Great Places to Lay Up in the Adirondacks?

I'm in Central NY this week on a break from the SacMike's Big Adventure ride I'm doing, touring by rental car. We'll be heading towards the Finger Lakes and then the Cooperstown area in the morning, and then heading north into the Adirondacks on Weds a.m.--hoping for some great scenery and some fall colors. We're not looking for great motorcycling roads ( too bad ) but just good tourism areas. Maybe not the areas that are completely glutted with gawking tourists, but tourism-worthy, anyway.

So I'm looking for a couple of good places in the Dacks to stay, maybe to use as a couple night base for driving and coming back to, or maybe a couple or three places to travel between so we can catch a lot of the great scenery around here. Info about general areas would be great, info about specific places, hotels, motels, restaurants, etc., also great. Guess I'm more interested in the "less than five-star" category of either, though. Hope to hear from lots of you by Wednesday. Thanks, everybody.

I grew up in Cooperstown so when you go there make sure you stop at Schneiders Bakery, they have the best old fashion donuts. I now live in Queensbury, NY which is at the southern end of the ADK mountains. It is kind of "centralized" so you can get anywhere from here. There are hotels up and down route 9 and the tourist season is mainly over, you just missed the balloon festival this weekend. This whole (almost) is very scenic wih lots of revolutionary war history (Fort William Henry in Lake George and Fort Toconderoga in Ticonderoga)

In the finger lakes, Watkins Glen State Park (prepare for a hike!) is an absolute must do. Maybe Watkins Glen Racetrack.

As for the 'dacks, less than 5 star, Potter Lake motel is a solid 2 star hotel, but the owners are good peeps. I suggest Lake Placid as a good base. Very touristy though.

Lake Placid (while touristy) is a neat place to visit. Nice walkable town with good places to eat (Lake Placid Pub & Brewery off of Mirror Lake Dr). We stay at at Art Devlin's Olympic Motor Inn (he was a ski jumper, his son runs the place now). If you stop in the ORDA store at the north end of Main St, you can get an Olympic Passport thingie that provides admission to several of the Olympic venues including Mt Van Hoevenberg (Bobsled run), the Olympic Jumping Complex (ride to the top of the high jump - great view!), the Olympic Center & Museum (where the Miracle on Ice happened) and Whiteface Mountain (take the gondola ride to the top of the mountain - another great view!) and some other stuff... Can't beat that mountain air.

I'm in Lake Placid now. Good advice here, so thanks. Had a Schneider's donut, walked the Watkins Glen Gorge (yikes! 800 steps!). Good weather, nice fall colors well under way. Maybe a week or so from full, but over the top for Californians. The bike park resumes on Monday.

Rental car? Really Mike?

Every summer we spend a week on Fourth Lake between Old Forge and Inlet. My brother-in-law, who runs the camp where the family stays during the summer, is just closing up the place for the season, and posted several photos today on Facebook looking down Fourth Lake from the camp west toward Old Forge. I hope to be out there some day when the leaves are changing.

Hans, we were in Old Forge and Inlet today, took a float plane ride out of 7th Lake. Locals told us the leaves were peaking right NOW in this area. It's pretty amazing around here right now. BTW, it was a bright sunny 63 today, as close to perfect as it gets.

SacramentoMike said:

Hans, we were in Old Forge and Inlet today, took a float plane ride out of 7th Lake. Locals told us the leaves were peaking right NOW in this area. It's pretty amazing around here right now. BTW, it was a bright sunny 63 today, as close to perfect as it gets.

Click to expand...

What luck that you hit the peak! It's really paradise up there--just beautiful!

When I go up there I--what else--draw and paint. I did this watercolor just last June. Here's looking out across the lake from the old hotel deck.

James Burleigh said:

SacramentoMike said:

Hans, we were in Old Forge and Inlet today, took a float plane ride out of 7th Lake. Locals told us the leaves were peaking right NOW in this area. It's pretty amazing around here right now. BTW, it was a bright sunny 63 today, as close to perfect as it gets.

Click to expand...

What luck that you hit the peak! It's really paradise up there--just beautiful!

When I go up there I--what else--draw and paint. I did this watercolor just last June. Here's looking out across the lake from the old hotel deck.

Click to expand...

Peak (color wise) would actually be next week, but close enough. My backyard sand box area so to speak, beautiful area in any season but a leaf peepers paradise for sure.