Blue Mountain Lake, Adirondack Park, New York

Yesterday we took a drive on Hwy. 28 NW into the Adirondack Mountain Park. We drove to the town of Blue Mountain, with the population of about 146 according to the 2000 census. We stop for lunch at a picnic table at the town beach.

The town is at 1,824 feet elevation.

There are 20 islands on the lake.

Joe spotted a sign that said there was a private history boat tour that started at 2:00. It was 1:50, so we decided to take it. It cost $20 a person for a 2 1/2 hour boat ride.

A very large boat garage. The large 23 bedroom home was hidden behind tress.

This is Elizabeth; a 5 lb black poodle owned by the pontoon tour guide.

There are approximately 40 homes, Bed & Breakfasts, and resorts around the lake.

Mike, our captain has been coming to this lake every summer with his family since he was a little boy. Now runs a  boat touring business with his brother here during the summers.

These homes are rental homes.

A large rock island with a few trees.

Little Elizabeth was very outgoing and kept wanting to play, sniff , and check out Mallery.  Mallery has never been outgoing and has always been very shy, especially to dogs who are outgoing toward her. I finally found that if I held Mallery, with her looking away, then I could hold Elizabeth, (who insisted on being close to Mallery), and then both would be happy!

Our guide took us to places we thought were the end of the lake.

The narrow channel took us into another lake, called Eagle Lake.

I think we were the only motorized boat on the lake. Most of the boats were canoes and kayaks.

Our boat ride took us right by a loon, that had just made a nest in the grasses, according to our guide.

We went through another narrow channel to a 3rd lake, Utowana. Then we turned around to head back. A head, in the picture you can see two bridges that boats can go under to enter into the next lake. We of course went under the bigger bridge.

A sign under the bridge.

The sign is in memory of Mr. Durant who built the bridge and railroad that brought people here years ago for vacations.

In 1862 President Lincoln called Dr. Thomas Durant to Washington to oversee construction of the Union Pacific Railroad as its vice-president, leading to the linking of the Pacific and Atlantic coasts by rail.  With its successful completion in 1869, Durant returned to Albany to become President of the Adirondack [Railway] Company.  

In 1871 the New York State Legislature requested that the Adirondack Railway be extended another 40 miles from Saratoga to North Creek.  In return, Durant and Leland Stanford were either given or were able to purchase almost 700,000 acres in the Adirondacks at five cents an acre.

This acreage included Blue Mountain Lake, Eagle Lake, Utowana Lake and much of the north shore of Raquette Lake.  In 1874 Durant recalled his son, artist William West Durant, home from Egypt to help manage his land holdings.  Within the next 25 years great camps, huge hotels, a golf course, steamboat lines, stagecoach lines, a telegraph line and a post office were built on Raquette and Blue Mountain Lakes - all owned by the Durants or their relatives and friends.   

There were many beaver dams in the narrow areas between the chain of lakes.

There was a couple other people on the boat ride. One was from New York, and the other from Pennsylvania. We were going through a narrow channel in this picture, also.

Blue Mountain is straight ahead in this picture. It is 3,600 feet high

Blue Lake is 1,280 acres. In this picture Joe was trying to get a picture of a mink that was swimming across a narrow area. The mink is the dot in the center of the picture. Joe doesn't have much practice with my camera, and doesn't know how to zoom in. Oh well you can see more of the lake.

The majority of the 3 chain lakes is owned by one man, who has turned the lakes into forever forest preserve. Joe really liked this lake because of the quietness of it. The tour guide told us, all the other homes are passed from family to family, so no homes are ever for sale around the lakes.

The guide , Mike, also told us this lake is the cleanest lake in the US, with Flathead Lake in Montana, coming in second. Joe and I have seen the two cleanest and clearest lakes in the US now.

This is a picture of a view on Hwy 30, just south of the town of Indian Lake, we passed through on our way to Blue Mountain Lake.