Maps and experiments from the largest park in the lower 48. Six million acres, nearly half of it forever wild. These are attempts to see it differently.
Every acre of state land on satellite imagery: 2.73 million acres of Forest Preserve and its lakes, 47% of the park, in shades of green by class. Everything private is dimmed, and conservation easements are one tap away.
Open the mapAn orbiting 3D terrain view of all 82 wilderness areas, wild forests, canoe areas and major easements, with just the essentials for a trip: trails, lean-tos, campsites, parking, summits and lake names.
Open the mapHow far can you get from the nearest road, trail, or railroad track? Click anywhere for the remoteness there, search any peak or lake, and find the most isolated spots in the park.
Open the mapHow far can you cross the Adirondacks on public land without hitting a road or a railroad track? Tap anywhere for its roadless block, the Forest Preserve unit, and the longest straight line through it.
Open the mapEvery lake, pond, river and stream inside the Blue Line, and nothing else. 11,212 bodies of water and 13,459 miles of channel, each stream drawn as wide as the water above it.
Open the mapThe USGS quads of record from 1900, 1950 and 1990, draped over today's 3D terrain. Watch trails, railroads and place names shift across a hundred years of surveys.
Open the mapWhere is the middle of the park? There are seven honest answers, they all land within eleven miles of each other between Long Lake and Newcomb, and the balance point of all six million acres is not on Forest Preserve.
Open the mapSky glow across the park from the 2025 light-pollution atlas. Hover anywhere for the night-sky quality there, and find the one spot where artificial light barely reaches.
Open the map