The Hudson River Watertrail Association

New York, the largest of the Middle Atlantic states, is bordered on the east by Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, on the southeast by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by Pennsylvania and New Jersey, on the west by Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the north by the province of Quebec. New York has a total area of 54,475 square miles, of which 7,251 square miles are inland water. 

The Adirondack Mountains, part of the Laurentian Mountain system, in northeastern New York, constitute about a quarter of the state and rise to elevations above 5,000 feet. Mount Marcy, the highest point in the state, has an elevation of 5,344 feet. West of the Adirondacks the Tug Hill Plateau is a tableland of low relief and sluggish streams. Northeast of the Adirondacks the St. Lawrence-Champlain lowland forms a corridor between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. The Taconic Mountains, which lie along the eastern border of the state to the east of the Hudson, reach elevations above 2,000 feet. South of the Taconics the Manhattan Hills include most of Westchester County and Manhattan Island. 

About 13% of New York’s total area is made up of water, including streams, lakes, ponds, and some coastal waters. East of the Adirondacks is Lake Champlain, on the border between New York and Vermont, and just south of it is Lake George. The Finger Lakes are in central New York, and northeast of Syracuse is Lake Oneida. 

New York’s waters reach the ocean at widely separated locations from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. The largest of the drainage basins consists of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence systems, which carry the waters of much of western, central, and northeastern New York. The Niagara River as well as the Genesee and the Black rivers are in this system. The Hudson River originates in the Adirondacks and flows south through its 10-to-20-mile-wide valley. The New York State Barge Canal system, completed in 1918, is a state-operated waterway totaling 522 miles. Other major navigable waterways are the Hudson River, the Saint Lawrence River (via the Seaway), and Lakes Erie and Ontario. 

West of the Hudson River the Hudson highlands, about 1,000 feet in elevation, extend southwest. The Triassic lowland is a wedge of low, rolling terrain just south of the Hudson highlands. Their best-known feature is the Palisades, sheer cliffs of igneous rock forming the west bank of the Hudson River. The major features west of the Hudson, however, are part of the Appalachian Mountain system, which occupies nearly half the state in the south. The eastern part of this region is known as the Catskill mountains, a rugged section with elevations reaching about 4,000 feet, with steep, narrow valleys. Slide Mountain, at an elevation of 4,203 feet, is the highest peak. West of the Catskills the land is hilly, the central and lowest portion of the upland consisting of the Finger Lakes Hills, characterized by deep glaciated valleys. Near the extreme southwest corner of the state are the Allegheny Mountains, the only unglaciated part of the upland. 

Trees cover about 60% of the state. In the southeast oaks predominate, and in the higher Adirondacks spruce and fir predominate. Northern hardwoods, including birch, sugar maple, basswood, ash, and yellow birch, comprise the majority of trees in the rest of the state. Oaks are intermingled with the northern hardwoods in the Finger Lakes region, and along much of the Hudson Valley; the Ontario and Saint Lawrence plains have an abundance of elm and red maple.

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