NPT Summary 1

Hike Your Own Hike - Eighteen Days on the Northville-Placid Trail
The People - The Places...September 21 - October 8, 2005
© 2006 - NatureScapes 4 U, Inc. - Lake Placid, NY- Tom Wemett - 518-523-4000

Section One - Lake Placid to Long Lake
This section of the NP Trail runs from the official Northern terminus at the corner of Old Military Rd. and Averyville Rd. and continues in the woods and wilderness for approximately 37.7 miles to the road crossing at Route 28N east of Long Lake Village.

Day one - September 21, 2005: I had stayed at the Spruce Lodge B&B in Lake Placid the day before the start of my hike and on the morning of the beginning of my hike I got a taxi ride from the Spruce Lodge to the official start of the trail. I started this section at the official northern terminus of the NPT at the northwest corner of Old Military Rd. and Averyville Rd. and then hiked to the actual trailhead on Averyville Rd. approximately 1.2 miles west on Averyville Rd. My first day’s hike totaled approximately 8 miles and the night was spent camping in a tent approximately 50 feet from the base of Wanika Falls.

The weather was pleasant and enjoyable and excellent for hiking. I met two couples on this section of the hike. Cheryl and Joe Finan from Pineville, PA who hiked into Wanika Falls from the trailhead parking area and then returned the same day and Tammy Loewy and Nick Gulli and their dog, Ursa, from Keene Valley who were celebrating their 5th wedding anniversary by section hiking from Long Lake to Lake Placid.

Highlights along this section were beautiful waterfalls at Wanika Falls and all along this outlet from the watershed of Street and Nye Mountains to the Chubb River as well as a grave marker at the site of a former lean-to at Wanika Falls that read “Hunter Freckles, May 8, 1998 - December 22, 2002”. I haven’t yet discovered who Hunter Freckles was or who its owner was or the circumstances of its death and the reason for a marker at Wanika Falls. If anyone has any information about Hunter Freckles, please contact me.