Kate Van Waes, executive director of the American Hiking Society, said the more people who find outdoor recreation, the better. The sky outside the lean-to was only just beginning to lighten when we woke on our last morning in the Adirondacks.
We were high on a hill above the marshy expanse of Moose Pond in the High Peaks Wilderness and could hear something very large moving through the water. We slipped out of the warmth of the sleeping bag. After pulling on our shoes, we crept down the hill, wincing when small sticks crackled underfoot. The pond was still, not a ripple upon it. We craned our ears and eyes to the right, where we heard the sound of water sloshing against something—perhaps a moose!
Instead, we turned our attention to the serene scene before us. Clouds hung over the dramatic ridge line of the Sawtooth Range. An atmospheric drizzle began to fall. It may have been damp and gray, but that morning, the woods were peaceful and quiet. They were ours and ours alone, give or take a moose. All rights reserved. Jessica McKenzie is an independent journalist. She writes a newsletter about outdoor adventure, nature, and the environment called Pinch of Dirt.
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Epic floods leave South Sudanese to face disease and starvation. Trails marked well, some trees with markers blown down along the way but trail is blazed pretty good so it is easy to follow. You have to cross a few streams and rock hop as well. Most were shallow enough to wade with waterproof shoes. Loons at spruce lake too. Amazing hike. We were the only people on the trail. Lots of blowdown and water but loved every minute of it. Use Navigator in the AllTrails app and join the other outdoor explorers who have completed this trail.
Northville - Placid Trail hard Length Going North from Wakley Pond towards Lake Durant do not take the county road eastward, but instead walk up the east side where the trail is clearly marked with signs. If you are hiking south from Lake Durant do not continue toward the road south of Stephens Pond but rather go westward and follow the NPT markers. Reviews Sort by:. Robert Hull. October 31, Jennifer Ferriss.
October 22, Tyler Getman. September 23, Camping Great! Gina Feliciano. August 29, Hiking Blowdown Great! Ted Keenan. August 8, Eve Everette. July 2, Henry Bisner. November 10, November 7, Kirsty Frederick. October 1, Backpacking Blowdown Flooded Great! Mary Smith. September 24, Hiking Blowdown Muddy Over grown. Long, boring walk. Lots of blow down. Gemma Hanlon. The kiosk in Northville states that the trail is miles long.
Our mileage has the trail The trail looks easy on a map, but there are many that have failed a thru hike attempt of the NPT. Most hikers don't realize how remote some of the sections are and how difficult it can be to get supplies. Biting insect season will also put a damper on your adventure. There are many reroutes along the way, most due to beaver activity, but the trail is generally very clearly marked with DEC blue plastic discs.
You will have new feelings on the way you look at beavers after hiking this trail. Be very wary if you decide to walk through a beaver pond, you could find yourself waist deep in mud in the middle of the wilderness. There are also new sections of the trail being built to eliminate the current road walks in certain parts of the trail. Officially the southern start of the Northville-Placid Trail is located in the small hamlet of Northville and ends in Lake Placid.
It was nice to have some company, if only for a night. One of the hardest parts of backpacking is everything you take with you is going to be weight on your back. This includes food.
Our goal was to have light, calorie dense food to get us through. We portioned out our food ahead of time and pretty much ate the same thing every day. A great tip is to pack your bear canister in a chronological fashion, so the food you will eat first is on top.
For breakfast, we had a different variety of oatmeal every day and added things such as flax seeds, chia seeds, dried fruit, dates, cinnamon, and chocolate chips to add some flavor and extra calories.
We did not have an official lunch, instead we ate small snacks throughout the day. Eating small snacks is definitely the way to make sure your body stays fueled. Our snacks included Clif Bars, granola bars, trail mix, and we even found a great recipe online for jerky, which we made ahead of time. Too bad I ate it all after about day 3. So note to self, next time bring more sausage! The one meal where we managed to change it up every night was dinner.
At the base of these meals was some variety of pasta, potatoes, or rice. Also, if you use your imagination, rice and beans with some Mexican seasoning almost tastes like Chipotle. I figured if a bear was going to visit it would have been after eating that. We were told by a friend that the most wildlife you will see is on the road section of the trail, just after leaving Northville.
Interestingly enough, on day one of the trail after getting lost, I was in the middle of recording a monologue with my GoPro while we were walking along the road to the Benson trailhead when this animal came walking out of the woods. I noticed that it was fairly large, black fur, but as it stepped onto the road it slowly shook off its fur like you might expect from a dog. For that reason, I thought it was some kind of coyote or something similar.
Either way, I unholstered my bear spray and took to yelling and blowing my whistle until it went off back into the woods. Later, we described the experience to Hobo and he said we probably saw a bear. We saw plenty of evidence of other animals as well. Throughout the entire trail there are plenty of beaver dams. In the West Canada Lake Wilderness especially, there were plenty of animal tracks including coyote, bear, and deer.
In the High Peaks region , we also saw plenty of moose tracks and yes… moose poop, but no moose! For the most part, we had good weather along the trail. The temperatures in June were perfect for hiking and most of our days were spent hiking in the sun.
Thankfully, we had the appropriate gear to keep our packs and clothes dry. The most difficult part is keeping your feet dry. My best advice is to make sure you have multiple pairs of socks that you can change frequently. Next time, I will be taking more than two pairs of socks!
Day 5 was a particularly long day. It was so painful that I had to stop often and even resort to taking ibuprofen which actually helped a lot.
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