The Adirondack Mountains ( ) are a massif of mountains in Northeastern New York State which form a circular dome approximately wide and covering about . The region contains more than 100 peaks, including Mount Marcy, which is the highest point in New York at . The Adirondack High Peaks, a traditional list of 46 peaks over , are popular hiking destinations. There are over 200 named lakes with the number of smaller lakes, ponds, and other bodies of water reaching over 3,000. Among the named lakes around the mountains are Lake George, Lake Placid, and Lake Tear of the Clouds. The region has over of rivers.

Although the mountains are formed from ancient rocks more than 1 billion years old, geologically, the mountains are relatively young and were created during recent periods of glaciation. Because of this, the Adirondacks have been referred to as "new mountains from old rocks". It is theorized that there is a hotspot beneath the region, which causes continued uplift at the rate of annually.

The Adirondack mountain range has such unusual characteristics compared to the area around it that it is divided into its own province within the Appalachian Highlands physiographic division. It is bounded by three other provinces: the St. Lawrence (Champlain) on the north, northeast; the Appalachian Plateau to the south, southwest; and the Valley and Ridge to the southeast.

The entire region lies within Adirondack Park, a New York state protected area of over . The park was established in 1892 by the state legislature to protect the region's natural resources and to provide recreational opportunities for the public. It covers over 20 percent of New York state's land area.

Etymology

The word Adirondack is thought to come from the Mohawk word meaning "eaters of trees". Another early use of the name, spelled Rontaks, was in 1729 by French missionary Joseph-François Lafitau. He explained that the word was used by the Iroquois as a derogatory term for groups of Algonquians who did not practice agriculture and therefore sometimes had to eat tree bark to survive harsh winters. Such words were strongly associated with the region, but they were not yet considered a place name; an English map from 1761 labels the area simply Deer Hunting Country. In 1838, the mountains were named Adirondacks by Ebenezer Emmons, the State Geologist for the northern New York State Geological District.

The Mohawks themselves referred to the mountains as , meaning 'big mountains'. The Oneida meanwhile, used the word , which meant 'they're eating the trees/beaver'.

History

thumb|upright=1.4|A 1876 map of the Adirondacks, showing many of the now obsolete names for many of the peaks, lakes, and communities

The first humans to live in the Adirondacks were Paleo-Indians who arrived around the 14th millennium BC following the end of the Last Glacial Period. The earliest migrants arrived from the St. Lawrence River Valley to the north, and settled along the shores of the Champlain Sea. During the Archaic Period (8000–1000 BC) this semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer Laurentian culture inhabited the Adirondacks; evidence of their presence includes a projectile point of red-brown chert found in 2007 at the edge of Tupper Lake. By the time of the Owasco culture , maize and beans were being cultivated in the uplands of the Adirondacks. He clearly had the impression that native people did not live within the Adirondack mountains. Later, the wilderness character of the region became popular with the rise of the Romantic movement, and the Adirondacks became a destination for those wishing to escape the evils of city life. Rising concern over water quality and deforestation led to the creation of the Adirondack Park in 1885.

For the more recent human history of the Adirondack region, see Adirondack Park.

Geology

thumb|Green [[diopside and gray/white calcite in marble from the Adirondack Mountains]]

The rocks of the Adirondack mountains originated about two billion years ago as thick sediments at the bottom of a sea located near the equator. Because of plate tectonics, these collided with Laurentia (the precursor of modern North America) in a mountain-building episode known as the Grenville orogeny. During this time the sedimentary rock was changed into metamorphic rock. It is these Proterozoic minerals and lithologies that make up the core of the massif. Rocks and minerals of interest include these:

  • wollastonite, mined near Harrisville
  • magnetite and hematite, formerly mined at the Benson Mines, Lyon Mountain, Mineville, Tahawus, and Witherbee
  • graphite, mined near Hague and Ticonderoga
  • garnet, mined at the Barton Mine, north of Gore Mountain
  • anorthosite, visible in road cuts on the New York State Route 3 between Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake

Around 600 million years ago, as Laurentia drifted away from Baltica (European Craton), the area began to be pulled apart, forming the Iapetus Ocean. Faults developed, running north to northeast, which formed valleys and deep lakes. Examples visible today include the grabens Lake George and Schroon Lake. By this time the Grenville mountains had been eroded away and the area was covered by a shallow sea. Several thousand feet of sediment accumulated on the sea bed. Trilobites were the principal life-form of the sea bed, and fossil tracks can be seen in the Potsdam sandstone floor of the Paul Smiths Visitor Interpretive Center.

About 10 million years ago, the region began to be uplifted. It has been lifted about and is continuing at about per year, which is greater than the rate of denudation. The cause of the uplift is unknown, but geologists theorize that it is caused by a hot spot in the Earth's crust. which was interpreted to be the upwelling asthenosphere contributing to the uplift of the mountains. The occurrence of earthquake swarms near the center of the massif at Blue Mountain Lake may be evidence of this. Some of the earthquakes have exceeded 5 on the Richter magnitude scale.

thumb|[[Whiteface Mountain (1,483 m or 4,867 ft) is the fifth-highest mountain in New York, and one of the High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains.]]

Starting about 2.5 million years ago, a cycle of Pleistocene glacial and interglacial periods began which covered the area in ice. During the most recent episode, the Laurentide Ice Sheet covered most of northern North America between about 95,000 and 20,000 years ago. After this the climate warmed, but it took nearly 10,000 years for a thick layer of ice to completely melt. Evidence of this period includes:

  • Eskers: the Rainbow Lake esker bisects the eponymous lake and extends discontinuously for . Another long discontinuous esker extends from Mountain Pond through Keese Mill, passing between Upper St. Regis Lake and the Spectacle Ponds, and continuing to Ochre, Fish, and Lydia Ponds in the St. Regis Canoe Area. A high esker bisects the Five Ponds Wilderness Area.
  • Glacial erratics: there is a large one at the Newcomb Visitor Information Center next to the Rich Lake Trail.
  • Kames
  • Moraines
  • The cirques that characterize Whiteface Mountain.
  • Outwash plains: St. Regis Canoe Area is an outwash plain pitted with kettle holes.

Soils in the area are generally thin, sandy, acidic, and infertile, having developed since the glacial retreat.

Climate

The climate is strongly continental, with high humidity and precipitation year-round. The Adirondacks typically experience pleasantly warm, rainy weather in the summer (June–August), with temperatures in the range of , cooler than the rest of New York State due to the higher elevation. Summer evenings in the Adirondacks are chilly, with temperatures ranging on average between . Winters (December–March) are long, cold, snowy and harsh, with temperatures ranging from . Winter nights are frigid, with temperatures between . Spring (April–May) and fall (September–November) are short transitional seasons.

Ecology

thumb|A [[spotted turtle at the Wild Center]]

The Adirondack Mountains form the southernmost part of the Eastern forest-boreal transition ecoregion. They are heavily forested, and contain one of the southernmost distributions of the taiga ecotype in North America. The forests of the Adirondacks include spruce, pine and deciduous trees. Lumbering, once an important industry, has been much restricted by the creation of state forest preserve.

The mountains include many wetlands, of which there are three kinds: Mammals include raccoons, beavers, river otters, bobcats, moose, black bears, and coyotes. Extirpated or extinct mammals that formerly roamed the Adirondacks include the eastern cougar, eastern elk, wolverine, caribou, eastern wolf, and the Canada lynx. Attempted reintroductions of elk and lynx in the 20th century failed for numerous reasons, including poaching, vehicle collisions, and conservation incompetence.

Nearly 60 percent of the park is covered with northern hardwood forest. Above , conditions are too poor for hardwoods to thrive, and the trees become mixed with or replaced by balsam fir and red spruce. Above black spruce replace red. Higher still, only trees short enough to be covered in snow during the winter can survive.

A small area on the highest peaks exists above the tree line and has an alpine climate. These areas are covered by plants which occupied a large lowland tundra following the most recent period of glaciation. The amount of area covered by this ecosystem changes from year to year due to local climate changes, and has been estimated to only cover between . The alpine ecosystem is considered extremely fragile, and was damaged by hikers prior to a 1970s campaign by the Adirondack Mountain Club to preserve it.

Art depicting the Adirondacks

<gallery>

File:Winslow Homer - Campfire, Adirondacks (c. 1892).jpg|Campfire, Adirondacks (1892) by Winslow Homer

File:Winslow Homer (American, 1836-1910) - Trapping in the Adirondacks - 1942.1388 - Cleveland Museum of Art.jpg|Trapping in the Adirondacks (1870) by Winslow Homer

File:Winslow Homer - Deer Stalking in the Adirondacks in Winter - 1942.1390 - Cleveland Museum of Art.jpg|Deer Stalking in the Adirondacks in Winter (1871) by Winslow Homer

File:Winslow Homer - Mink Lake, Adirondacks (1892).jpg|Mink Lake, Adirondacks (1892) by Winslow Homer

File:Winslow Homer - Hunter in the Adirondacks (1892).jpg|Hunter in the Adirondacks (1892) by Winslow Homer

File:Wilmington Pass Adirondacks-John Joseph Enneking.jpg|Wilmington Pass, Adirondacks by John Joseph Enneking

File:Winter in the Mountains (Winter in the Adirondacks) by Régis François Gignoux.jpg|Winter in the Mountains (Winter in the Adirondacks) (1853) by Régis François Gignoux

File:Blakelock, Ralph Albert - Pool in the Adirondacks - Google Art Project.jpg|Pool in the Adirondacks (1875-1878) by Ralph Albert Blakelock

File:William Hart - Autumn Scene in the Adirondacks - 365.1915 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tiff|Autumn Scene in the Adirondacks (1877) by William Hart

File:Drawing, Valley and Hillside, Adirondacks, 1889–94 (CH 18174213).jpg|Valley and Hillside, Adirondacks (1889-94) by Frederic Edwin Church

File:Alexander H. Wyant - The Flume, Opalescent River, Adirondacks - 1909.7.81 - Smithsonian American Art Museum.jpg|The Flume, Opalescent River, Adirondacks (ca. 1875) by Alexander Helwig Wyant

File:Alexander Wyant - Autumn in the Adirondacks - 2018.23.1 - Minneapolis Institute of Art.jpg|Autumn in the Adirondacks (c. 1872-1873) by Alexander Helwig Wyant

File:Winslow Homer - A Good Shot, Adirondacks.jpg|A Good Shot, Adirondacks (1872) by Winslow Homer

File:Winslow Homer - The Rapids, Hudson River, Adirondacks.jpg|The Rapids, Hudson River, Adirondacks (1894) by Winslow Homer

File:Louis Michel Eilshemius - Adirondacks- Bridge for Fishing - Google Art Project.jpg|Adirondacks- Bridge for Fishing by Louis Michel Eilshemius

File:Winslow Homer - The Lone Boat, North Woods Club, Adirondacks.jpg|The Lone Boat, North Woods Club, Adirondacks (1892) by Winslow Homer

File:Winslow Homer - North Woods Club, Adirondacks (The Interrupted Tete-a-Tete).jpg|North Woods Club, Adirondacks (The Interrupted Tete-a-Tete) (1892) by Winslow Homer

</gallery>

References

Further reading

  • Adirondack Journal of Environmental Studies
  • New York State Department of Environmental Conservation: Welcome to the Adirondacks
  • Maps of Adirondack Park at DECinfo Locator