Adirondack Park Hiking Preparation
Adirondack Park: Known for his colorful trees during fall, Adirondacks has a lot to offer to its visitors. The dense forests and the mossy mountains are perfect to hike and take incredible pictures. Behind those trees are hidden beautiful secrets. I will share with you these secrets, and also tell you the mistake every hiker makes when hiking in the Adirondack Mountains.
Is Adirondack Park muddy?
Adirondack Park is usually visited during the fall season when the tree leaves have great colors. However, this is also a time of the year when the weather conditions can be poor. This can make hiking in Adirondack Park much harder. So, is Adirondack Park muddy?
Adirondack Park is usually muddy during both the fall and spring seasons. The spring season from April to May is an official “mud season” but the fall season is also a time of the year when the trails are hard to hike. Hikers should bring appropriate equipment.
When I first knew about this place, it amazed me. The trunks, the leaves, the lakes, the sky: everything looks so clean. It really feels like this place comes from a fantasy movie. However, after watching some videos about it, like Kraig Adams First Hike in Adirondacks, I noticed something: it’s a comment every hiker talks about.
The ground can get very muddy!
Indeed, because of the tree density, the leaves falling on the floor, the poor weather condition, and the ground itself, the grass can get wet and muddy very quickly. The floor is so hydrated that you can find huge puddles. I already mentioned Kraig Adams during my Yosemite Valley article, but I had never seen him struggling so much with his equipment as during his hike in the Adirondacks.
Some rotting tree trunks also make the path dangerous. Bringing good equipment is key for this hike, which can be underestimated. Indeed, when you see the hills from above, they do not look so hard to hike. However, when you are under the trees, the forest is so dense that it is not always easy to walk through.
After his first hike in 2017, Kraig Adams shot another video in September 2019. It is the beginning of fall so the trees are not so colorful as in his first hike. But, thanks to his much better equipment, he did not struggle as much. He still had some issues and he explains them at the end of the video. Check out the video right after.
How to prepare for Adirondack Park hiking?
As we have seen before, underestimating the difficulty of this trail is something people tend to do. If you decide to hike in the Adirondacks, you will probably choose the fall season, to enjoy the colors. You have to be careful about the rain. The pouring rain will make the trail much harder. You can see it in the video linked just before.
Bringing light running shoes is a choice lots of hikers like to make nowadays. Indeed, the comfort of that kind of shoes has grown drastically last year. Their best feature, lightness, is a game-changer for a lot of people.
However, for this special trail, bringing running shoes could get you in trouble. The poor weather conditions and the muddy ground will make your feet wet very quickly. Bringing a more traditional pair of hiking shoes is a wise choice.
Alternatives to Adirondack Park
If you don’t feel ready to hike in the Adirondacks yet, you can also hike in other parts of the U.S. such as Badlands National Park, Glacier National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Arches National Park, on the Grand Canyon Skywalk, or Monument Valley. Those are places where nature is everywhere and where you will enjoy hiking.
Taking pictures during the hike
The colors of the trees during fall makes the Adirondacks perfect for pictures. However, taking pictures of this place is not the easiest thing to do. Capturing the variety of colors -that you can see in the following pictures- and the depth of trees are two challenges you will have to overcome. Manuel Palacios mastered those challenges several times. This photographer often travels to the Adirondacks to take pictures. Thanks to his experience, he now knows the right exposures to capture this landscape. If you want to see more about his works, check out his Instagram Page, where Manuel Palacios shares pictures of his travels.
