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| Tupper Lake Municipal Park, Tupper Lake, NY |
For the month of April 2022, my wife and I stayed in the town of Tupper Lake in upstate New York. We were very fortunate to have booked a month long stay at an AirBnB rental overlooking the beautiful Tupper Lake, the mountains, and the Tupper Lake Municipal Park.
The last visit to the Adirondacks for us was way back in 2002, when we stayed about 4 nights at Mirror Lake/Lake Placid area to ski the Whiteface Mountain. Set in the picturesque Adirondacks Mountains region, we loved the area with its beautiful scenery, and excellent restaurants/shops. We were always hoping to go back to the area some day.
When the opportunity came to revisit it, we wholeheartedly took it, as we really wanted to explore the Adirondacks region via slow traveling! On top of the list of things to do on our second visit was hiking the beautiful Adirondacks mountains above all else, along with trying out different restaurants and various attractions.
On a cloudy Friday on April 1st, we left our parent’s place in New York City via New York State Thruway (I-87) North towards the Adirondacks. The trip, according to Google Maps, was to take around 5 and a half hours.
We crossed the George Washington Bridge crossing the Hudson River, then eventually got on the I-87 after about 30 minutes. Traffic was light and we made excellent progress.
We made our first stop at the Glens Falls Rest Area near Lake George. The rest area is one of the nicest, newest, and the cleanest rest areas we’ve ever experienced. Even the restrooms were top notch and spotless.
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| Glen Falls Rest Area, NY |
We perused various vending machines at the rest area and they were super clean and modern, offering local goodies (bit pricey) and the usual vending machine fare, such as coffee/soda/water/etc. There was a small dog park right outside the rest area, and we met a cute Pomeranian/Pekingese mix dog.
We chatted with the dog’s parents, commenting how cute their dog was. We also let them know we had recently lost our Pomeranian Toby and they sympathized with us. As fellow pet parents, all of us can relate to what that’s like…
After thanking them for their time, and letting us pet their dog, we got back on the road, heading north again. After getting off of our exit, we filled up on gas, then took country roads all the way to our destination, at Tupper Lake.
The weather that had been cloudy, suddenly turned for the worse, as we started to see rain slowly but surely, pattering our windshield the further north and west we went. We can feel the elevation rising as we tacked on the miles.
The rain would eventually change over to sleet then eventually to full-on snow by the time we arrived at Tupper Lake. The drive took just about 5 and a half hours, despite us stopping on 3 different occasions to fill up on gas and to use the restroom.
Our month long rental had a garage, and we were ecstatic! We parked inside the garage, which made moving our belongings so much easier than what we’re used to. We each smiled inwardly at our luck, and proceeded to get settled in at our temporary home.
We loved the lake house! The decorations fit the outdoorsy feel of the Adirondacks, with lots of wood furniture, and whimsical decorations. The rental has full kitchen, two bedrooms, and most importantly, the view of Tupper Lake directly in front of us! We loved it!
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| Main bedroom with view of Tupper Lake |
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| Second bedroom |
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| View from the garage door looking in |
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| Living room |
The ‘move’ took less than 10 minutes thanks to the attached garage. After putting away everything we had brought with us, we took some time looking at the lake. Even though we couldn’t see the lake too well, as it was snowing, we still loved the atmosphere.
Snow is a gift from nature for us to enjoy. We did just that. We stood outside at the front porch and admired the incredible scenery, which was something out of a feel-good, fuzzy-feeling, Christmas movie!
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| View from the front porch |
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| On a snow day! |
We enjoyed the incredible views from inside and outside of our temporary home for the entire duration of our stay. We never got sick of it…After settling in that day, we started exploring Tupper Lake area the following day, and for the rest of our stay in the month of April.
Please see our top things to do in Tupper Lake!
- Tupper Lake Municipal Park
Tupper Lake Municipal Park is literally 10 steps away from our rental. We really got to enjoy this park during our stay. We took morning walks, usually making 2 loops around the well maintained walkway equaling around 4200 steps or so, and we took evening walks, to enjoy the sunset.
The park features beautiful views of the lake and the surrounding mountains, as well as a baseball field, picnic tables, and fascinating history of Tupper Lake’s logging industry, displayed in placards throughout the walkway. Bird watching is also a popular attraction at the park, as there are plenty of geese, seagulls, ducks, and other species of birds.
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| Still partially frozen lake with slush visible |
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| Tupper Lake Municipal Park, looking south |
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| Geese! |
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| Frozen lake |
On our first morning at Tupper Lake, we ventured out to walk early in the morning, despite the brutal, arctic-cold wind blowing right to our faces. It required dressing in layers but it didn’t really help that much. We were still cold with temperatures in the teens that morning, with winds in the teens.
We walked around sensing and feeling the Adirondacks cold in early April. We had left New York City with temperatures hovering around 60 degrees on April 1st, just one day prior. Wow!
We noticed the partially frozen lake as well as the slushy parts of the lake, which were really cool. We still saw plenty of geese and ducks swimming in the cold lake! You couldn’t pay me enough money for me to swim in that cold lake though…It’s just too darn cold!
By our second loop around the park, we were starting to feel bit warmer, and we felt energized to be walking the beautiful lakefront park right in the heart of the Adirondacks! We were happy…
Along the way, we saw something that I just had to try. We saw a man made log made out of rubber with instructions on how to properly stand and roll the log, just like how real loggers used to. We tried, but failed miserably! I couldn’t stand more than 2 seconds on it. My wife, the same…We each had a good laugh though, without breaking anything in the process.
The same day, we took our leisurely walk around the park to gaze at the awesome sunset. We talked about how lucky we were to be living the life we dreamt about when we were working 9 to 5. Just to be able to travel to new places, enjoying nature in all its glory, is a life worth living…
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| Beautiful sunset, Tupper Lake Municipal Park, NY |
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| Sunset from the observation deck |
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| Another sunset on a different day |
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| Just beautiful… |
During our walks at the park, we met several friendly locals. Dave (with his dog Molly) recommended so many good places to visit, and we also met a couple who owns a house with a private beach right at the lake. Our walks were certainly enriched by our awesome encounters with many friendly locals…
- Mt. Arab and the Fire Tower at the summit
Mt. Arab, sometimes known as Arab Mountain, is a 2533-foot tall mountain, located about 6 miles west of Tupper Lake. Mt. Arab is considered an easy hike, about a mile hike to the top of the summit, and features a ranger station (seasonal) and a fire tower.
I had researched suitable hikes that were considered easy and found this as a potential destination. My research, along with friendly local Dave’s recommendation, sealed the deal!
We left on a beautiful and a sunny Friday morning for Mt. Arab Trailhead & Parking (Note: search for this exact name when searching for Mt. Arab). It only took about 15 minutes to get to the trailhead parking lot from our place. We saw 2 other cars parked at the trailhead, and were secretly thanking the hiking gods that we had some company up on the trails, which was not the case when we hiked Mt. Jo.
We took our trail mix bar and water with us, then started our hike. We noticed the first quarter mile or so of the hike is possibly the most challenging, as the elevation gain was coming hard and fast. We were running out of breath after several minutes.
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| At the trailhead, Mt. Arab |
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| The steep part of the hike, looking down the trail |
We stopped at the first interesting landmark on the trail, which was a humongous boulder sitting to the right of the trail about a quarter mile up. We rested, drinking some water and eating our trail mix bar. We were happy to be alive, and happy to be doing some hiking in the beautiful Adirondacks.
It felt like winter up there, with nothing blossoming. Last April, when we were staying in Claysburg (PA), we saw all kinds of trees and flowers coming to life. Not the case in the Adirondacks! It felt like spring would need another month before we see temperatures warm enough for plants to come alive.
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| Gigantic boulder about a quarter mile up the trail |
After several minutes of eating, drinking, and resting our lungs, we continued up the trail. After around the half mile mark, we saw set of wooden stairs leading up the wet and muddy parts of the trail. We really felt like we were making progress when we looked back down the trail and saw our gain in elevation in just over 20 minutes of hiking.
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| Wooden stairs |
Beyond the wooden stairs, we thought the trail became less steep and at times, even fairly flat. We welcomed the change, if only briefly. The trail kicked our butts again soon after that, going up and up, albeit with less elevation gains compared to the first quarter mile. It certainly gave us dash of hope that we were getting close to the summit.
We were wrong about the summit, as we still needed to keep going, through switchbacks revealing distant vistas of lakes and mountain peaks. Compared to Mt. Jo, the trail is much easier to navigate, with much wider trail and with better trail markers. We didn’t think anyone can get lost hiking this trail.
After a total of about 50 minutes, we had made it to the summit. We saw a ranger station that was closed for the season, and we saw the impressive fire tower, gleaming in the morning sun. It felt great to have made it!
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| View from the fire tower! |
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| Ranger station with fire tower behind it |
We climbed up the fire tower noticing the howling wind the higher we went. I couldn’t hold my cell phone to take photos, and at times I almost dropped my phone. The wind blew in every which direction, trying to pry away my phone from me! The sound wind made was deafening and loud.
As sturdy as the fire tower was (made from steel and not wood), my wife had doubts about whether or not it can withstand the high velocity winds. I assured her that we were completely safe (I was hoping for that myself!).
The last push up the fire tower required acrobatic moves to squeeze into the smallish hatch-like opening to get to the top of the fire tower. It didn’t help that we wore heavy winter coats…
At the top of the fire tower, we noticed the wind noise had died down, thanks to windows made out of vinyl, or fiberglass, but not glass. We took a moment to enjoy the panoramic views of the Adirondacks. What a view…
My wife by that time, really wanted to get back down, as she still wasn’t sold on the safety of the fire tower. I headed down first, doing the acrobatic moves again to squeeze out the small opening to descend the stairs.
We grabbed the handrails as firmly as we could, then descended all the way down, where we had started. We looked back up, amazed by the sights and amazed that we had experienced walking up the fire tower with its gorgeous views.
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| Stairs on the fire tower |
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| View from the fire tower of the ranger station |
After getting back down, we continued on a walkway leading out to a small clearing for a better view of lakes and mountains in the distance. Awesome views, and an awesome hike!
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| View from the clearing |
On our way down to the parking lot, we met up with several hikers on their way up, including a family with kids and a dog. They all asked the same question you’ll hear on every hike, which is, “How much further to the summit???” We let them know they were about half way there in this case…
- Tupper Lake restaurants and shops
Since the passing of our Pomeranian Toby in March, we’ve been enjoying dining out at restaurants so much more. We weren’t worried anymore about leaving him by himself, so we really took our time savoring our meals at restaurants and/or exploring shops. This turned out to be the case during our month long stay at Tupper Lake.
One common denominator of all the restaurants we tried during our time in the Adirondacks is this: every one of them tasted good! We’ve eaten at places all over the place in the United States, and we’ve come to the conclusion that New York restaurants are really, really good.
Mind you, I did research these restaurants prior to going there, and we rarely go to restaurants that get average ratings. We typically select ones that get 4 stars or better on Google reviews. But even so, not all 4 star ratings are created equal.
What we experienced with restaurants is this: A 4 star rated restaurant near a big city, like New York City or Philadelphia, is usually good, and true to their 4 star rating. Typically, the further away from a big city you go, a 4 star rated restaurant is a hit or miss. The rating system doesn’t always work…
So, with this bit of first hand knowledge (and possibly prejudice?), we visited these 4 star rated restaurants with a grain of salt. I mean, how good can they be, away from a major city?
Our assumptions were proven wrong each and every time. We had some of the best foods anywhere! Here are our list of local restaurants and shops we’ve visited during our time, and we highly recommend all of them!
- Little Italy: Excellent food with excellent dinner rolls! We tried baked ziti with shrimp and shrimp pasta. On top of that, even the coffee was good. Total was around $60 with tips. Bit pricey but we also ordered from the dinner menu, and not lunch menu.
- Reandeau’s Swiss Kitchen: Diner-like setting with excellent blueberry pancakes the size of a small pizza, and excellent coffee. Blueberry pancakes were possibly top 1 or top 2 that I’ve ever had. Taste rivals some of the best hotel restaurants. We tried tuna fish sandwich, blueberry pancakes, onion rings, chocolate chip pancakes, French toast and coffees for a total of around $27 with tips! Really hearty portions and really reasonably priced.
- Well Dressed Food: Upscale fast casual eatery serving everything from coffees, falafels, burgers, to fish sandwiches. We had the falafel gyro and a cod fish sandwich with coffee, and they were delicious. Although a bit pricey at $30 for lunch, we did enjoy the meal, as well as the ambiance of the place.
- The Washboard/Donut Shop: This is a local tradition! The owners run a coin operated laundromat and a donut shop, serving some of the tastiest donuts we’ve had anywhere. We tried the old fashioned donuts, strawberry, blueberry, and vanilla (with nuts) cream-covered donuts. Very reasonably priced at around $1.40 per donut. They also serve coffees, bagels, and other sandwiches.
- Spruce & Hemlock Gifts and Bakery: A small gift shop and a bakery rolled into one. My wife had small eclairs and she absolutely loved them. Eclairs were about $4 for two small pieces.
- Honorable mention: Luna Restaurant (Lake Placid, near Mirror Lake): Awesome Italian place with a memorable and a friendly waiter! We tried calamari pasta fra diavolo, and a panini. Priced at around $50 with tips and soft drinks.
Important note: Many restaurants listed above only take cash! This is the case with many local restaurants/shops around the Adirondacks that we’ve visited. Please have cash handy!
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| The Washboard/Donut Shop |
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| Little Italy |
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| Well Dressed Food |
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| The Swiss Kitchen |
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| Well Dressed Food |
The quality of the foods served at various restaurants we’ve visited were top notch. We never had problems after our meals, proving good hygiene and quality, and best of all, they tasted great! We would put these restaurants up against any restaurant, in any large city. That’s how impressed we were with them!
In conclusion:
Tupper Lake is such a great base camp to explore the Adirondacks region. We got to do so many things in and around the Tupper Lake area, during our month long trip there. We got to experience hiking, snow in April(!), spectacular sunsets/sunrises, and savored wonderful foods!
We absolutely loved the lake, the mountains, the municipal park, Mt. Arab, and restaurants/shops. Compared to our previous month long stays elsewhere, we really got to experience the food scene like never before.
For that we’re really thankful and we’re looking forward to doing similar things in our future travels!
Thank you all for reading and happy trails!
Jake
Wandering Money Pig
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