Weekender's Guide to: Adirondacks (Lake Placid area - summer!)

Lake Placid, New York

We had big plans for our anniversary weekend. A familiar theme for 2021?

When the delta variant made travel insanely complicated and questionable, we decided to find some adventure and relaxation here in the Northeast. I had always loved the quiet and the beauty of the Adirondacks and past trips took me snowmobiling and snowshoeing in the winter and hiking and rafting in the summer. 

I recommend the Adirondacks to just about anyone because there is something for everyone. Want to camp deep in the woods and climb some of the region's tallest peaks? This is the perfect place. Want to stay at a 5-star hotel, golf in the mornings and visit the spa in the afternoon? Yep, that's here too. For me, it's the solitude and all the different ways to play outside and evenings spent in quaint lake towns.  I wanted a mix of relaxation and adventure, I wanted my weekend warrior outdoorsy adventures and to see a bit of the wildness. 

The High Peaks area of the Adirondacks is considered to be the most consistently high, wild, and remote mountain area in the eastern United States. Adirondack Park also contains 3,000 lakes and ponds, and 30,000 miles of rivers and streams.  New York has expanded both the Adirondack and Catskill parks and they now cover an area of more than six million acres, larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier, Grand Canyon and Great Smoky Mountain national parks combined. 

I visited Lake Placid on our last visit to the Adirondacks. It was a quick afternoon while we spent the long weekend exploring the Ausable Chasm area. I wanted to go back for a few days and see what the area was all about over a long weekend. And so, this Weekender's Guide to Lake Placid, New York was born. 

Indian Head Hike - Keene, NY 

Cliffside Coaster - Mt Van Hoevenberg- Lake Placid NY

I don't usually go crazy for rides. I'm the kind of person that stays off roller coasters and stays out of busy amusement parks in general. When do I make an exception? When I have the chance to ride the longest mountain coaster in the United States on a control-your-own-speed coaster through the mountains of the Adirondacks through parts/alignment of the former 1932 and the 1980 Olympic Bobsled course.

This is another one of those "I wasn't expecting to love this experience as much as I did" sort of moments. I thought the $50 per person price tag for one quick ride was a little steep and doubted it would be worth the cost. I am happy to say we had such a fun afternoon at Mt Van Hoevenberg and a ride on the coaster was worth the price tag. 

Indian Head and Lower Ausable Lake Hikes - Adirondacks

With all the New England summits down, I am excited to start expanding my "hike list" outside of some of New Englands famous high peaks.  Don't get me wrong, I loved standing at the top of Kathadin (ME), hiking the 13 mile loop around Greylock (MA), following the AT to the top of Bear Mountain (CT), seeing the fall foliage on Mount Mansfield (VT), and tackling famous Mount Washington (NH). But I was excited to escape New England for a long weekend in New York to see what hiking the Adirondacks was all about, to see a part of this big state outside it's famous city. 

Before I left for New York, I sent out a "call to action" for a list of everyone's favorite hikes in the area.  Google provided me with some pretty good options but when a friend posted on instagram about her favorite hike in the entire northeast which just happened to be in the Adirondacks, she caught my attention.  I changed my google search to scour the internet for pictures of somewhere called "Indian Head".  What came up on my screen was one of the most beautiful overlooks I have seen here.  It was a large rock cliff hovering over charming Lower Ausable Lake where you could take in the amazing view of the High Peaks Wilderness and the iconic lake below.  All it took was a few photos of this spot and my Saturday was planned in the land of no cell service, following pristine streams and wooded trails to this amazing vista.