Pathfinding in the Adirondacks

An online review referred to the Pilot Knob Preserve trail as "suitable for kids," which is true provided that we're talking about mountain goat kids. Being neither mountain goats nor kids, we found the hike a little challenging. I blame the mud. 

It was a hike! The trail wound upward through wet woods, with spring rivulets frequently crossing the trail. Sometimes it was hard to separate the trail from the rivulet. Mud was thick, deep, and unavoidable, and rocks were sometimes slick. My husband was so good at finding the least muddy way through the mud that I kept wanting to call him Pathfinder even though he's not in a James Fenimore Cooper novel.

We made it to the top, where a gazebo provided lovely views of Lake George and the mountains in the distance, and then we proceeded further up and around the hill to a set of gorgeous waterfalls deep in the woods. We saw a few early spring ephemerals--Dutchmen's breeches, hepatica, stonecrop--but very few blossoms, but then right next to the waterfalls we saw a single red trillium blooming. 

We saw no one on the trail on the way up but then after the waterfall we kept encountering other hikers and their friendly dogs, one of which flushed a wild turkey out of hiding. And then we had to turn around and go back. Down the slopes, through the mud, around the switchbacks, to the parking lot, and back to civilization and sandwiches and warm, dry socks. No matter how lovely the hike, the best path to find is the one that heads home.

 

Pathfinding. Yes, that's the trail.

Lake George.

Interpretive signage was not helpful.

An attempt to overcome the mud.

That's the trail.

Hepatica

Solomon's Seal

That's the path.

Dutchmen's Breeches.

Fiddleheads.

Snow in the distance.