Following the previous two blogs, you now know about my plans to hike the Benton MacKaye Trail and the Finger Lakes Trail in the summer of 2015. Now, on to trail #3 - The Northville-Placid Trail.
The Northville-Placid Trail is aptly named, due to the fact that it runs from Northville, NY to Lake Placid, NY, which is pretty much completely in the eastern region of the Adirondacks. This trail is also the shortest of the four trails being hiked next summer, coming in at a short and sweet 134 miles.
This trail won’t take long to complete, but will not be without its challenges. Since this trail is in the Adirondack region and we’ll be hiking it in the early part of summer, mosquitos and black flies will be ever present throughout the week and a half we’ll be hiking. Filtering water will also be a huge part of this hike since it takes place in the low lands, meaning lots of beaver activity in the water and giardia will abound!
This trail won’t have nearly the elevation gains and losses that other trails we’ll be hiking this summer will contain, but it will be in low-lying lands so wet feet and summer bugs will be our two biggest burdens. We are hoping to only do one resupply on this hike, so one box is all we’ll need to plan for. While there isn’t a whole lot of information out there on this trail, there is an incredibly active Facebook group dedicated to this trail and is a wealth of information for planning and trail conditions. The guide book for the NPT is over 7 years old and the maps are incredibly out of date. We are hoping to purchase the two National Geographic maps for this region and since we’re only going to stop for one box we don’t anticipate many problems.
This trail will be similar to the Benton MacKaye Trail in the regard that the trail markings are inconsistent and few and far between. We’ll definitely have to brush up on our compass and map skills before hitting this one. Here’s a little information about the NPT for those who aren’t familiar:
-The Trail was conceived in 1922 and completed between 1924 and 1927.
-Going Northbound, there is a 10.3 mile roadwalk, but you aren’t required to complete it to be considered an end-to-end hiker.
-Despite being a short trail, it actually travels through two villages.
For more information about this trail, you can visit: http://www.nptrail.org/