Date of trip: 08/26/2021 – 08/29/2021
Where we stayed: Airbnb in Saranac Lake, NY, approximately 10 miles from Lake Placid.
Our Itinerary
Day 1: Cascade Mountain
Day 2: Mount Marcy
Day 3: Walk around village of Lake Placid and Brewster Peninsula Nature Trails in Saranac Lakes Wild Forest
Day 4: Ampersand Mountain, Saranac Lake, NY and drive home
About Lake Placid
Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains, Town of North Elba, Essex County, NY about one hour south of Montreal, Canada. It was founded as an iron ore mining operation in the early 19th century. In the late 19th century, it became a popular resort. It hosted the Winter Olympics in 1932 and 1980 and is home to a year-round Olympic Training Center.
Lake Placid is often used as the base camp from which to climb the 46 high peaks of the Adirondack Mountains (more information below), including Mount Marcy, the highest peak in New York State. It also offers hiking, skiing, fishing, cycling, kayaking, canoeing, swimming, and snowmobiling.
What are the 46 Adirondack High Peaks?
The 46 Adirondack High Peaks, also know as the Adirondack 46ers, are the tallest mountains in the Adirondacks with a minimum elevation of 4,000 feet. Later, it was discovered that four of the peaks (Blake, Cliff Mountain, Nye Mountain, and Couchsachraga Peak) are a bit short of the minimum 4,000 elevation requirement and one peak (Yard Mountain) that was not included in the original 46 was above the requirement. However, the original 46 peaks were not changed.
The combined elevation of all 46 High Peaks is 202,643 feet with a total distance of 578.4 round trip miles, which takes a typical hiker approximately 490 hours to climb. Hikers who complete this challenge are welcome to become members of the Adirondack 46er Club, which charges an annual fee of $10.
The Adirondack 46er club originated in 1918 when brothers Robert and George Marshall and their friend, Herbert Clark, climbed their first high peak, Whiteface Mountain, and continued the climb the remaining 45 High Peaks.
Our Experience
Our AirBnB turned out to be a former hospital turned into a boarding house, which had it’s pros and cons. On the pro side, compared to our previous stays as guests in other people’s homes, this felt more like staying in a hostel instead of infringing in someone else’s house. We had a private bathroom with a sliding door that did not close all the way so did not afford privacy. Luckily, there was a public restroom right outside our room. Since there were very few guests, we were pretty much the only ones using it. We had a nice public kitchen in the basement of the boarding house, which we used for cooking our meals.
We arrived to Lake Placid during a heat wave. Since our AirBnB did not have air conditioning, it made it a bit uncomfortable to sleep during the first night, until the temperatures started to drop to a more comfortable level.
The town and surrounding area is beautiful. The mountains are very steep and challenging to ascend, even the ones that are not part of the High Peaks . . . but more on that in the coming posts. The locals are mostly blond, which we found very interesting. There are many restaurants and cute shops.
