Adirondack Park - Auger Falls and Kane Mountain Trails, Northampton Beach Campground and Southern Adirondacks Base Camp/Balsam Inn (New York)

Adirondack Park is a huge 6.1 million acre park in upstate New York managed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.  52% of the land within park boundaries is privately owned and 102 towns and villages intersperse the park.   

My oldest and I tent camped Friday night at Northampton Beach Campground, a large (223 sites) campground adjacent to 29 mile long Great Sacandaga Lake.   This was a nice campground but unfortunately our visit was marred by loud and intoxicated neighbors that stayed up past 2 am playing music and shouting.  We originally planned on staying there Saturday night as well but made different plans through HipCamp after Friday's incident.

After setting up camp, we hiked the nearby 1.3 mile Auger Falls Trail.  The trail runs along the Sacandaga River as it descends through a narrow gorge.  This was a beautiful hike on well maintained trails and we saw only a handful of people on the trail.

We spent most of Saturday with family from Albany and then moved to our new campground, the Southern Adirondacks Base Camp.  I found the location on HipCamp and was glad that I did.   The site is located behind the historic Balsam Inn in the town of Arietta and consists of an open field adjacent to woods.  There are tables and chairs, a shower, a sink for washing dishes, indoor bathrooms, a large fire pit, and WiFi.

The owner of the property was incredibly helpful and accommodating, and gave us a tour of the inn and pub while we were there.   Given our lack of sleep the night before, I decided to forego camping for the night and instead upgraded to a room in the inn for each of us.  

The Balsam Inn is located above the pub, but the rooms are well insulated from the noise of the pub.   Once the pub closed it was completely silent through the night.  Each of the rooms is tastefully decorated and have extremely comfortable beds.   There is a shared bath and a well stocked continental breakfast is provided.   I highly recommend both the campground and inn if you are in the area.

Sunday morning we hiked Kane Mountain, a 1.6 mile round trip hike through woodlands up to a fire tower with expansive views.  

Overall this was a great trip. My only regret was not having more time to explore the area around the Balsam Inn as there were many trails in the area.  We are both looking forward to returning to this area in the future.