[img:map-adirondack.jpg]Lake Placid, Adirondacks USA - The Lake Placid-based Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism (ROOST) is pleased to remind visitors that New York State’s Adirondack Park is open for business, and continues to welcome visitors to enjoy the region’s spectacular mountains and lakes for the remainder of foliage season and beyond.

Following the Federal Government shutdown that began on Tuesday, October 1, U.S. National Parks have been shut down to visitors, prompting Adirondack visitors to call region businesses and visitor information centers to inquire whether that shutdown applies to the Adirondack Park. It does not; the Adirondack Park is a STATE park.

The Adirondack Park is the largest protected area in the contiguous United States; a patchwork of public and private lands that comprises approximately 6 million acres in the northeast corner of New York State. It is larger than Yellowstone, Everglades, Glacier and Grand Canyon National Parks combined.

There is no marked boundary to the park; no entrance gate and no admission fee.

The Park is a popular destination for outdoor recreation, courtesy of its topography; a juxtaposition of mountains and water that includes over 2,000 miles of marked hiking trails and 3,000 lakes and ponds and more that 1,200 miles of rivers fed by an estimated 30,000 miles of brooks and streams.  Millions visit annually to hike, bike, paddle, ski, snowshoe and climb, as well as bask in the spectacular beauty of the protected wilderness.

“The Adirondack Park challenges the traditional notion of what a park is,” said James McKenna, president of ROOST. “Though maybe it should be considered a National treasure, it is definitely a State park, and we are absolutely open for business.”

For more information or to plan an Adirondack vacation, visit www.lakeplacid.com.