Adirondack Rail Trail: Biking, hiking from Lake Clear to Floodwood Mountain

Many happy people out on the open sections of the newly opened route

By Tim Rowland

Now that the Adirondack Rail Trail is completed to the Floodwood Outpost west of Lake Clear, you might have noticed that little Floodwood Mountain sits at the trail’s current terminus like an exclamation point at the end of a sentence, offering a splendid opportunity to bicycle the trail for as many miles as you might choose, hike the mountain with a picnic lunch at the top and bicycle back to your starting point.

Like many, I have been bedazzled by the rail trail, which almost instantly has become one of the region’s top tourist draws. Believe me I know. Last month when the Adirondack Rail Trail community was all abuzz over the opening of Phase II from Saranac Lake to Floodwood, I figured that with everyone stampeding off to Phase II, Phase I from Placid to Saranac would be nothing but tumbleweeds. I’ve been wrong before, but this time I outdid myself.

Not two miles out of Lake Placid, I’d already passed 25 people, so I gave up counting. But I easily passed more than 100 people on the 10-mile out-and back to Saranac Lake.

I also saw many families. I saw parents carrying infants. I saw a couple smooching in front of a water-lily-studded pond. I heard a 30-something-year-old guy actually say “Whee!” I saw so many ear-to-ear smiles I couldn’t begin to count. Everyone I talked with was having a blast. One guy marveled that the bike path was smoother than local roads he’d taken to the trailhead.

Certainly there are dedicated rail-trail riders, fitness buffs and even commuters, but overall, this is very much a tourist endeavor for vacationers in cargo shorts who had strapped their bikes (or rented electric ones) to the back of the Suburban along with the inflatable rafts and foam coolers. I didn’t mind the crowd at all, and in fact found it to be infectious — I hadn’t seen this many happy people in one place since the opening of the cannabis dispensary.

Phase I of the trail gives the illusion of remoteness, while never getting too far from civilization. You get to see the back side of properties you’ve previously only seen from the road, such as the Saranac Lake Golf Club and North Country Community College. You split the difference between the two prisons in Ray Brook and spend time cycling along the actual Ray Brook.

It appeared that most people were accessing the trail from one of several parking areas, riding/walking a couple of miles and going back. This gave hope that Phase II, with longer stretches between parking areas, would have comparatively fewer riders. 

This theory, put into practice over Labor Day Weekend, did turn out to be somewhat accurate; the immediate orbit of the trailheads were crowded, but the longer distances in the backcountry assures that you will have a few long stretches of pristine beauty all to yourself — with the opportunity for even more seclusion should you choose to venture a bit off the trail.

I had never heard of the 2,323-foot Floodwood Mountain until reading Tom French’s adventure of a year ago, which piqued my interest. 

Accessing the rail trail from Lake Clear and pedaling to the Outpost makes a ride of about 15 miles round trip, plus another five miles on a dirt road to the trailhead and back. 

The section from Lake Clear to Floodwood is some of the more remote mileage on the trail, and delightfully so. Banks of ferns, picket lines of white birch and wetlands studded with tamarack, which turn a brilliant yellow in the fall, are all part of the ride.

From the Outpost, turn right on the dirt (you’ll want a gravel or mountain bike) Floodwood Road and bicycle another couple of miles to the sign for the Boy Scouts’ Floodwood Reservation, turn left and venture past a gate on the road for another 0.6 miles to the Floodwood Mountain sign on the right where the trail leaves the road.

If you’re not into bicycling, you can take Floodroad Road off of Route 30 west of Lake Clear and drive 6.1 miles to the Floodwood Reservation sign. I know the distance to be exactly true because for once — for once — I remembered to both 1) set the odometer at the beginning of the route and 2) look at the result at the end. This never happens, and I was so proud of myself I can’t tell you: 6.1! 6.1!

So you can drive on Floodwood for 6.1 miles, turn left and in a short distance park in the lot on the left. A gate prevents further progress by car, so after driving 6.1-miles you will have to walk the remaining 0.6 miles to the trail on the right, which is a short distance compared to, say, the 6.1 miles you have just traveled.

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The 1.2-mile-long hike is relatively flat through the first half mile, steepening after that and jogging up a series of short switchbacks that can be a bit tricky to keep track of with the autumn leaves on the ground. You will pass one northerly outlook near the top, then drop into a grassy swale before bumping up against a rocky brow that’s about 10 feet high and takes a bit of a scramble to ascend. 

Once on top, continue to follow the path to the west for the best view. There is an interesting juxtaposition of mountains near and far, extending to Tupper Lake and the peaks of the south. Plenty of hardwoods in the valleys assure lots of fall color.

The ascent from the automobile parking lot is just short of 700 feet and will take about 2.5 hours, counting plenty of time at the top. Since a bicycle allows you to skirt the gate and get closer to the mountain, these metrics will be modestly less for those on two wheels.

For those walking it, you’ll take a little extra time getting to your car for the ride back to Route 30 which, if I didn’t mention it, you will reach in 6.1 miles.