1. Adirondack Mountains (Lake Placid)

We were able to enjoy a few days in Lake Placid and hiked two of the many trails at Adirondack Mountains (ADK) in fall 2021. Luckily the weather were perfect on the two days we planned to hike AND the trees were in peak colors. The scenes were just unreal!

Since we drove most of the day previously from Maine (PAGE COMING SOON), we thought we should tackle the Indian Head trail that Thur, but decided to do a shorter trail and rest up for the long hike. Initially I wanted to hike the Mount Van Hoevenberg East Trail (3.6 miles) for a good view but read there were construction and trailhead was closed.

There were a few other suggested hikes: Mt Jo (required paying for parking, $10), Mt Marcy (1st highest peak, 7.4 miles total), and a few other trails we drove past (Roostesrcomb, Giant Ridge Mtn) that looked popular, based on the cars parked on the side of the road. There were other things to do in the area. Such as, if you wanted to drive 13-miles up the Veteran’s memorial highway to the top of Whiteface summit (instead of hiking it), you can pay $20/car+driver and $20/additional person. Or, visit the Adirondack Experience (museum), that was also $20/person to explore the museum/area.

• Cobble Lookout (2.5 miles total, 250ft elevation gain)

As I browsed through the many websites of the best hikes that are not too lengthy. This looked promising, although it was 20 minutes north of Lake Placid and down the street from Santa’s Workshop (North Pole, NY) – seems random!! We got there early so there was plenty of parking (small lot) but you can also park on the side of the street. It was a steady incline through the woods, where it was muddy at some parts. Then, there was a clearing where you see the most vivid fall colors. We spent half an hour there enjoying the view and plotting our next destination. This is definitely a must-do, free parking, short hike, and amazing view!

• Indian Head (10.5 miles total)

1) You must reserve a parking ticket 2 weeks ahead of your planned hike. Create a new account and book it easily online at the AMR website. They are regulating the parking situation and amount of people visiting these popular trails. I ended up booking two days as I wasn’t sure which day the weather would be the best to go. The day of I tried to cancel it so other people could have a chance to park but I could not cancel it after 48hrs prior. They do check your name when you enter the parking lot and once again when you pass through the gate to enter the trailhead. There is a porta-potty at the parking lot then you have to moderate between thirst and the urge to urinate during your hike.

2) We got in around 7 am, and started our slow walk up the private road of a country club (about 0.5 mile to get to the gate). We continued on this road for another 3 miles – fairly paved road, occasionally a shuttle bus will pass us going up/down the road for members only.

3) Finally, we came across the beginning of the Indian Head trailhead (there are many other trails you can take, depending how much time/energy you got).

4) Indian Head (what a view!!) The moderate incline up was heart-pumping, slightly muddy and had to climb a few ladders. I was dreading the return down the same path. But the view was well-worth the hike. There were already folks on the lower level admiring the view. We got there around 9ish so the sun was still rising (the lake is in the shadows).

We made our way down there to enjoy our snack and wait for the sun to rise a little more for these gorgeous pictures. Thankful for the tripod my friend got me so we don’t have to ask folks to take pictures, yay for Bluetooth capability! This is also our first hike where the final destination is a lake between mountains! We can’t wait to visit Crater Lake and other awesome hikes out west.

5) When it was time to leave, we decided to venture down to Fish Hawk Cliffs. It was not as well-traveled and had very steep declines. We met folks there that asked how far Indian Head was, we cautioned that it would be a steep incline for them but maybe 15 minutes away. The rock was much smaller and not as epic as the Indian Head view but still very beautiful. You can look back and see the Indian Head rock through the leaves.

6) We decided to trek our way down the sunnier side of the mountain via Gill Brook. It seemed a little easier, but there were also very muddy sections on the trail. We heard some waterfalls along the trail but they were nothing to write about. We ended up taking the Cutoff to Lake Road because I was tired of hopping around the muddy sections and rather walk on the paved road back to the car. There were also less “bugs” on the roads, versus the mud/waterfall areas.

When we weren’t in the woods, we drove through the town of Lake Placid, but the main street was under construction so we didn’t visit The Olympics Center. We did stop by to see the amazingly tall Olympic Ski Jumping Complex (also having some maintenance) and Whiteface Mountain Ski Resort (which offered a gondola ride to the top but it wasn’t open till the weekend. Apparently, it was the last weekend of the summer, but at $25/person, we skipped it since we were able to get a wonderful view with our own two legs – Indian Head).

We also drove to the next town, Saranac Lake, to explore but the shops and streets were dead. I guess it was off season when we visited so there wasn’t much to see or shop at. Their river walk was disjointed and very short so we ended up sitting by the bear statues for lunch before leaving.

They had plenty of breweries in the area so we decided to dine out on our last night there at Big Slide Brewery after our long 10.5 mile hike! We tried a flight of beer and shared a personal pizza (the hunter) with blueberries and venison sausage with pesto sausage. It was delicious!