56. Things to do in The Adirondacks

WEBVTT

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I'm Johnny Mack, and travel is
back. As you heard on recent episodes,

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I drove back and forth from New
Jersey to Montreal, straight shot up

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Interstate eighty seven, and a big
part of that drive is through the Adirondacks.

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And as I did the drive,
I was like, this is beautiful

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and this is not that far from
the house. Now. I haven't spent

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any time on the ground there.
I've just driven through, and I'm just

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sharing my enthusiasm for what I'm hoping
to do this fall. I keep saying

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to the wife, you know,
we could get up and we could be

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there by like eleven am, and
we could have a full day and then

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drive back. It's a long day, but we could do it. So

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I got to get hurt and be
like, Okay, let's do it.

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Two of the most visited, most
iconic places in Upstate New York have made

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Conde Nast travelers list of the fifty
most beautiful places in America. Okay,

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wife, Two of them are within
driving shot of where we live. Let's

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just do it. Niagara Falls and
the Adirondacks were the only two locations in

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Upstate New York to make the list. Other locations in the country to make

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the list include Joshua Tree National Park, Crater Lake and r and Bryce Canyon

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in Utah. Right, so we're
not messing around here. The Adirondack Park

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is one of the most spectacular natural
attractions in New York and lies within a

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day's drive of much of the northeastern
US, as well as Ontario and Quebec.

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There are no park fees to enter, no gates, the close at

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night, just to boundless natural preserve
and the promise of adventure. Explore the

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hiking trails of the famed Adirondic high
peaks. Choose your own camping adventure under

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the stars. Unwind on the pristine
lakes of an Adirondic paradise. From the

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mountains into the southern foothills. Fall
descends on the Adirondacks, millions of acres

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of forests with brilliant colors, and
one of the longest foliage seasons on the

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East Coast. As I mentioned last
week, foliage season started in July.

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Where I live here in New Jersey, it's been super dry. Grab your

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camera. Explore the golden, red, and yellow forests of the Adirondacks from

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fall hiking trails, canoe routes and
scenic overlooks. The Adirondacks Roadways or ideal

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for motorcycle touring, offering twisties and
long expanses of payment through moattowns and busy

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hubs. Visit Adirondacks dot com has
a website for first time visitors. These

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are their top rated Adirondack Mountain and
lakeview hikes. Four beginners Augur Falls,

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Loop mile on a quarter pour.
The tenth one is Buck Mountain. That's

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the longest one. The six point
six miles round trip. Some of their

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favorite attractions for first time visitors.
High Falls Gorge witness four majestic waterfalls cascading

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over rocks into a deep crevice carved
a billion years ago with sturdy bridges,

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glass floor walkways only in the summer, rats and groom pass. High Falls

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Gorge is accessible to all ages.
A quarter mile round trip brings guests to

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the center of the waterfalls, while
a half mile round trip brings guests over

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steel bridges and walkways for a close
up view of the waterfalls. I've seen

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a lot of great things about Possible
Chasm. You can take some tours there.

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The classic tour aren't one you'll step
back in time as you walk our

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scenic nature trails in the midst of
a primeval Adirondack forest, stroll pass Rainbow

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Falls, Elephant's Head at Column,
rock Hides Cave, and the eerie quiet

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of Mystic Gorge to send hundreds of
feet to walk within the chasm on natural

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stone walkways and bridges to gaze upon
eons of geological history etched in stone.

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Are two a minimum one mile walk. You'll board a raft and float through

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the narrowest and deepest region of aussible
Chasm. Navigate between the towering cliffs of

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the Grand Flume, past the Broken
Needle, on around the Worldpool basin while

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discussing the geology and the history of
the chasm. Following the float story of

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two options, you can explore the
Rim Trail for bird's eyes views of the

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chasm, or hop aboard a trolley
for a quick, easy return to the

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welcome center. That sounds awesome.
I'd like to check out the Revolution Rail

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Company. So what they have here
is an old railway with some sort of

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pedal powered rail bike, right,
so it's like train bicycle, if that

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makes sense. These one of a
kind excursions take you to some of the

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most remote locations in the Adirondack Mountains
on a pedal powered railbike. On these

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guided tours, you'll travel along once
train trafficked railroad tracks, through Adirondack forests,

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along the banks of the Hudson River, and over a spectacular trestle bridge.

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Untapped cities dot Com lists ten towns
and villages in New York's North Country

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and the Adirondacks. Plattsburgh features great
views of Lake Champlain at the Plattsburgh City

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Beach and includes museums such as the
War of eighteen twelve Museum Russ's Points.

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Ways wanted me to drive through Russ's
Point the last time I drove up to

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Montreal, but I was like,
but I made a border crossing appointment on

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eighty seven. I don't think I
can do that. Ways. Much of

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the action in Rus's Point is centered
around Lake Street, which features many waterfront

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homes for Russell, several restaurants,
and it looks like a nice old timey

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Americana city. Shrewon Lake is a
lake. Saranac Lake not a lake.

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Well, it is a lake,
but the village of Saranac Lake is a

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misleading name because no parts of the
village touched the shores of actual Lake Saranac

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Lake. The main commercial center of
the village is located on Lake Flower.

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That's pretty funny, and I'm looking
here on untapped city in a nice looking

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Americana main street. The village features
many art galleries, the only year round

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professional theater in the Adirondacks, the
Adironta Carousel, and the Saranac Laboratory Museum.

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Since eighteen ninety seven, the village
is put on a ten day winter

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carnival, often considered one of the
largest in the world. I'm going to

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check that out. Looks like that
usually takes place in February. They have

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not announced the dates for twenty twenty
three, but that is something to keep

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an eye on. See. That's
why I do these episodes of places where

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I haven't been. Lake Placid,
famous from the Olympics, somewhere I also

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want to go check out. I've
heard nothing but great things about Lake Placid.

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Tupper Lake best known for the Wild
Center, a natural history center that

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includes bridges and platforms over the campus
called the Wild Walk, Little Wolf Beach,

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and Tupper Lake Municipal Park. Or
must visit sites for nature watching and

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the washboard offers donuts and a laundromat. I'm in so something else I want

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to check out in upstate New York. This one a little further away is

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Letchworth State Park, Pennsylvania. On
pause dot Com wrote, and this is

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what has attracted me to it.
Do you think you have to venture wale

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west to Arizona to see a giant
Grand Canyon? We'll think again. Letchworth

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State Park and Western New York may
not be as quite as massive as the

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Grand Canyon, but it's worth visiting. In twenty fifteen, USA Today voted

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it best state park in the United
States. Pretty good. In twenty seventeen,

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the park was named the best attraction
in the entire state of New York.

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I don't forget the state of New
York has attractions like New York City,

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so that is pretty good. There
are waterfalls, hiking, trails,

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history, adventure activities. Letchworth has
something for everyone. So where is it?

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Western New York? About forty miles
south of Rochester, sixty miles east

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of Buffalo. So this is my
problem. It's going to be close enough

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to Niagara that the wife's going to
be like, let's go to Niagara.

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Falls, and I'm going to say
things like we can do both. Letchworth

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is really known for its three main
waterfalls, located at the southern end of

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the park. They are named Upper
Falls, Middle Falls, and Lower Falls.

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With over sixty miles of trails spread
over more than twenty separate trail options,

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the hiking options are quite varied,
from easy to more difficult, short

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trails or long hikes to take most
of the day. The longest stretch of

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the trail, the Finger Lakes Trail
and east side of the park, spans

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twenty four miles from the northern to
the southern end, and you definitely want

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to take in the view from inspiration
point. I'm looking at a picture here,

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absolutely gorgeous and can also check out
the Mount Morris Dam three thirteen feet

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tall, built by the US Army
Corps of Engineers in the forties and fifties.

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It's the largest concrete gravity dam east
of the Mississippi. Sounds impressive.

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Looking for an activity to get some
adrenaline pumping, Yes, take a ride

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on a raft down the Genesee River. You'll pass through Class one and two

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rapids through the deep gorge. I
kind of like Class three Class form a

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bit of a meniac. There are
trips typically last two or three hours floating

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down the river. Everything is weather
dependent. Rafting season typically lasts from April

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through October, so I gotta get
the wife cranking here. It can also

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take a hot air balloon ride over
the falls. This frady cat, No

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way, I'm not doing that.
So that's Letchworth State Park in New York

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State. Wasn't familiar with that,
and I grew up in New York State,

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New York City particularly, hadn't heard
of it until I started doing the

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research for this episode. So that's
some ideas as we head into the fall

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