Saratoga to the Adirondacks.
The Adirondack Railway division of the Delaware and Hudson furnishes one of the pleasantest excursions to the north woods. The traveler passes along the romantic and picturesque valley of the upper Hudson—through King's, South Corinth, Jessup's Landing to Hadley (the railroad station for Luzerne, a charming village at the junction of the Hudson and the Sacandaga); then through Stony Creek, Thurman, thirty-six miles from Saratoga Springs, at the junction of the Schroon and the Hudson; the Glen, forty-four miles; Riverside, fifty miles (for Schroon Lake), pleasurable throughout, to North Creek, where "Concord coaches" and patent-covered spring buck-boards are in waiting for Blue Mountain Lake—distance about thirty miles, through a beautiful romantic country.
The water route from this point is as follows: Through Blue Mountain Lake and Utowana to the outlet, a distance of seven miles, where a "Railway Carry," something less than a mile, brings the traveler to a fairy-like steamer on Marion River. The river trip is twelve miles to Forked Lake.
Arriving at "Forked Lake Carry," one-half mile brings us to Forked Lake, where the traveler gets his first real mountain bill of fare. From this point we took a guide to Long Lake. There is a short cut from this point over to the Tupper Lakes, which we can commend in every particular, and the tourist can either return to Long Lake and continue his route to the Saranacs, or go to the Saranacs direct from Lake Tupper.
From this point we visit Keene Flats, a charming and healthful spot, only five miles from the "Lower Ausable Pond." These ponds, the "Lower" and "Upper," are unrivaled in beauty and grandeur. They lie at the foot of Mount Marcy, Haystack, the Gothics, and Mount Bartlett.
'Twas in the mellow autumn time
When I, an idler from the town,
With gun and rod was lured to climb
Those peaks where fresh the Hudson takes
His tribute from an hundred lakes.
Charles Fenno Hoffman.
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