Adirondack North Country Booklist

Paddling Guidebooks

If you're planning a trip into the Adirondack North Country, you'll want to read at least one paddling guidebook. In fact, you'll probably want to read more than one. You can't go far wrong with any of the books listed in this section. They complement one another, and even though there's sometimes a little overlap, this helps paint a better portrait of the places you may want to visit. Just don't forget that no guidebook is error-free, and that rivers are always changing. If what you see on a river doesn't agree with the book, believe your eyes, not the book! Then, when you get back home, write a note to the author (and to us).

Quiet Water Canoe Guide: New York
by John Hayes & Alex Wilson

A model guide to New York's quiet waters. Well organized, easy to use, and comprehensive, this Appalachian Mountain Club book belongs on every North Country paddler's bookshelf.

Great Destinations The Adirondack Book
Elizabeth Folwell, et. al.

This completely updated guidebook details the Adirondack's history, comforts, and amenities, giving both visitors and residents the most comprehensive guide to this vast region.
- Publishers Description

New York State Atlas and Gazetteer
by the DeLorme Mapping Company

Not a paddling guidebook, but an invaluable guide for all New York paddlers, nonetheless. With a scale of 1:150,000--one inch equals approximately 2.4 miles--the topographic maps in this atlas are great for planning. In fact, they're almost detailed enough to use on the water. An extensive gazetteer rounds out the package. Don't leave home without it.

Longstreet Highroad Guide To The Adirondacks
by Phil Brown

A guide to the sites and activities of the Adirondacks. If you are planning a trip to this region this guide will be a valuable tool that will enhance your appreciation of the region.
- Publishers Description

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Other Guidebooks

Take a hike! Why not? You have to get out of your boat sooner or later. So you might as well climb something. Or go fishing. Or photograph a wild flower. Here are some guidebooks to make all these things easier.

50 Hikes in the Adirondacks
Barbara McMartin

This book lets hikers in on dozens of stunning trails leading to spots still uncrowded--without, of course, neglecting the old favorite hikes! Along the way, the author includes observations from her own lifetime's exploration of the Adirondacks.
- Publishers Description

Good Fishing in the Adirondacks
Dennis Aprill

With close to three thousand lakes, ponds, and beaver flows and thousands of miles of rivers and streams, half the battle of successful fishing in the Adirondacks is in figuring out where to go. Dennis Aprill has made that decision a snap, with solid advice on productive waters.
- Publishers Description

Adirondack Mammals
by D. Andrew Saunders

Is it a moose or a mouse? With well-executed line drawings, good descriptions, and detailed behavioral information, this book will help you decide. What's the ecological role of the coyote? Does the northern flying squirrel have a social life? When and where do muskrats give birth? Can you expect to see a gray wolf? You'll find all the answers here. Too bad you won't find an index, though.

Field Guide to the Birds East of the Rockies
by Roger Tory Peterson

THE guidebook to eastern birds. Compact, easy to use, definitive. Accept no substitutes.

Wildflowers of the Adirondacks
by Anne McGrath and Joanne Treffs

Wild flowers or wildflowers? Whichever way you spell them, they're part of the natural landscape. Illustrated with line drawings and color photos, Wildflowers is a good beginner's guide to the Adirondack's colorful flora.

Eastern Forests
by John C. Kricher and Gordon Morrison

Illustrated with excellent black-and-white and color drawings, Eastern Forests covers the map, describing all the forest communities east of the Rocky Mountains. Not a substitute for species-specific guidebooks, this is instead a comprehensive account of the ecology of eastern forests. Well worth reading. Well worth taking along on your next trip.

Bogs of the Northeast
by Charles W. Johnson

Bogs are fascinating places, teaming with life. The author--a naturalist and field researcher--takes the reader on a guided tour. Readable, well-illustrated, and well-indexed, Bogs of the Northeast belongs in the pack of any North Country paddler with an interest in the living landscape.

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Other Books of Interest

When rain is pounding down on the tent and the lake looks like hammered pewter, a lot of folks would rather snuggle up in a sleeping bag and take a vicarious voyage. Or maybe you'd just like to spend a few hours learning more about the history of the Adirondack North Country. Whatever your interest, here are a few suggestions to get you started.

Adirondacks: Views of An American Wilderness
by Carl E. Heilman

Photographer Carl Heilman captures the untouched essence of the Adirondacks in this book-from its highest peaks to its foothills. His grand vistas show how humans and nature can coexist peacefully but also raise the debate between public and private ownership of park land and the choice between development and conservation.
- Publishers Description

Apologies to the Iroquois
by Edmund Wilson

A classic, if somewhat dated, account of 20th-century Iroquois life and culture. Of special interest because Edmund Wilson lived on the western margin of the Adirondacks and infused his story with an intimate understanding of the North Country and its people, both native and newcomer.

Boats and Boating in the Adirondacks
by Hallie E. Bond

More museum catalog than can't-put-it-down read, this survey of Adirondack boats and boatbuilding is nonetheless well-illustrated and meticulously researched. It should be. The author is the curator of the Adirondack Museum's collection of small boats. A useful reference for enthusiast and scholar alike.

Canoeing the Adirondacks With Nessmuk: The Adirondack Letters of George Washington Sears
by George Washington Sears and Dan Brenan (Editor)

George Washington Sears, better known by his pen-name, "Nessmuk," explored the waterways of the Adirondacks in the 1880s. These letters, which first appeared in Forest and Stream magazine, are now famous. If you want to know how the "Go-Light Brotherhood" got its start, this is the book for you.

Woodcraft and Camping
by Nessmuk

"We do not go to the green woods and crystal waters to rough it, we go to smooth it. We get it rough enough at home." Nessmuk again, and still worth reading, even if it was originally published more than a century ago. A canoeing classic.

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Adirondack Guide and all pictures and drawings within are
Copyright © 2001 by Verloren Hoop Productions. All rights reserved.
Written by Tamia Nelson and Farwell Forrest

©Copyright 2007 Paddling.net, Inc.
Questions, Additions or Corrections please contact us.