Adirondack Mountains

Adirondack Mountains are a mountain range located in the northeastern part of New York, that runs through Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Saint Lawrence, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties.

The mountains are often included by geographers in the Appalachian Mountains, but they bear a greater geological similarity to the Laurentian Mountains of Canada. They are bordered on the east by Lake Champlain and Lake George, which separate them from the Green Mountains in Vermont. They are bordered to the south by the Mohawk Valley, and to the west by the Tug Hill Plateau, separated by the Black River. This region is south of the Saint Lawrence River.

Mountains

The Adirondacks do not form a connected range such as the Rocky Mountains of the Western United States. They are instead an eroded dome consisting of many peaks, either isolated or in groups, often with little apparent order. There are over one hundred summits, ranging from under 1200 to over 5000 feet (370 m to 1500 m) in altitude; the highest peak, Mount Marcy, at 5344 ft (1629 m), is near the eastern part of the group.

Other noted High Peaks include:

Algonquin Peak; 5114 ft (1559 m).

Haystack; 4960 ft (1512 m).

Skylight; 4926 ft (1501 m).

Whiteface; 4867 ft (1483 m).

Dix; 4857 ft (1480 m).

Giant; 4627 ft (1410 m).

High peaks

Forty-six of the tallest mountains are considered "The 46" Adirondack High Peaks — those over 4,000 feet (1,200 m), that were climbed by brothers Robert and George Marshall between 1918 and 1924. Since that time, better surveys have shown that four of these peaks (Blake Peak, Cliff Mountain, Nye Mountain, and Couchsachraga Peak) are in fact just under 4,000 ft (1,200 m). One peak just over 4,000 feet (1,200 m) (MacNaughton Mountain) was overlooked.

Some hikers who enjoy the Adirondack Mountains make an effort to climb all of the original 46 peaks (many go on to climb MacNaughton as well), and there is a Forty Sixers club for those who have successfully reached each of these summits. Twenty of the 46 mountains remain trailless, so climbing them requires bushwhacking or following game trails to the top.

Climbing is also very popular in areas throughout Keene Valley, NY, including a site called Bark Eater. The word 'Adirondack' is a Native American expression applied to the Algonquians by the Iroquois, who intended it as a derogatory name meaning 'the ones who eat bark'.

Ecology

The Adirondack Mountains form the southernmost part of the Eastern forest-boreal transition ecoregion. They are heavily forested, and contain the southermost distribution of the boreal forest, or taiga, in North America. The forests of the Adirondacks include spruce, pine and broad-leafed trees. Lumbering, once an important industry, has been much restricted since the establishment of the State Park in 1892.

Approximately 260 species of birds have been recorded, of which over 170 breed here. Because of its unique boreal forest habitat, the park has many breeding birds not found in most areas of New York and other mid-Atlantic states, such as boreal chickadees, gray jays, Bicknell's thrushes, spruce grouse, Philadelphia vireos, rusty blackbirds, American Three-toed Woodpeckers, black-backed woodpeckers, ruby-crowned kinglets, bay-breasted warblers, mourning warblers, common loons and the crossbills.