Adirondack Trivia & Lore: Things You Didn’t Know About the ADK
While many know the Adirondacks for the 46 High Peaks, few realize that the Park is larger than multiple other national parks combined, or that it contains a secret underground Cold War bunker. Read on for more surprising Adirondack facts!
Larger Than the “Big Three” Combined
Most don’t fully grasp how enormous the 6-million-acre Adirondack Park truly is. You could fit Yellowstone, Everglades, and the Grand Canyon National Parks all inside the Adirondack Park, and you’d still have room left over to add in Glacier National Park!
It’s the largest publicly protected area in the contiguous United States.
It’s “Growing” Every Year
Unlike most mountain ranges that are eroding or getting shorter, the Adirondacks are young and rising. Because of a “hot spot” in the earth’s crust, there is a domal uplift in the region, with the Adirondack dome being pushed up by about 2 to 3 millimeters per year.
Made of "Moon Rocks"
The High Peaks are one of the few places on Earth where anorthosite is a dominant feature; anorthosite is a rare, light-colored igneous rock that also makes up about 90% of the lunar highlands on the moon.
The Largest Marble Cave Entrance in the Eastern US
Natural Stone Bridge & Caves holds the record for the largest marble cave entrance in the eastern US. Unlike most limestone caves, these were carved by acidic, glacial meltwater.
Ausable Chasm Used to Be a Tropical Sea
Known today as the “Grand Canyon of the Adirondacks,” Ausable Chasm is actually made out of 500-million-year-old Potsdam Sandstone, which formed in a shallow, tropical sea. Stone walls, particularly near the Ausable dam, contain rare, mid-Cambrian Scyphomedusae jellyfish fossils.
The chasm itself was carved around 10,000 years ago by the Ausable River at the end of the last Ice Age.
The “Secret” Cold War Bunker
Deep in the woods near Lewis, NY, a former Atlas F missile site reportedly conceals a huge underground silo, now rumored to be a luxury “bunker” home. During the Cold War, this was a high-security facility housing a nuclear missile built to withstand a nuclear blast.
Today, it’s private property, but it remains one of the most James Bond-type secrets hidden beneath Adirondack soil.
Secret History of Fort Ticonderoga: The Christmas Riot of 1776
While Fort Ticonderoga is famed for its Revolutionary battles, it once hosted a significant squabble between soldiers on the same side. On Christmas Day 1776, a riot broke out between soldiers from Massachusetts and soldiers from Pennsylvania relating to “cultural differences.” Alcohol played a factor. Surprisingly, no one was killed.
True Crime in the ADK: Robert Garrow
In the summer of 1973, Robert Garrow turned the peaceful woods of the Adirondacks into a place of terror, committing a series of abductions and murders that targeted campers near Speculator and Wells.
What followed was the largest manhunt in New York history at the time, as Garrow successfully evaded over 200 officers for 12 days, but his record would be broken.
Infamous Outlaws & the Dannemora Escape
The 2015 Clinton County Correctional Facility escape in Dannemora is still today the largest manhunt in New York. Inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat used smuggled power tools to cut through the back of their cells.
After emerging out of a manhole in front of the prison, the two lead over 1,300 officers on a 23-day manhunt.
The Great Moose “Disappearing Act”
While the moose is an icon of the Adirondack Park today, they essentially disappeared from New York for nearly 100 years. Due to overhunting and deforestation, moose were deemed extirpated from the area in the early 1860s.
In the 1980s they began wandering over from Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Canada. Today, there are between 400 to 800 moose in the Adirondacks. Although considered a staple of the region, they are elusive - many have been hiking, hunting, and camping in the Park for many years, and have never seen one.
The “Ghost” Cat
The eastern cougar was declared extinct in 2018, but there are some who have claimed to see the great animal in the Adirondacks. The DEC maintains there is no breeding population, but lone male western cougars have been known, rarely, to travel all the way from the Midwest to the ADK, searching for a mate.
(There is essentially no difference between the eastern and western cougar.)
Bigfoot in the Backcountry
With such a massive area of thick forests and towering mountains, it’s no surprise that over 40 Bigfoot encounters have been reported over the years, particularly in Warren and Washington Counties.
Whitehall, NY, situated just outside of the Park, is widely considered the “Bigfoot Capital” of the state.
Home of the One Square Mile of Hope
In 2014, Inlet, NY, set a Guinness World Record for the largest raft of canoes and kayaks, known as the One Square Mile of Hope. It took place on Fourth Lake and consisted of 3,150 boats. The event also served as a fundraiser for breast cancer research.
The First Hotel With Electricity
In 1882, the Prospect House on Blue Mountain Lake was the first hotel on the planet to feature electric lighting in every guest room. Thomas Edison himself personally supervised the installation.
The American Vacation Started in the Adirondacks
According to the Smithsonian, the Adirondacks is where the term “vacation” was coined, thanks to wealthy bankers and businessmen looking to "vacate" New York City in the summer for cooler, more scenic spots north. Great Camps were constructed to accommodate these vacationers.
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