Greater in area than Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Olympic, Yellowstone, and Glacier national parks combined, New York State's Adirondack Park is the largest public park in the nation. A land of contrasts and paradoxes, loved, feared, exploited, protected, argued over, eulogized, and affected for better or worse by the hand of man for more than 300 years, the Adirondack forests, rivers, lakes, and peaks attract nearly 9 million visitors a year.