Ski on underused road is solid option for when there is thin snow cover
By Tom French
When Doug suggested we ski the Old Wawbeek Road, a 2.3-mile out-and-back, I asked why he was choosing this obscure road out of all the possible trails near his home in Saranac Lake. At first he teased me that it was difficult to choose given his plethora of options, but eventually, he conceded that this paved, disused road held snow well and was more easily skied with thin cover.
By the time you read this, even that thin cover may be gone from at least the third thaw cycle of the 2025 winter season. But on the morning of this adventure, the Sunday before Christmas, it was cold, with highs forecast below 10 degrees, and we were still enjoying powder from recent snow events.
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Although some might consider single-digit temperatures to be bitter, when you’re desperate, conversation turns to the number of layers needed. My daughter Emma reported a low of three. Doug had four, and I was being liberal at five, clearly forgetting the old axiom that you should always start with less layers than you think because you will warm up soon enough.

Wawbeek history
The Old Wawbeek Road was the original gateway to Upper Saranac Lake. Until a suitable bridge was built across the outlet of Lower Saranac Lake in 1900, access to the many hotels and camps was by water or from the west.
The Wawbeek Lodge (later the Hotel Wawbeek) was established in 1889 as a five-story, two-hundred-room resort. It was “sold under the hammer” several times before it was demolished in 1914 and replaced in the 1920s (dates vary) with a smaller inn. After 50 years or so of various incarnations (hotel, boys camp, ownership by St. Lawrence University, and base of operations for Sports Illustrated’s Olympic coverage in 1980), a fryer fire erupted in the kitchen one week after the Sports Illustrated crew left. The conflagration was visible for miles.
The Wawbeek Inn that some may remember from the 1980s through early 2000s was actually a Great Camp next door designed by William Coulter. Purchased for use as a private camp in 2008, it too met its demise when it was torn down for a newer great-camp-style home.
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Getting there and getting started
The original road winds around high points of land from Tupper Lake to Wawbeek. The best access for the paved portion is from the Deer Pond parking area along Route 3/30, five miles from Tupper Lake and slightly east of a NYDOT facility (click here to see a DEC map of the area). Don’t google Old Wawbeek Road, as that will take you to the Tupper Lake side where access is across private property.
As you leave the trailhead, it may feel as if you’re departing at 90-degrees to Route 3/30, but it’s an illusion. A junction for Deer and Lead Ponds is 100 yards beyond the trailhead. That section of the road is not paved.
Our ski continued straight as an arrow through what was actually a slow curl to the west along the base of an unnamed 1,800-foot prominence with wetlands to the south. The silence of the woods was eventually pierced by the whir of rubber on pavement as the trail comes within 50 yards of Route 3/30 at what appears to be an old quarry and gravel pit with a striking rock face.
The trail again turns deceptively, away from the highway, and up a gentle grade for a half-mile before dipping to an unnamed tributary of the Raquette River.
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After another climb to what feels like the highest point (“climb” is an overstatement – the entire 2.3 miles barely leaves the 1,600-foot contour line of a topographic map), the trail drops to the turn for Deer Pond. Signs of civilization appear ahead on private property. The western side of the Old Wawbeek Road, with homes and pastures, is just beyond.
A sign points toward the Deer Pond Loop, though Doug said we needed significantly more snow to traverse its “gnarly steep hills, some of which end on narrow bridges.” Just peering into the undergrowth where the trail enters the thicker Tolkien-esque woods was enough to convince me.
We’d been breaking trail, and even the freshly ironed, cold-weather glide wax on my tips and tails wasn’t enough to overcome the gritty feeling from the frigid snow. But heading back, our tracks were compact enough to allow a couple nice downward runs on the subtle terrain. We spotted cement right-of-way markers and culverts from its days as a road. Our poles occasionally hit the blacktop beneath the snow. Mother Nature has narrowed the road over time with encroaching brush.
Related reading: Skiing through history on trails around Adirondack Fish Hatchery
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Forestry school connection
At some point, a spur of the Brooklyn Cooperage Railroad crossed the road near the nameless tributary, but any sign of it has been erased – even from LIDAR. The mainline ended at Crosses Clearing along the Raquette River across the highway from the trailhead. Built in 1900, the logging railroad was mired in controversy with the New York State College of Forestry at Cornell (moved to Syracuse in 1911) when wealthy landowners along Upper Saranac Lake successfully complained about the clearing and fires associated with an early experiment in forest management.
Bernhard Fernow, sometimes referred to as the Father of American Forestry, who was dean of the College of Forestry at the time, was attempting to convert the existing hardwood forest to white pine and Norway spruce. The Fernow Plantation Loop, a 1.1-mile interpretive trail, is nearby along Route 30 towards Wawbeek.
The experiment ended in 1903, and the railroad shut down in 1904. Portions of the railbed became part of Route 3/30 when it was built in the 1930s.
A CCC Camp that housed 200 workers was also built at Crosses Clearing in 1933 specifically to reforest the area from the denuding 30 years earlier. Despite the building of 14 large buildings, Camp S-63 was only active for three years (a cause for consternation in some of the papers at the time). Workers from the camp, many from Tupper Lake, were involved in creating fire lines, building 35 bridges (both foot and vehicular), clearing an 8-mile channel along the Raquette to improve navigation from Moody to Raquette Falls, and blazing trails to the fire towers on Mt. Morris and Ampersand.
Besides LIDAR and the occasional embankments, no signs of the CCC Camp or railroad are easily evident today.
After two hours of skiing, we reached the cars. Like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Emma reported being chilly. I was sweating profusely and eager to peel. Doug was feeling just right.
Photo at top: An old quarry and/or gravel pit, perhaps used in the construction of Route 3/30, is only 50 yards from the highway. Eye rings and other artifacts can be seen on the floor of the forest. Photo by Tom French
Enjoyed this article very much.
Would like to read one about Bernhard Fernow and the early forestry industry.
Why were they trying to change the forest composition?
Just who were the wealthy landowners who objected to it, and how did they affect that policy?
Thanks so much!