Everything worth doing.Within 20 minutes.

The flagship dining room at the Whiteface Lodge, on the peninsula where Whiteface Inn Road meets the water — hand-hewn log beams, a stone fireplace, and a kitchen that treats Adirondack game and trout as the point rather than theme dressing. Tasting menu on weekends. Book two weeks out during foliage season, when every table in town is already spoken for.

Whiteface Lodge's private beach facility on Lake Placid itself, reached by a short shuttle from the main building — light lunch fare, Adirondack chairs on the sand, a High Peaks view across open water instead of a golf fairway. Memorial Day through Labor Day only; there's no off-season version of this one.

The Whiteface Club & Resort's boathouse dining room on the west shore, in continuous operation since the club opened in 1882 — timber trusses, a stone fireplace, unobstructed sightlines down the lake toward the High Peaks. The camps-and-estates crowd's regular table. Sunset seating books first in July and August.

On Route 86 in Wilmington with private access to the Ausable River and one of the closest dining-room views of Whiteface anywhere in the region — four trout preparations on the menu, plus venison and quail. Wednesday through Sunday, dinner only, closed Monday and Tuesday. Worth the twenty-minute drive from the lake.

On Cascade Road a mile out of the village toward the High Peaks trailheads — ten house beers, a localvore kitchen, and the Giant IPA that took New York's best-double-IPA title. The brewery stop that fits a trailhead day, not a Main Street bar crawl.

The main gateway to the High Peaks Wilderness, 4.7 miles up Adirondack Loj Road from NY-73 — a parking booth, the Adirondack Mountain Club's historic lodge, and Heart Lake for a pre-hike swim. $10 nonmember parking, $5 after 1 PM. Fills by 7 AM on a clear August Saturday; the overflow lot is a mile back down the road.

A 4.3-mile out-and-back climbing to 180-degree High Peaks views, South Meadow spread out below the summit ledges. The same property runs the Olympic bobsled, luge, and biathlon complex, plus a mountain-bike and cross-country network once the trail season ends — one trailhead, four sports depending on the month.

Paddle the length of Lake Placid to Barrel Bay at the north end, or walk the 2.5-mile trail from the Route 86 bridge — either way you land at the least-crowded approach to Whiteface's summit. Canoe it in the morning, hike the last three miles up, and you've used both halves of what this lake is for.

Run by the Lake Placid Club on George and Bliss Lane — covered and uncovered slip memberships, a fuel dock pouring premium non-ethanol gas, and the closest thing this lake has to a full-service marina. Summer hours run noon to 5, six days a week; call ahead outside peak season.

Staged at the state boat launch between Lake Placid and Mirror Lake — from this one lot you can put in on either lake. Ski boats, fishing boats, and pontoons, hourly through weekly. Book the pontoon two days out in August; the fishing boats stay available later in the day.

The peak on the horizon from every dock on the north half of the lake — 4,867 feet, eleven miles from the village in Wilmington, and the reason winter guests book anyway once boat season ends. The greatest vertical drop east of the Rockies. On a clear October morning you can watch the summit take its first snow from a canoe.