Lake George, N.Y.—ADK has released the fifth edition of its Adirondack Mountain Club Northville-Placid Trail in time for the Northville-Placid Trail’s 95th anniversary. The newest edition in ADK’s Forest Preserve Series of Adirondack and Catskill guides, this volume marks the relaunch of the series.
Edited by Jeff and Donna Case of Mattydale, N. Y., the volume has been extensively revised and redesigned, including a return to a smaller, more convenient size. The new edition’s arrival is a celebration of another sort as well: the text includes a detailed description of the long-awaited reroute of the Northville-Placid Trail’s (NPT’s) southern approach.
Since the trail’s inception, hikers from the south had been confronted with approximately 10 miles of punishing road walking before entering the woods, or with skipping the initial portion of the trail altogether. The new route, described by Jeff Case as “a very nice section through beautiful woods,” takes hikers through forest and around a lake where once it followed the road. Both editors can say this and much more about the trail with confidence; when they conclude this year’s trip on the NPT in May, they will have hiked the trail twenty-eight times.
Construction of the NPT was ADK’s first project. To date, 2,235 hikers have traversed the trail end to end, writing ADK’s Schenectady Chapter to celebrate the achievement and arrange for a completer’s patch. Originally 132 miles long, reroutes and trail changes have extended the NPT to 138.6 miles.
Publication of this volume also marks the roll-out of a new edition—the organization’s fifth—of ADK’s Forest Preserve Series, six comprehensive trail guides to the Adirondacks and Catskills that have long been the essential tool for hikers in both regions. This guide corresponds to National Geographic’s Trails Illustrated Map 736: The Northville-Placid Trail, alarge-format, two-sided, waterproof map created in partnership with the Adirondack Mountain Club.
The NPT passes through what many consider the wildest and most remote parts of the Adirondack Park, notably the high plateau that encompasses the Spruce, West Canada, and Cedar Lakes area, as well as the Cold River region. The highest point the N-P Trail reaches (3008 ft) is at the crest of the ridge to the E of Blue Mt. and of Tirrell Pond. Thus traversing the NPT, whether all at once or piecemeal, enables a hiker to see a rich and varied cross-section of the Adirondacks.
Adirondack Mountain Club Northville-Placid Trail is 140 pages, 5″ x 7″, and includes 10 sections describing the NPT in detail, with a page map at the opening of each. It is available in softcover for $19.95 ($15.96 members) and $26.95 for the book-and-map pack ($21.56 members) at book and outdoor supply stores, at ADK stores in Lake George and Lake Placid, through mail order by calling (800) 395-8080, and online at www.adk.org
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