11/09/2025
Vast, wild and wooded, the Adirondacks offer one of the US's most dramatic autumn foliage displays – and the best way to experience it may be a from a canoe.
New York's Adirondack Park is the biggest state park in the US – a more-than six-million-acre wonderland of dense woodlands, towering peaks and glacier-carved lakes that's larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Glacier and the Great Smoky Mountains national parks combined.
Every autumn, this wild and pristine pocket of the northeastern US puts on a dazzling display, as the Adirondacks' millions of trees transform into a veritable kaleidoscope of russet red, fiery yellow and burnt orange hues in one of the country's most dramatic leaf-peeping shows.
The park is an aquatic labyrinth, consisting of a vast system of more than 3,000 lakes and ponds, as well as roughly 30,000 miles of rivers and streams. Historically, canoes have played a crucial role in this vast, watery landscape, as Native Americans, early European explorers and the first Adirondack guides all relied on them for transportation, trade and recreation.
"Today, traveling by canoe preserves this important Adirondack tradition," says Maeghan Farnham, Adirondack guide and the co-owner of St Regis Canoe Outfitters, which offers kayak, canoe and camping gear rentals, as well as guided trips through the park. "It represents a tangible link to the Adirondacks' past, particularly the traditions and expertise of the Native Americans who first navigated these waterways. Canoeing remains a cherished activity in the Adirondacks, attracting paddlers seeking to explore the park's wilderness areas and experience its natural beauty."
For those who want to venture into the Adirondacks' remote backcountry wilderness and witness some of the park's most eye-catching foliage, Farnham says a car simply won't cut it. "Paddling makes some of the most remote portions of the Adirondack Park accessible, allowing individuals to navigate interconnected lakes and ponds in some of the most remote areas, offering scenery and views that are simply not accessible by car," she explained.
Having grown up just outside the Adirondacks, I've covered a lot of its terrain, crisscrossing the park's scenic highways by car and sacrificing sleep for a crisp sunrise or sunset summit on foot. But last October I chose to marvel at the park's prismatic autumnal foliage in much the same way as the region's earliest residents might have: by setting out in a canoe. What I found was a new – and old – way to experience childlike wonder in my own backyard, and a new perspective on a place I thought I knew well.
