High Peaks Wilderness

The High Peaks Wilderness Area, the largest Forest Preserve unit in the U.S. state of New York, is located in three counties and six towns in the Adirondack Park: Harrietstown in Franklin County, North Elba, Keene, North Hudson and Newcomb in Essex County and Long Lake in Hamilton County.

It is roughly bounded on the north by NY 3, the old Haybridge Road, which runs from Cold Brook to Averyville, the Adirondak Loj property at Heart Lake, the Mount Van Hoevenberg area and NY 73 near the Cascade Lakes. Private land to the west of Route 73 forms the eastern boundary. The southern boundary is formed by privately owned lands, including the Ausable Club, Finch, Pruyn, and Company, National Lead Company and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry’s Huntington Wildlife Forest. This wilderness is bounded on the west by Long Lake and the Raquette River.

There is one significant inholding: the Johns Brook Lodge, a cabin and surrounding campsites operated by the Adirondack Mountain Club, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) along the eponymous trail and brook from the popular “Garden” parking area and access point near Keene Valley.

The area includes 112 bodies of water on 1,392 acres (5.6 km2), 238.4 miles (383.5 km) of foot trails, 52.3 miles (84.1 km) of horse trails, and 84 lean-tos. The area contains 36 of the 46 Adirondack High Peaks, including the tallest, Mount Marcy.
The topography ranges from small areas of low-lying swampland (e.g., along the Raquette and Saranac Rivers) to the highest point in New York State at the top of Mount Marcy. Although there is a considerable variety of topography, it is predominantly high mountain country. Like the topography, the forest cover also varies from pole-size hardwoods to mature, large diameter hardwood and softwood stands to the spruce-fir of the subalpine region.

Racquette River Campsites, Lean-Tos Boat Launches πŸ• πŸ›Ά

Racquette River Campsites, Lean-Tos Boat Launches πŸ• πŸ›Ά

Online Map of Racquette River Campsites

Printable Map of Racquette River Campsites

 Raquette River Crusher Boat Launch

Coordinate List of Racquette River Campsites

Location Description Notes Latitude Longitude
Axton Landing Hand Launch Hand Launch 44.2035302496685 -74.3265353716198
Axton Landing Campsite Primitive Campsite 44.2035779929482 -74.3261379393283
Axton Landing Parking Unpaved Parking Lot 12 Vehicle Capacity 44.2033300030134 -74.3263166662663
Crusher Boat Launch Parking Paved Parking Lot 38 Spaces; 135′ X 73′ + 115′ X 56′ 44.2393153024164 -74.3878177490498
Raquette Lean-To Lean-To Built In 2013 44.2253525405174 -74.3803783852444
Raquette River Site 10 Primitive Campsite 44.2131285724835 -74.3738600835363
Raquette River Site 11 Primitive Campsite 44.2132378096177 -74.3781992125591
Raquette River Site 12 Primitive Campsite 44.2089917159947 -74.368137030962
Raquette River Site 13 Primitive Campsite 44.2068080092519 -74.3599561224732
Raquette River Site 14 Primitive Campsite 44.2048226562689 -74.3491579407642
Raquette River Site 15 Primitive Campsite 44.2036823743229 -74.34417698275
Raquette River Site 16 Primitive Campsite 44.2030370382853 -74.3287874542713
Raquette River Site 2 Primitive Campsite 44.232252575083 -74.4005468686181
Raquette River Site 2 Primitive Campsite 44.23325948448 -74.403860999247
Raquette River Site 3 Primitive Campsite 44.2361907784499 -74.3840841075194
Raquette River Site 4 Primitive Campsite 44.2333273901288 -74.3844112516893
Raquette River Site 5 Primitive Campsite 44.2279414227932 -74.3848242349451
Raquette River Site 7 Primitive Campsite 44.2292254896885 -74.3771388984978
Raquette River Site 8 Primitive Campsite 44.2192203997972 -74.3774227834084
Raquette River Site 9 Primitive Campsite 44.2183320955162 -74.3792159601143
Rt 30 Intersection Misc Parking Unpaved Parking Lot 105 Spaces; 155′ X 350′ 44.244767552556 -74.3582161123963
The Crusher Boat Launch Ramp Launch Concrete Ramp 44.2394118943849 -74.3875724785671
Trombley Landing Lean-To Lean-To 44.2287716477077 -74.3755334311793
Trombley Landing Parking Lot Paved Parking Lot 4 Vehicle Capacity 44.2438876359445 -74.3580219214678

Tahawus Titanium Mine Photos

Tahawus Titanium Mine Photos

The coming of WWII brought restricted imports of titanium dioxide for paint pigments and helped usher in the next era for the old mine.οΏ½ The National Lead Company, the largest paint manufacturer in the country at the time, purchased 4,000 acres from the McIntyre Iron Company in September of 1942. οΏ½ The property had two large beds of iron ore, one on the east shore of Sanford Lake and another 1.5 miles to the northeast at Iron Mountain. Drilling was performed in 1941 on Sanford Hill to assess the deposit and the firm of Archer E. Wheeler of NYC was chosen to design the mill and lay out the equipment. οΏ½ The mill buildings started going up in 1941 while at the same time, a new rail yard was being built at North Creek. The first load was hauled out to the yard there in July of 1942 and the railroad extension to Tahawus was started in August.οΏ½ οΏ½On June 19, 1944, the first train went to Tahawus for a load.οΏ½ Costs for the line, which were estimated at 2.5 million, ended up totaling 4.5 million due to extra costs in the mountains.οΏ½ The line and plant were both paid for by the Federal Government and leased to National Lead.οΏ½ It wasn't until 1989 that the government sold the 33 mile line to NL Chemicals, Inc. οΏ½ At one point, they were shipping out 100 cars of ore a day but by one report in 1958, it was down to one-third of that. οΏ½ Actual mining of the open pit ended in 1982 with the surplus stockpile carried out over the next seven years. On November 17, 1989, the last ore train left the mine, bringing and end to an era.