Adirondack Park

Recreational and conservation area covering almost 24,300 sq km/9,380 sq mi, in the Adirondack Mountains in the northeast of New York State. This wilderness region, the largest on US territory outside of Alaska, contains 42 mountains over 4,000 ft/1,220 m high (the tallest of which, at 1,630 m/5,344 ft, is Mount Marcy) and some 2,800 lakes and ponds, notably Lake George in the southeast.

The area now encompassed by Adirondack Park was inhabited by Algonquian and Iroquoian peoples before White encroachment. It was used for hunting and logging in the 18th and early 19th century, and as a wilderness retreat for the wealthy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The park evolved from a forest preserve established in 1892. It covers both state and private lands (about half in wilderness), and comprises a number of different terrains, such as rolling uplands, meadows, and swamps. Woodland and water resource conservation is conducted in the park, together with a variety of year-round recreational activities. Well-known resort centres here include Blue Mountain Lake, Saranac Lake, and Lake Placid.