Exploring Auger Falls on the Sacandaga River

A short jaunt in Wells best done as a loop

By Tim Rowland

There are times when on assignment to the Adirondack Park’s outer fringes I sense the opportunity, nay, the duty to stop off for a hike after the official business has concluded. 

Or sometimes before. Or sometimes, it has become necessary to bag the official business altogether if a stumbled-upon trail was too enchanting to rush through.

Fortunately, on a recent trip to the hamlet of Wells in the southeastern part of the park, a morning interview left plenty of time to explore a relatively popular stretch of the Sacandaga River known as Auger Falls. ”Relatively” is important here, because this corner of the park gets far less traffic than the High Peaks and environs, so — by way of example — popularity on the Auger Falls Trail on the afternoon Beth and I hiked it amounted to a grand total of two parties and six people. (If I were being honest I would probably include the family of five we met in the parking lot who had just returned from a swim. But since their inclusion would somewhat degrade my point, I’m not going to mention them.)

The trailhead for what’s technically known at the Auger Falls Loop is on Route 30, eight miles south of Speculator, or two miles north of Route 30’s intersection with Route 8. There’s a sign now, but locals told us it’s a recent addition — for the longest time there wasn’t any need for one, since “everybody knew where the trail was.”

After putting up the road sign, the state decided to rest its case without calling any further witnesses, meaning that while it’s easy to find the parking lot, Old Mountain Phelps himself would have had a time finding his way out.

The operable and diminutive directional arrow is located on the driveway into the parking lot and set back in the foliage so you are unlikely to notice it as you pass by. There is one other little arrow in the parking lot proper, but without knowing that you are supposed to walk back out of the lot toward the road, it more or less is pointing to nothingness.

Hiking the loop

So if you want only to hike the 4/10ths of a mile to the falls, walk out of the parking lot back toward the highway  and turn left on a gravel road (this was in fact the old Route 8A before the highway came through) for 1/10th of a mile, at which point you will hopefully notice a left turn into the woods and the presence of a trail register, and off you go.

But if you wish to hike the entire loop, and you should, the more aesthetic choice is to start your hike where the loop trail returns to the parking lot. So instead of walking back toward the highway, proceed to the far end of the parking lot where a gravel road heads into the woods. This is about the last you will see of poor old Rt. 8A, as the road becomes a trail and heads down to the river, which is reached in just over a 1/10th of a mile.

Although it is not marked, the trail is obvious, and there’s no appreciable elevation gain in either direction. The advertised distance of the Auger Falls Loop trail is 1.2 miles, but we clocked in at 1.4 miles, including a little shoreline exploration that you will almost certainly want to do.

Once arriving at the river, the trail is quite scenic, as the Sacandaga is quite active and chatty, tumbling down some minor falls and riffles. Swimming holes abound, as do rocky ledges poking into the water, which make for good sitting and sunning.

The argument for hiking the loop in the “wrong,” clockwise direction is that these riffles and falls build in intensity as you head downstream, climaxing with the big show of Auger Falls itself. Here, the river is squeezed into a deep and dark chasm and what was once a happy babbling brook is now an angry torrent of water gushing down tiers of black, wet rock, bouncing from one wall of the chasm to the other with a roar that can be heard long before your arrival.

This is beautiful and rugged territory, and you can watch it all safely from the bluffs above, or clamor down to the water’s edge for a better view. The rocks can be slippery and the footing uneven, so all the requisite warnings apply if you have children, pets or husbands who are less coordinated than they think they are.

The trail heads back into the forest at the falls’ most dramatic point, but herd paths lead downstream if you wish to continue exploring before heading back. But before you do, take note of the yellow discs that, at this point, will guide you back to the main trail. You might have to hunt for them, and there are herd paths going all over the place — it’s not terribly hard, but again, this is a short little trail where it’s historically been assumed that everyone already knows the route, so markings are apathetic at best.

The hemlock and yellow birch forest is stately and beautiful here, with some massive old trees and interesting features over the three tenths of a mile you will traverse before popping out once again on good old Route 8A. 

Perhaps most interesting is a shallow swale that has etched itself into the forest floor in the relatively recent past, washing two to three feet of soil out from under the trees and leaving their roots exposed diving further into the duff to re-establish their subterranean lifelines. What happened to change the water’s course is a mystery, at least it is to me.

After this short woods hike you will pass the trail register — which you ought to sign anyway, to help the DEC keep tabs of the trail’s usage — and then come out on the gravel road. Turning right takes you back to the parking lot.

This is a short trail, it is true, but it is also a destination in itself because you can easily spend half a day exploring, picnicking, swimming and taking pictures. Whether you have other business in the area to attend to or not.

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