Day 3 - 2020 Northville Placid Trail Thru Hike - Hamilton Lake Stream Campground to Spruce Lake Lean-to #1
The Northville-Placid Trail (NPT) is a 139-mile long distance hiking trail that runs through the heart of the Adirondacks - from the village of Northville in the south to the village of Lake Placid in the north. The trail is unique in the Adirondacks that it does not traverse any significant mountain peaks, but instead stays to the valleys and lowlands throughout the Adirondacks. That results in the trail passing many lakes, streams, ponds (and there being plenty of mud along the way).
Enjoying ice cream in Speculator during a car shuttle
We thru hiked the NPT between August 9, 2020 and August 18, 2020. We hiked for 9 of the 10 days with one zero near Long Lake. For the hike, we had two cars, so we set up the overall plan to hike the NPT with a handful of car shuttles. The shuttling, while it burned up some time that could have been spent hiking, also gave us a chance to resupply and grab some town food roughly every 3 days.
For our third day on the NPT, we started at the Hamilton Lake Stream Lean-to and hiked 6.5 miles to our car at the end of Haskells Road in Piseco. After running the next car shuttle (along with enjoying ice cream and lunch), we returned to Piseco and got back on the trail, going another 9.5 miles to Spruce Lake #1 Lean-to thanks to some thunderstorms messing up our plans to camp at Fall Brook.
As part of the hike, Jeff kept a journal of each day and so, with so we will be using his journal to provide a description of each day’s hike. You can also find the entire NPT thru hike on our YouTube channel here.
Day 3 - Hamilton Lake Stream Lean-to to Spruce Lake #1 Lean-to
Made good time in the morning down to Route 8 and Piseco. Unfortunately the general store was closed so we just hit the road walk. It’s 3.0 miles of paved roads and we were there more or less at the hottest point of the day. By the time we got to the car at the end of Haskells Road, we were both beat. My feet were killing me from the roadwalk.
Took my car and went to get Moe’s car back at Upper Benson Road. Stopped for ice cream along the way in Speculator and then went down to Northville for lunch before getting the car. Got the car and brought it to the Lake Durant NPT trail crossing on Route 28. Then headed back to Piseco.
Got to Piseco around 6pm unsure of how far we’d hike or what the weather would be like. It seemed as if thunderstorms were popping up all over. Contemplated for a bit crashing in car but that would be frowned upon by Moe so we loaded up and headed out. Figured Fall Brook campsite at 4 miles would make a decent destination.
Checked on my toe and realized that in addition to the nail being crushed and that making it sensitive, the road walk had created a blister that was basically the top half of the toe. Did my best to triage and wrap it up before we began the walk. Was quite painful heading in but had it well packed. Also had a blister form on the ball of my right foot, which I was able to drain, but even with moleskin, was becoming very sensitive.
Trail started off level but then began to climb steadily. Somewhere around an hour or so into the hike the thunder started to sound very close so we got our rain flies on our packs and no sooner did it start to pour. Ended up walking through several thunderstorms. Was still raining when we reached Fall Brook so we decided to head on since we weren’t going to set up a tent in the rain. Headlamps came out around 8 and we were hiking in the rain and the dark. Ended up hiking 9.5 miles to the first Spruce Lake Lean-to which was mercifully empty when we arrived around 10:30 at night. Dinner and then bed.
Took the boots off to realize that in the pouring rain and mud of the hike, all the packing and work I did on my toes was for naught. Did my best to clean it, but the blister has broken over the toe and the raw skin underneath wasn’t happy.
Resources for the Northville-Placid Trail in the Adirondack Park
The best guide to the NPT is the Adirondack Mountain Club's Northville-Placid Trail Guidebook
The best map is the National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map for the Northville-Placid Trail
You can save a few bucks and get both the Guidebook and Map as a bundle
Both proved indispensable for this hike. The NPT isn't currently in an app like Guthook and the AllTrails data is very, very limited. For the NPT definitely go with the old fashioned map and pick up the guidebook so you know what to expect. We carried both with us, but if I did it again, I'd just have the map. The map is waterproof/tearproof so it'll survive the hike.
Interested in hiking the NPT, but want guide services? Hike On Guides can do that - we have special long distance hiking services tailored for the Northville-Placid Trail.
Gear we used on the Northville Placid Trail
