ADIRONDACK PARK

Occasional reminders let you know that you're never far from civilization.

"So what do you think?" asked Jim, the trip's organizer. "Pretty nice, eh?" It was just a rhetorical question because he already knew my answer. Initially, I'd had reservations about taking a week of precious vacation time to paddle this "peopled wilderness." After all, as long as you're making the effort, why not travel to a real wilderness instead? But now, more than halfway through our weeklong 75-mile journey, I was delighted to be here, canoeing from wild to urban and back, across what a century ago was the nation's favorite resort for small-boat tripping.

Mention New York, and images of the Big Apple, hectic lifestyles, and discolored, smelly waters may come to mind. But far from Manhattan's madding crowds and concrete canyons lies some of the best backcountry and cleanest water in the East: upstate New York's six-million-acre Adirondack Park. This unique patchwork of public and private holdings embraces a hilly and sometimes mountainous terrain with more than 40 summits above 4,000 feet. Yet within all this rugged expanse, a utopia for hikers and backpackers, are scores of glacier-carved valleys that cradle a watery network of scenic rivers and postcard-perfect lakes-ideal canoe country.

Cliff, Tryon, and I were fortunate to have Jim and Don acting as our guides. Both know the park well. Though his home is in New Jersey, Jim's roots in the Adirondack Park go back three generations. He is a devoted student of everything Adirondack, including the area's history, geography, folklore, and canoeing heritage. It was in the Adirondacks, at his family's summer cabin on Lake Luzerne, that he learned how to canoe as a boy, a pastime he's been enjoying ever since. Don has been living in-and paddling-the Adirondacks for 24 years. For him, unwinding after a tough day of work means kayaking Class IV-V whitewater. But as co-author of Adirondack Canoe Waters: North Flow, an indispensable guidebook for all Adirondack paddlers, he says he enjoys every facet of boating, even if it means tagging along with four slow-paced canoe trippers.

One look at an Adirondack Park map, with its multitude of navigable lakes, ponds, rivers, and brooks, and it's immediately apparent that canoe-tripping options are nearly limitless in this swath of land the size of Vermont. But because more than half of the park remains in private ownership and corporate timberlands, where many of the old canoe routes are wholly or partly closed to the public, it takes a bit of ingenuity to come up with a satisfying multi-day tour. Together, Jim and Don mapped out a route that would give us newbies a bite-sized taste of their beloved Adirondacks.

We began our journey on Blue Mountain Lake, an island-studded jewel surrounded by mountains bristling with conifers and hardwoods that were just starting to show a mix of fall color. I expressed doubt that the scenery could get any better, but Jim only smiled.