High Peaks Experience
from Saratoga Springs

Capital Saratoga/Adirondacks Regions Approximately 320 miles

This trip will take you through an historic resort city with a lively social scene and on a high peaks journey that is startling in its beauty.

On your trip on the Northway (I-87), stop at Saratoga Springs (Exit 13N) and drive north on Route 9. Enter the Saratoga Spa State Park through the lovely, tree-lined Avenue of the Pines. In the park are the mineral baths and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, summer home of the New York City Ballet, New York City Opera, the Philadelphia Orchestra and pop specials. Exit the park, turning right, on Route 50. Drive northeast to Union Avenue, and visit the Saratoga Race Course, the nation's oldest thoroughbred track, where sports lovers gather each summer from around the world to watch thoroughbreds race. (Racing season is late July through early September.)

Exit Saratoga Springs via Union Avenue to I-87 north. Take Exit 28 and Route 74 east to Fort Ticonderoga. This area is steeped in Revolutionary War history, with its fife and drum parades and canon and mortar drills.

Follow Route 9N north to Crown Point, then on to Route 73 and into the Adirondacks. Throughout you will find turn-offs for wilderness hiking and fine accommodations for every taste. The journey on Route 73 has stunning beauty, with stark contrasts. This old carriage path is cut through the high peaks and imposing walls of rock. Drive by Cascade Lake and Chapel Pond, cross Johns Brook and pass several times over the Ausable River. Travel to Lake Placid, home of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics and year-round training ground for world-class athletes. You can watch them practicing or try the facilities yourself. Beautiful and beautifully maintained Route 86, going northwest, leads through wilderness areas surrounding Saranac Lake. Take Route 3 through Tupper Lake to Blue Mountain Lake, home of the Adirondack Museum.

Return on Route 30 to Long Lake and head east on Route 28N through Newcomb, with its Adirondack Visitors Interpretive Center. Follow signs to North Hudson and the Adirondack Northway (I-87) south to Saratoga Springs.

Contact the Capital-Saratoga and Adirondack regional travel promotion agencies for more information.