Adirondack Access

When bodies of water engross a lowland and divide to states that share similarities as a region in many ways, yet the aquatic boundary also creates distinct differences in the natural and social communities that occupy both sides. To the west, a sprawling mound of granite and a radial drainage pattern, while Vermont offers a series of small north south ranges, with the Green Mountains being most prominent. As I was told by a professor of natural History at St. Lawrence College, the difference between Vermont and New York can be summed up as conservation versus living off the land in Vermont’s case. Having been briefed on the history and current status of the Adirondack State Park I have a enlightened understanding of a phrase that perplexed me until I had a chance to spend enough time in each place. Yet the differences pale in comparison to the similarities in many ways. The Northern Forest dominates the culture, climate and navigation routes available to it’s inhabitants. It is, at once, the beauty and the beast of the forest; it’s remoteness. The dream of an east west artery of transportation would at once be a boon and a curse for both regions, as the conflict between tourists and locals the economic changes they inadvertently bring upon the communities. It this a natural cycle of succession as seen on the forests that is merely a bump in the road in the long ride, or a steep, treacherous cliff that will forever scar the landscape with a Disneyesque tribute to what the forest once was ?