Anyone hiking the Adirondack High Peaks last weekend surely encountered huge masses of other hikers. Keene Valley and Lake Placid are quaint little towns with multi-million dollar vacation homes scattered about. Drive a couple miles west and one will pass through Tupper Lake, with its many empty storefronts. Further south it gets even worse, as very few towns seem to be very prosperous at all. Keene Valley has the asset of world-class hiking, climbing, and skiing right on its doorstep, while Lake Placid has Olympic history as well. The problem is, these places get overcrowded (and in the case of the High Peaks, overused,) while awesome and beautiful places all over the Southern Adirondacks are ignored.
The good news is, some steps are being made to spread the wealth. Saranac Lake created the Saranac Sixer challenge, an attempt to bring more hikers to the lesser peaks surrounding the town. The Arietta Climbers and others have been developing many crags in the Southern Adirondacks, such as Lost T, Lost Hunter's, Shanty Cliff, and Crane Mountain. The hope is that maybe for every five climbers heading to the Adirondacks, maybe one will now visit Crane and its 200-plus routes instead of simply following the masses to Keene Valley and Chapel Pond Pass. It is inevitable that the places with the most spectacular (and developed) natural resources will draw the biggest crowds. However, I believe that the Adirondacks as a whole could benefit from spreading the wealth a little bit more.
Also, here are a couple photos from the Adirondacks this past weekend:
The town closest to my cabin in the ADKs, North Creek, is similar to the Tupper Lake-type town you describe, especially in contrast to areas like Lake Placid. I notice stores and restaurants opening and closing fairly frequently. Weirdly enough, North Creek is about a 10 minute drive from Gore Mountain, a fairly popular ski mountain. I have often wondered where the money from these incoming tourists goes. It's possible that, if they are going to spend their money somewhere, they would choose a place a little fancier and nicer than North Creek. Unfortunately, this perpetuates the same problem with compartmentalizing the wealth of the ADKs that you describe in your post.
ReplyDeleteThinking about this even more, though, I realize I wouldn't want North Creek to be like Lake Placid. It is a lovely, small town, and although certain parts of it could use a little more economic stability, there a number of small business that have been around for years, and seem to be doing well.
ReplyDeleteLiving in Cooperstown, NY, a small town whose economy is buoyed entirely by its tourism industry, I've always been interested by the contradictions inherent in such locales. It's difficult to dismiss the stability that a strong tourist industry can give a town but, like Emma acknowledges, the resultant population growth and infrastructural development is not easy to accept. Cooperstown's population grows exponentially every year during induction weekend. I make it a point to avoid going into town on this weekend, and always grumble about the indignity of being trapped in my house by baseball tourists (the horror). However, I can't ignore the benefits of this invasion. Without this industry, Cooperstown would no doubt be very much like the struggling towns of the Adirondacks that John mentions. Of course, this complexity is further complicated in the Adirondacks by the park's very nature. While increased tourism means more open storefronts, it also means an increased amount of people coming to live in the area which, arguably, diminishes the wildness of the park. Surprise surprise, the Adirondacks are once again a place of paradox.
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