November and December are a wonderful time to visit Lake Placid. Festive and bright!

Stick season has arrived in Lake Placid. It’s the time between fall and winter … after the leaves have dropped and before the snow consistently covers everything. Basically, the hardwood trees look like sticks. Not everyone’s favorite season, but it’s great timing if you want to avoid the crowds and extend your hiking season. For those visiting Lake Placid in October and November, here are some pre-holiday activities to consider.

We spent about four months at our house in Lake Placid this year, with trips in January, April-May and August-October. As always, we visited some of our favorite restaurants and tried new ones. Here’s a run-down of memorable meals in and around Lake Placid, and a few that weren’t so great.

In late September I hiked the Cranberry Lake 50, a 50-mile loop around Cranberry Lake, about an hour west of Lake Placid. I knew there had been bear activity reported in the area, and prepared accordingly. Sure enough, I had my first bear encounter (outside of being in a car). Here’s what happened and my lessons learned.

I’m all about hiking and paddling with a qualified naturalist. Maybe it’s a sign of my age, but it adds so much to my outdoors experience when there’s someone to point out hidden gems and explain a little biology, geology or history along the way.

Usually when you think about a farm tour, you’re envisioning fruits, vegetables, cows, maybe sheep. But why not include a flower farm on your next Adirondack driving tour? Fields and fields of flowers. Here are a few options if you’re around the Lake Placid area or Lake Champlain Valley.