A Quick Escape to the Adirondacks

Trolls, Trails and a Whole Lot of Peace and Quiet

Sometimes a SkyDog Adventures trip doesn't need to be a 52-day, cross-country marathon with thousands of miles, and enough stops to make the GPS question our sanity. Sometimes, a week is all you need. That's what this trip to Adirondack Park was all about.

We headed north into upstate New York for a short getaway, with a few places on the list, a couple of trails to explore, some small towns to wander through and, because this is SkyDog Adventures, a mission to catch up with a friend and find some giant trolls. It turned out to be exactly the kind of trip we needed.

A Little Adirondack History

Before we get into the adventure, it's worth understanding just how unusual Adirondack Park really is. Established by New York State in 1892, Adirondack Park covers roughly six million acres, making it larger than some entire states. It encompasses mountains, forests, lakes, rivers and hundreds of communities. And, it's not all public land.

Adirondack Park is a unique mix of public and privately owned property. Towns, homes, farms, businesses and roads all exist within the park alongside millions of acres of protected forest. The park was created in response to growing concerns about the destruction of the Adirondack forests in the late 1800s. Logging and other industries had taken a toll on the region, and conservationists pushed New York to protect the mountains and forests. Today, the Adirondacks remain a place where you can drive through a small town, grab lunch, hike into the woods, paddle a lake, find a brewery, and still feel like you've gotten away from just about everything. It’s an incredibly beautiful part of America that we hadn’t fully discovered.

North Hudson and Paradox Brewery

One of our first stops was North Hudson & Spackious Skies Adirondack Peaks, a small Adirondack community & campground just off I-87. This was our third stay at the campground and it’s a great launching point for exploring the park.

Aside from the familiarity of the campground, Paradox Brewery is just up the road and a return visit there was on the schedule for the first night. It was a busy Friday but we managed to find a couple of bar stools right next to some other RV’ers, Russ and Fran, who were super nice and willing to swap stories. Both left with SkyDog stickers for their water bottles or RV refrigerator. A young troubadour was playing acoustic guitar and singing songs from our youth. I love it when someone two generations removed from us can play and sing songs from the 60’s & 70’s, that I include in my own repertoire.

The beer, food, and song were the perfect ending to our first day out.

Ausable Chasm

First up on our explorations was Ausable Chasm, one of the more impressive natural features we encountered on the trip. The Ausable River has carved its way through the rock for thousands of years, creating a dramatic gorge that has attracted visitors for generations. Rather than simply looking at it and moving on, we decided to hike the Rim Trail. The Rim Trail is a relatively easy hike that gave us a different perspective of the chasm. There are many stops along the trail that allow for dramatic views down into the gorge and plenty of opportunities for photos.

One section of the trail allows you to hike down into the chasm via some pretty steep, but safe stairs. Again, this perspective is dramatic and brings you closer to the power of the river and time it took to carve the chasm.

Once back up on the rim trail we walked to the trolley stop and rode the trolley back to the visitor center. On the ride back we saw signs pointing to a “Brewery”. Of course, we wanted to know more so asked the trolley driver. He graciously gave us directions to Ausable Brewing Co., just three miles down the road. Wouldn’t you know it, but it was their 12th anniversary and a robust party with live entertainment was taking place. Again, SkyDog stumbled on something completely random that added another highlight to the day’s Adventure.

And, we weren’t done. On the way back down to North Hudson we pulled into The Wooden Nickel on US-9, in Lewis, NY. Just another roadside dive where the locals hang out. SkyDog loves a roadside dive and this one did not disappoint. Jim’s pizza was as advertised (by Jim) and the conversation with Shelly (the bartender) was just what we needed to end the day.

Mission: Find the Trolls

Eventually, every SkyDog adventure needs a purpose. This one involved hunting trolls with our friend and fellow Renegader, Lynda. Our search took us to Tupper Lake and The Wild Center, where Danish artist Thomas Dambo has created some of his enormous wooden troll sculptures for a temporary exhibit. If you've never seen one of Dambo's trolls, they're hard to miss. These aren't little garden gnomes hiding behind a shrub. These things are HUGE. The trolls are made primarily from recycled and reclaimed materials, and Dambo's work is designed to encourage people to get outside and explore.

We spent part of our visit wandering around The Wild Center looking for them, and it turned into exactly the kind of goofy adventure we were hoping for. There is something about being adults and intentionally going into the woods looking for giant trolls that just feels right. We had a map, and close to a hundred other troll searchers to follow. We found them. Photos were taken. Mission accomplished.

If you didn’t already know, The Wild Center is a 115-acre natural history museum and environmental education center located in Tupper Lake, NY, in the center of Adirondack Park. Designed to connect people with the ecology of the Adirondacks, it features 54,000 square feet of indoor exhibits, live animals like river otters, and extensive outdoor forest trails. And, for a limited time, Thomas Dambo Trolls.

Saranac Lake

From Tupper Lake, we made our way to Saranac Lake, where we spent some time walking along Main Street and the riverwalk. Saranac Lake is one of those Adirondack towns that rewards you for slowing down. We wandered. We looked in shops. We learned about Loons at The Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation (no kidding). We walked along the river. We took pictures. And, and of course, we stopped in at RiverTrail Beerworks for a pint.

There's something about these Adirondack communities that makes you want to leave the schedule behind. Back home, we're constantly looking at the clock. On the road, especially in a place like this, the clock seems a lot less important.

The Best Part Wasn't Any One Stop

We came to the Adirondacks with a list.

Little Wolf Beach Campground, Tupper Lake

North Hudson.
Paradox Brewery.
Ausable Chasm.
Tupper Lake.
The Wild Center.
Trolls.
Saranac Lake.

And we checked plenty of those boxes. But when we look back at the trip, the individual destinations aren't necessarily what we'll remember most. It's the feeling of the Park. The quiet and immaculate roads. The forest and the mountains. The lakes. The small towns. The lack of traffic, and the peacefulness.

The park was created more than 130 years ago because people recognized that this landscape was worth protecting. Standing there today, it's pretty easy to understand why.

We'll Be Back. Our visit to Adirondack Park was much too short.

Keep exploring. Keep wandering. And always keep an eye out for trolls.