I went in summer. With the caveat of it being very unpleasant in New Your City. (No need to incite people on that one!)

Never fear. If there had been no restroom stops I would definitely remember. I don't, so there were! ) Lots of lovely views including a seaplane landing and taxiing towards the road and under the bridge to its mooring at Long Lake.

As for Ausable Chasm, we dis saunter over the main, arched bridge and thankfully it did stop at out outstretched thumbs! )

Cheers,

Jan

AlanS

Jan, Thanks. I didn't consider that your tour route may have been different.

According to Google Maps it takes just over an hour to get from Lake Placid to Long Lake via second the route I described above. When I was a kid, a drive like that seemed soooo much longer. Of course, the roads wander through the mountains and are only slightly better than the "yellow roads" of Europe so you can't travel much over 45-50 mph, though it is still easy to miss small villages and lakes along the way. Do you remember passing through the small towns of Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake after departing Lake Placid that morning? Or was it one of those early morning departures where everyone on the bus was barely awake?

I just did some Google Street View traveling through that area. Some places don't look much different than they did 50 years ago! Winters are hard on houses and other buildings up there. Seaplanes are evident in a number of the GoogleMaps photos of Long Lake and the Adirondack Hotel!

jdurkin

Hi Alan,

My travel diary is usually down to my camera. My normal, everyday habit it to take photos as we travel along. I try to keep the camera from falling asleep, as it were. As you can imagine, even using a higher shutter speed, not all the results are as picturesque, or even visible bar a green blur. If I can't improve them with post editing, I delete them. Suprisisngly, I am able to keep more shots than one would think. They might never win in the lowliest of competitions, but they mean something to me. When I look at my shots for this day in the itinerary, I have Mirror Lake, then straight to Long Lake. That tells me that we were travelling through a lot of green stuff that wasn't too photogenic. It was a lovely drive, but not for picture taking from a moving bus. I can't say if I was the only traveller awake that morning. It is often the case ... I haven't worked out how to take photos while I'm sleeping. ) I can't remember Tupper, but given the location on google maps, we must have passed through it, as well as past, or close to, Saranac Lake.

It's is such a lovely part of the country, well worth a visit back to your youth!

Cheers,

Jan

AlanS

Thanks! Many of the roads in that area are like green tunnels which makes it is so easy to miss things. Often you will only get a couple of brief views of many of the ponds and lakes, unless the road happens to cross a bridge. Also, few of the "lake" towns are actually on the namesake lake. If the town is on a lake, it might not be the namesake lake, e.g. Saranac Lake is nearby, but the town of Saranac Lake is actually on Lake Flower, the town of Tupper Lake is on Racquette Pond, and as you saw, most of the town of Lake Placid is actually on Mirror Lake!

jdurkin

AlanS wrote:

Thanks! Many of the roads in that area are like green tunnels which makes it is so easy to miss things. Often you will only get a couple of brief views of many of the ponds and lakes, unless the road happens to cross a bridge. Also, few of the "lake" towns are actually on the namesake lake. If the town is on a lake, it may be not the namesake lake, e.g. Saranac Lake is nearby, but the town of Saranac Lake is actually on Lake Flower, the town of Tupper Lake is on Racquette Pond, and as you saw, most of the town of Lake Placid is actually on Mirror Lake!

I know! It plays havoc with the photo editing process. The big itinerary says one thing, the daily itinerary says another and the location thingy on iPhoto says something else altogether. I kept looking for my photos of Lake Placid and realised that that was where all those little camps were. Some camps!!!

Cheers,

Jan