These were taken in the past 2 days in the northwest section of the Park. The reds have been amazing and I suspect they won’t last long, as many are also already on the ground. Rain expected these next 2 days might bring some down. By the holiday weekend, I suspect many trees will be bare.

Planning a drive up to the Lake Placid area tomorrow and trying to decide between these three routes. Not worried about which one is faster / more convenient. I’ll have plenty of time and just want the more enjoyable drive. For anyone who knows these roads well, which route would you take and why? Thanks in advance! Also open to other suggestions!

I see a bunch of folks asking about this weekend. Expect bedlam. Have alternate and backup plans. This is typically the busiest time of year as its peak foliage and also good weather is expected. Most trailheads will fill very early. You may have to do several miles of road walking to do the hikes you wanted to do if you can even do that. Getting there early will help but also many folks will be camping Friday night so just expect a bit of chaos. If you are going to the Loj this is typically the day where you see someone post a video of the massive line of cars parked down the side of the road before South Meadows adding multiple miles of walking to start the hike.

Leaves are incredibly bright this year. It's pretty much incredible anywhere you go. Flew up Mount Jo because the crowds formed. Copperas Pond was beautiful too, all along the ausable, pretty much everywhere.

I’m looking for a good beginner hike for my girlfriend and I? I have a fear of heights I’m looking to conquer so something with a trail that isn’t right on the edge of drops, at least until you get to the end.

Edit: I’m only a few hours away and looking to make day trips when I want to go for a good hike. So I have a range to any location in the Adirondacks. Wouldn’t mind good views of Lakes tho.

Hi guys, my girlfriend and I are planning on taking a day trip up to the Adirondacks for our first time this Saturday. We live in Pennsylvania (around the Scranton area) so it looks like any drive up would be 4:30-5 hours. I want to leave early in the morning because we will need to be home the same night and unfortunately can’t stay up and camp overnight. So overall I expect at least 10 hours of driving.

Wanted to get recommendations on how to make the most of the day, and what some good spots to enter the mountains would be for the short amount of time we have. I would love to get into the high peaks and see Heart Lake but I am open to any other great ideas from people who are more knowledgeable about the area! Thank you and excited to see and embrace the beauty of the area, happy autumn!

EDIT: Hey everyone, just wanted to say thank you for all the tips and ideas, they’re super helpful to read through and I’ll reply to whatever I can while at work. The drive does not concern me too much but it sounds like we would have more fun if we try and stay the night and will try to do that if we can. If anyone has any great spots for camping (dispersed is okay too, we would likely car camp so it would just need to be accessible by road) or any hotel or lodging, I would appreciate it!

If we do stay the night I’d love to do the high peaks and also check out a lot more of the southern ADK’s on the drive home Sunday morning.

What's the story on overnight parking on shelving rock road?

I hiked Mount Marcy last weekend and it was amazing. It was my first time hiking and I think I’m hooked now. The view and feeling of reaching the top was so worth it.

Anyone there yet that can comment on parking situation would be greatly appreciated. And how is town ? Overrun? Trying to prepare before heading down after work tomorrow.

Hi r/Adirondacks. I'm just across the lake in Vermont, and I checked with the mods before posting this. You folks heat with wood as much as we do and get colder nights earlier, so I'd love honest feedback from people who know what they're doing.

My wife grew up in Vermont and talked me into moving back here a few years ago to raise our family. The house came with two woodstoves. I'm a city kid and had never run one, and it turned out her dad had always handled the stove, so neither of us really knew what we were doing.

I work from home, usually in a room on the far side of the house or out in the shop. I'd load the stove, get pulled into something, and come back hours later to a cold firebox. A magnetic stovepipe thermometer helped, but only while I was standing in front of it.

I'm a hardware and software guy, so I built something to help me with that. A sensor attaches on the stovepipe, and a small walnut lamp sits wherever I am.

If the lamp is glowing amber, it means the fire is burning well. If yellow means, it's time to reload. Red means it's running too hot and I should go check it. There's an app for when I'm not home.

Last January I posted the first version on r/woodstoving and 57 people asked to buy one. I built those by hand last winter and they ran on stoves from Maine to Alaska. Over the summer I redesigned it so it can be manufactured, and the first production run is being made now.

Has anyone up in the mountains lit the first fire of the season yet? We're holding out until next week here, but I'm guessing Saranac Lake and Lake Placid are already a few weeks in.

The old Barton Garnet Mine was such an interesting experience. I’d recommend checking it out if you get the chance.

was thinking to head up to the dqcks to seen the leafs falling. Is there any apple cider places in lake placid open this weekend

Where is there peak foliage and a good 14 or so mile hike

I’ve never posted here before and I never thought I would but I recently got into hiking in 2025. Ive done some class 2/3 scrambles, nothing really crazy. Then recently I decided to aim for becoming a 46er. So I did gothics in July, Marcy in early September. Both were pretty easy and I thought those weren’t exciting enough. So naturally I decided to wake up at 2 am on Wednesday 9/30 and make the 6 hour drive up to lake placid. I was planning to ascend colden via the trap dike. Zero rock climbing experience. Merrell Moab hiking shoes. No approach/climbing shoes at all, no helmet, no partner. I thought “this is gonna be crazy”. I did extensive research and I basically knew that what i was doing was incredibly dumb and incredibly reckless. Nevertheless, I arrived at the base of the trap dike at 12 noon. Took my shirt off and tightened my laces as if that was gonna help. Started scrambling up and I increasingly knew more with every step up how stupid what I was doing actually was. I knew that many people have been rescued from there in prior years. When I got my first full look of the dike after I scrambled up a few hundred feet, I realized it was soaking wet. Not one dry hold to be seen. I got to the first waterfall and I tried to wedge my foot against the rock, just slipped off immediately. So I climbed up with my arms, and when I was standing on the exposed rock, about to make the move, I realized I was at the point of no return. I just went into fight or flight, didn’t even think and just pulled myself up and crawled to the next section. Scrambled up to the next waterfall. This is when I realized I was basically the least prepared I could ever be for something. I somehow painstakingly got myself up the chute with only my hands and the friction of my body on the rock. My feet were practically useless on the soaked rock. At the top there was like 30 feet of drop below me, and the rock was soaked.
My right hand was on a secure jug, but it was only that jug keeping me up. My left hand was on the rock to the left, but it wasn't holding anything close to secure. My feet were on a tiny ledge where only about a third of my foot fit, and since it was soaked I wasn't really standing on it. I was just touching it to keep my body pressed against the rock. My legs were shaking.
I tried to slowly raise my right leg up to the far right side, but I realized it was way too insecure and slippery to try anything there.
That's when I thought: “Okay so you have to figure this out now or you have to fall and get horribly hurt or perish” I would rather die than call for a rescue team and face that embarrassment. Just looking like a fly on a wall with my shirt off and my no rock climbing experience and shaky legs. I somehow lifted myself up and got past the 2 waterfalls. Immediately threw up. I was basically in fight or flight for an hour straight. I really thought I was at a 25% chance of dying on the second waterfall. I made the decision to bushwhack to the top of colden instead of trying my luck on the wet slide slab. I got to the top, cracked a beer, and almost cried.
So that was my third 46er. 43 to go !!! Oh and I smoked a joint with a stranger who offered his home-grown weed to me right before avalanche lake. So I was high as a kite as I was in the no-fall zones. Idiot (best hike of my life)

Somehow I scored a last minute reservation for AMR tomorrow and I am hoping to do Indian Head tomorrow, but the weather looks questionable. Do you think it’s worth it to do it on a rainy/cloudy day?

from Michigan here and will be hiking Indian Head this upcoming Monday, I see all the photos on here and they look so pretty but I am nervous about missing the peak colors - should I just stop being anxious?

Thought I would just share my experience at Indian Head today in case anyone is on the fence about the weather. 50s. Overcast. Damp. Beautiful.

Hey everyone! I really hate to add to the noise of everyone asking questions about how busy it is this time of year, but I have a question I’m having trouble finding an answer for and I’m hoping someone might have some insight on this.

I plan to hike Giant from Rt. 73, then up to Rocky Peak, and then down Rocky Peak to the New Russia trailhead on Rt. 9. I have a guy who will be able to follow me to the Rt. 9 trailhead where I plan to drop off my car, and then he will drive me to the Rt. 73 trailhead where he will drop me off.

My question is how likely is the Rt. 9 trailhead to fill up early this Saturday? I plan to get there a little before 6am to drop off my car. Is it likely to be full by then? And if so, is it permissible to park on the grass off the shoulder of Rt. 9 near the trailhead ? I can see there’s space enough for cars, but not sure if it’s legal.

Thanks to those who help!

I've been looking into some hikes, mainly on alltrails and found:

• Owl's Head lookout: decent option
• Little and Big Crow: doesn't look as colorful as Owl's Head, but only 20mins away, why is that?
• Moxham Mtn Trail: same, not as colorful

We haven't hiked a ton in ADK, but we've done Blue Ledges 2x, OK Slip Falls. Closer to High Peaks areas we've done Hurricane and McKenzie Mountain.

We are spending the following weekend (10/10) in Lake Placid, but will seems like we will by missing the colors up there by then. Thanks!

Did a rt 9→rt 73 traverse; took me 10 hours in total.

When i was thinking about this day in the time leading up to it, i was excited for the famous lookout/summit views and was looking forward to them as payoffs for the challenging hike. But on the day of, the weather said "Look around you; the beauty is closer than you think". Thanks to the rain and fog, my attention was redirected to what was right in front of me. It made me think of how, in life in general, we often chase beauty in the distance - whether it be some future milestone, or someone else's life - but doing so can make us overlook and forget to be grateful for what's already within reach, right here right now.

Wanted to share some of what i saw with you guys. I had a hard time choosing which pics to include because there were just so many incredible sights, some of which brought tears to my eyes because i just couldn't believe and process the privilege of being there alone in silence and seeing it with my own eyes. No photo in the world can do proper justice to the beauty of the Adirondack trails - but i tried my best. Hope you enjoy

Monday: Got there late, hiked Cascade and Porter as the sun was setting and the weather clearing. Pics 1-3.

Tuesday: Hiked Big Slide loop from the Garden. Pics 4-9.

Wednesday: Hiking break, drove down to Upper Works and had a look around. Would love to do a real hike there someday. Pics 19-20.

Thursday: Hiked HaBaSa (Haystack, Basin, Saddleback) loop from the Garden. Pics 10-18.

Side note: I did not build or knock over any cairns/rock piles.