Terzian Woodlot: A cool hike with a cooler name

Finding the trail is the hardest part of this outing on the northern end of Lake George

By Tim Rowland

As Hall of Fame pitcher Dizzy Dean would have said, if Hague on Lake George isn’t the prettiest town in the Adirondacks, it is amongst ’em.

You’ll know you’re a real Adirondacker when you stop calling it “The” Hague, and when you make a point a time or two a year to drive along the lake’s northern shoreline where hulking mountains rise straight out of the watery depths.

Northern Lake George has its share of trails, although they are less trammeled than their brethren to the south. One that caught my eye recently is named the Terzian Woodlot trail on a preserve protected by the Lake George Land Conservancy.

I love the name, which sounds like one of those new-millenium bands: “Yes, in my day job I’m a chemical engineer, but on weekends I play bass for Terzian Woodlot.”

The trail ascends about a mile and a half to an expanse of cliffs overlooking Sabbath Day Point on Lake George, but if you don’t know where to look you may never find it because to reach the preserve you have to cross a band of unmarked state land.

A small access road is discoverable on the right on Rt. 9N, 14.5 miles south of the traffic circle in Ticonderoga. Or on the left, 11.5 miles north of the junction of 9N and the North Bolton-Riverbank Road accessed on the Northway’s Exit 24.

There is no sign. But there is a signpost with nothing hanging from it. The dirt road will not be plowed, but if it’s not too deep or you have a Possum Pursuit Vehicle you’ll be able to ease your way up the grade to where it splits. To the left is a Department of Environmental Conservation sign announcing a footpath. You don’t want that. Bear right up to a broad open field where you can park. The trail will begin on the far end of this field.

So to recap. Turn where you don’t see a sign, and don’t turn where you do.

The correct route follows an old woods road past the stone foundation of an old springhouse and several other waterworks artifacts; you’ll see a camp or two through the trees on the right.

In a couple places the road forks, and both times you will go right. In a little less than 4/10ths of a mile you will arrive at a brook that you will follow upstream until the road and stream bend off to the right. Here, you will head left/straight up a hill along a semi-identifiable but unmarked footpath.

At the top of the hill is the Lake George Land Conservancy kiosk with a sign-in sheet and a lot of eye-catching information, including a sober notice to leave the rattlesnakes alone. I have to say, this for me is not an issue. I just hope the snakes have read the sign to leave me alone.

If you have made it this far you’re in the clear, because from here on the trail is well-marked with red medallions.

The 133-acre preserve, purchased from the Terzian family, was protected in 2014 thanks to a fundraising effort in the Silver Bay community. As with any self-respecting woodlot, the forest is made up of open hardwoods — beech, birch, ash, oak and maple, with some hemlocks and the occasional pine thrown in. The climbing is easy to moderate to a point at seven-tenths of a mile where  it descends into a small gorge where the trail has been rerouted around a massive tree that couldn’t have fallen in a more inconvenient location if it had tried.

A small rock-hop is necessary to cross a little stream here, before the trail climbs up and back down a high bank to a bridge over the main brook. This is a beautiful little spot where the water has cut deep into the rock, and a pleasant afternoon could be spent right here, writing poetry, reading a book or doom scrolling on X.

After a steep little pitch up from the stream, the trail climbs along the rim of the gorge through a beautiful wood for about half a mile to a junction. Going straight leads to a small waterfall and the end of the public trail and beginning of the private Silver Bay YMCA trail system.

The prime attraction, the Uncas Cliffs, are reached by turning right. Both are well-marked.

A joy of winter hiking is spotting and deciphering all the animal tracks, and the preserve has a rich diversity of species — deer, raccoon, fisher, fox, squirrel and plenty that were inconclusive, to Beth and I anyway.

The spur to the ridge has a quick, steep ascent and levels out to a broad expanse of open rock boasting a splendid panorama of Lake George and its mountainous sentries. A bench invites you to sit a spell.

All told, the round-trip hike is a little less than three miles, with an elevation gain of 450 feet  — which, for verticality, puts it somewhere between the Statue of Liberty and the Washington Monument. Likely, this trail is popular in summer, but in winter solitude is all but guaranteed. And it might be the only adventure where finding their trailhead is the hardest part of the hike.