Quietwater just off Route 74 with Severance Mountain rising above it. Good shoulder-season canoe territory.
Paradox Lake earned its name honestly. When Schroon Lake to the south runs high — typically in spring melt — the connecting channel between the two bodies of water reverses, and Paradox temporarily flows backward into itself. It was first noted in nineteenth-century geographic surveys; it remains the rare named lake in New York whose identity is a documented hydrological quirk.
The lake itself is small and quiet, four miles long, mostly state-owned shoreline, with the Paradox Lake State Campground anchoring the north end. It sits five miles east of Schroon Lake the village, just off Route 74 on the way to Crown Point and Ticonderoga, and the campground is one of the best-loved family campgrounds in the southeastern Park. Severance Mountain hiking, Brant Pond paddling, and the small-but-real Paradox Brewery are all within ten minutes.
What Paradox Lake offers, that the bigger lakes nearby cannot, is intimacy. There are no resorts. No public marina. No real village center. It is a small lake, in a small region, doing one thing well. The audience that finds it tends to come back every year for a generation.
Paradox Lake
open
Brook trout
Crowfoot inlet
Paradox Lake State Campground
Family campground on the north shore
The Paradox Brewery
Working microbrewery on Route 74
Severance Mountain
Easy summit, panoramic Schroon view
The Reversing Channel
The hydrological quirk the lake is named for
Crowfoot Brook
Quiet trout stream into the lake
27 directory entries across 5 chapters · 27 pinned on the map · 4 Field Guides cover this region
A 700-acre YMCA conference center and family retreat on Lake George — 120 years old and on the National Register.
1930s Montgomery Ward kit-home cottages on Schroon Lake.
Family campground with pool and courts between Schroon Lake and highway
Downtown Schroon Lake's roastery fueling hikers with house blends and hot sandwiches
Ticonderoga's chrome-trimmed diner turns out scratch-made plates and milkshakes
Country cooking since '93 — Ticonderoga's breakfast-and-lunch living room
Every published proprietor in the region, plotted on the map and filterable below.
A stone-built motor lodge on Montcalm Street in Ticonderoga, family-run since 1948, with antique-furnished lodge rooms, A-frame units with Adirondack themes, and motel-strip housekeeping units with kitchen appliances.
9 Mile Coffee Co. is a coffee shop in downtown Schroon Lake, NY, serving a variety of coffees, teas, smoothies, sandwiches, and soups. They also sell their custom coffee blends and gift cards online.
Blue Ridge Falls Campsites is a campground in North Hudson, NY, offering RV, pop-up, and tent camping near Schroon Lake and I-87. Guests can enjoy Wi-Fi, a swimming pool, tennis courts, and a camp store, with easy access to area attraction…
Discover Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks. Bridgeview Harbour Marina in Port Henry, NY offers camping, as well as moorings, slips, storage, and service to recreational and commercial boaters in Port Henry, NY. Visit our online store for…
An RV resort on Route 9N between Hague and Ticonderoga, with full-hookup RV sites, tent sites, and rustic Adirondack-style cabins. WiFi on all sites, fire rings, and Saturday-night live music in July and August.
Burleigh's Luncheonette is a 1950s and 1960s themed restaurant located in historic downtown Ticonderoga, New York, offering classic diner vibes and freshly made meals.
DeCesare's Pizzeria in Schroon Lake offers a menu of pizza, Italian dishes, and salads. They provide online ordering for both carryout and delivery.
Long-standing, log cabin–style haunt offering traditional pub grub, draft beer & cocktails.
Hay Fields Antiques & Flea Market features a year-round indoor antique mall and a seasonal outdoor flea market in North Hudson, NY, located right off I-87 at Exit 29. They offer a variety of vintage items, household goods, arts & crafts, a…
Hot Biscuit Diner is a full service family style restaurant in Ticonderoga. Visit us today to try our recipes! We put an emphasis on country style cooking, friendly service and affordable pricing. This Diner has been a family owned and ope…
A family- and woman-owned pizzeria on Montcalm Street in Ticonderoga since 2002, doing traditional pizza, calzones, pasta, and salads with in-store pickup, curbside pickup, delivery, and no-contact delivery. Pizza-club program.
Modest property offering simple rooms & cabins with fridges, microwaves & free WiFi, plus a pool.
A riverfront campground on River Road in Schroon Lake with seasonal sites, in-house Schroon River tubing, free ice and wood at check-in, and tribute-band weekends.
An easy 1.7-mile loop trail near Crown Point on the east side of the Adirondacks, on Peasley Road by the Penfield Museum, with a brook crossing and Penfield Pond shoreline.
Paradox Brewery offers a diverse tap selection, a full menu with pizza, burgers, and BBQ, and an expansive mountain landscape.
Penfield Homestead Museum preserves the history of Crown Point, NY, and the surrounding Ironville area. Explore the historic homestead, barns, church, and learn about local history, military conflicts, and notable families.
The 46,283-acre Pharaoh Lake Wilderness is part of the Adirondack Forest Preserve. The wilderness contains an abundance of lakes and ponds, especially in the northern portion.
Pitkin's Restaurant is a family dining landmark in Schroon Lake, offering breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a broad menu in a modern rustic setting. It features a new patio, including pet-friendly outdoor dining, and is conveniently locate…
A 700-acre lakeshore conference and family-retreat center in operation since 1904. National Register of Historic Places. 253 rooms across hotel, cottages, dorms, and guest houses; meeting spaces up to 700; 15 miles of hiking trails.
Sticks and Stones Wood fired Bistro and Bar, Menu, Events, Catering, Location, Adirondack style private parties.
Historic Montgomery Ward kit-home cottages from the 1930s on 14 acres with 400 feet of Schroon Lake shoreline, owned by the Starfield family since the mid-1950s. Dog-friendly for a fee.
The Brown Swan and Tavern in Schroon Lake, NY, offers Adirondacks-inspired cuisine with locally sourced ingredients in a family-friendly setting.
Historic 440-acre Adirondack farmstay B&B above Lake Champlain in Putnam Station. Four en-suite bedrooms, two parlors, formal dining, wrap-around porch. Working farm with horses, cows, and chickens.
The Old Miners Tavern is a historic Adirondack tavern in Moriah, NY, offering classic bar food like juicy burgers and chicken wings, a full bar with rotating craft beers, and a welcoming atmosphere for friends to gather.
The Pub is a British-inspired restaurant recognized for serving the best Fish and Chips in the U.S. by the UK’s Greene King Brewery. It offers excellent food, drinks, and genuine hospitality with a wide selection of beers.
A local history museum on Montcalm Street in Ticonderoga inside the 1888 building, the sole surviving structure from the Ticonderoga Pulp and Paper Company. Free walking tours of the La Chute industrial corridor.
Trail Break at Schroon Lake offers a restaurant, bar, and lodging in Schroon Lake. Guests can enjoy a menu of food, wine, and beer, live music on select evenings, and overnight stays in their rooms from May through October.
Brook trout streams that have been here since the glaciers, lake trout in two hundred feet of cold water, smallmouth on every shoreline — and a sortable atlas of every major water in the Park.
Every swimmable body of water in the Park — public beaches, state campground beaches, swimming holes, waterfalls, and the small ponds nobody writes about. From Million Dollar Beach to Moffitt.
Camps, cabins, and lakefront — what to know about Park-region real estate, financing a second home, taxes and STAR, lakefront vs. mountain vs. in-town, and the surprises a generalist agent won't flag.
