The mountain-rimmed waters of Lake George transform into the South Seas during a spin on the palm-thatch-shaded deck of an Original Tiki Tours pontoon. The cruises last 75 minutes, and you can either book the entire 16-seat vessel or jump aboard a pu

Do you have a favorite?” Five-year-old Ivan Cook considers the question, looking from goat to goat. After some thought, he rattles off the names of several of the herd, while all around him, the goats dance, sniff his small hands, and nudge him for a

If you live in Bolton Landing or Hague, if you canoe to Diamond Island or climb the Tongue Mountain Range, if you Jet Ski the Narrows or take the evening cruise on the Minne-Ha-Ha, you should know: Lake George is suddenly wired, stem to stern. It’s t

800-328-4461 • For the entire selection of our Adirondack Life products, visit www.adirondacklifestore.com ■

Wagon trips into Newcomb’s Great Camp Santanoni were in limbo this spring after a dust-up over a new wheelchair-accessible wagon commissioned by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Since 2001, an Americans with Disabilities Act ruling

Eurasian watermilfoil is thought to have entered the US on ship ballast more than half a century ago and has been the bane of the Adirondacks since it was first reported here in 1979. Since then, it has spread to at least 65 water bodies in the park

Mitchell Sabattis (d. 1906), a famous Abenaki guide, was one of the first settlers of Long Lake. In 1890, the Plattsburgh Sentinel claimed that Sabattis “knows more about wild life in the Adirondacks … than any man living.” ■

Since 1901 a mail boat traveled the Fulton Chain, delivering letters, packages and passengers to lakeside camps; the service was discontinued within the last decade. Mail boats could be found on many Adirondack lakes through much of the 20th century—

The Adirondack Anglers Outpost, in Wilmington, is a one-stop shop where you can buy gear and a fishing license, hire a guide and, if he’s behind the counter, coax Max Hogg into sharing the sweetest spots—and the best tackle—to catch fish. The Outpost

Avoid the High Peaks traffic on this local favorite with a two-mile ridge trail that offers stunning views every which way, plus, in season, bountiful blueberries. From Route 9N in Upper Jay, take Trumbells Road (which becomes Jay Mountain Road) 3.3

In the Adirondacks, the answer doesn’t have a clear consensus, according to Phil Snyder, water quality research manager with the Ausable Freshwater Center (formerly the Ausable River Association). He says that “generally lakes are large and deep enou

Its 50-mile loop trail circumnavigates this tentacle-like lake, winding through the Cranberry Lake Wild Forest and the Five Ponds Wilderness Area. Visit cranberrylake50.org to learn more. Back in 1871 Bishop’s Hotel on Cranberry Lake was a favorite o

A Great Camps haven and fun for those who played there, including Albert Einstein. He rented a cabin on Lower Saranac and was often seen sailing around the lake—and needing rescue—in the 1930s and ’40s. It was on his camp’s radio in 1945 that he hear

A hoot is an unhurried call used to keep in touch with other birds; tremolos—or the “laughing call”—can indicate a threatening situation, a bird in flight, or a “night chorus” performance by a pair or several loons; the birds will wail when they want

BLUE MOUNTAIN LAKE AND CHERRY PATCH POND PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHNATHAN ESPER ■

Between 9,000 and 13,000 years ago, our modern Lake Champlain—one of the largest lakes in America—was just a small part of the Champlain Sea, a saltwater mammoth. In 1849, the bones of a beluga whale that once swam in its depths were discovered in Ch

In 1930, the gates of the new Conklingville Dam were shut, and 283 billion gallons of water flooded homes, farms, businesses—even cemeteries—to create the almost 25,000-acre Great Sacanadaga Lake, shown above. Now the reservoir is a fishing paradise,

Brooktrout Lake, in the West Canada Lake Wilderness Area, is one of the success stories in the reintroduction of brook trout to its native habitat after being extirpated by acid deposition. This body of water is ringed by ridges, has a lean-to, and r

In the mid-1970s, my parents bought a small, rundown cottage on Fourth Lake, somewhere between Old Forge and Eagle Bay. It was a single-level clapboard building with a century’s worth of furniture down a mile of dirt drive from the main road. We had

The Osgood is one of my favorite rivers. Many times I’ve put in at Jones Pond, canoed the winding outlet to Osgood Pond, and continued across this bigger pond past White Pine Camp and its charming teahouse to the start of the river. From there it’s a