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Adirondack Park is located in northeast New York State. It is the largest park in the lower 48 United States and largest protected park in any state in the United States.

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The park is about the size of Vermont and at 6.1 million total acres is larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Glacier, and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks combined.

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A little less than half the land in Adirondack Park is owned by the state of New York. The rest is privately owned but still protected. Very little of the land in the park is developed and only about 130,000 people live year-round in the park. Adirondack Park was established in 1892 and given state protection in 1894 and made a National Historic Landmark in 1963.

Some 84 million people live within a day’s drive of the park and up to 10 million people visit the park annually.

There are no admission fees and no gates for Adirondack Park.

The Adirondack Mountains are in the park and include the highest peaks in New York State. Mount Marcy at 5,343 feet is the highest peak in the Adirondacks and one of the highest peaks east of the Rockies and rewards those who hike to its peak with tremendous panoramic views.

There are over 2,000 miles of hiking trails in Adirondack Park which makes it the largest trail system in the United States.

The park also contains over 3,000 lakes and has over 30,000 miles of rivers and streams running through it. And countless waterfalls including many seasonal ones that come to life every year during the spring run-off from the mountains.

Perhaps the best known waterfall in the park is in the Au Sable Chasm.

The Winter Olympics were held in Adirondack Park at Lake Placid in 1932 and 1980.

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The Miracle on Ice occurred in Lake Placid in 1980 when the heavy underdog Americans defeated the vaunted Soviet team in a stunning upset.

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Skiing is also a popular wintertime activity in the park at Whiteface Mountain and other resorts.

Image via Wikipedia

But the vast majority of people simply come to Adirondack Park to get away from it all and enjoy the spectacular scenery of this huge protected wilderness.

Adirondack Park is considered a model way for humans to protect precious land areas near large population zones as people have been coexisting with nature in this park for over 100 years.

More great parks in New York State include Toughannock Falls State Park, Watkins Glen State Park, Treman State Park and the Grand Canyon of the East.