New York's Adirondack Mountains are a hiking paradise only four hours' drive from New York City and five hours from Boston. It's here you can find a wide range of trails, from an accessible hike with serene dipping pools
to challenging cliffs overlooking dazzling Lake Champlain. While many of the trails have reputations for being particularly difficult or scenic, there's one secret trek that manages to steal hikers' hearts every time: Indian Head Trail.Indian Head Trail offers an otherworldly escape
in New York's pristine nature. Indian Head's vast lake vistas capturing tree-filled cliffs conjure visions of Norway's world-famous fjords. The trails that lead to this epic view have their own alluring sights, including waterfalls, dramatic canyons, and a tranquil river. How you choose to approach Indian Head (you have three routes on offer) determines what you see and how difficult you'll find the trek. AllTrails considers this to be an easy, family-friendly hike. While that may be true for the shortest route, the other two can be a little more difficult and require good walking shoes and hiking stamina.
The Lake Road route is the easiest option. Unfortunately, while you save time and energy, you also miss out on seeing most of the scenery that makes this area so special. You follow a road, albeit a very pretty one with dense foliage, for about three miles before reaching the trail to the summit and those Instagram-worthy Lake Ausable vistas. You can see more by detouring off Lake Road onto Gill Brook Trail, which is a favorite for anyone who loves chasing waterfalls. It's a lot steeper in sections though, so can be harder to navigate. The payoffs include plenty of beautiful cascades, including Rainbow Falls, as well as breathtaking views of Fish Hawk Cliffs.
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The Most Scenic Route To Indian Head
The West River Trail is renowned for its scenery and difficult terrain. It's the only route that offers river views, as it follows the riverbank over hills towards two waterfalls, Beaver Meadow and Rainbow. However, it's known for being very muddy and narrow, which can be quite exhausting to trek along after a while. If you're up for a more physical challenge to reach Indian Head, this might be the one for you. You'll just need to take the wooden bridge to the right of the first junction along Lake Road to choose this route.
It can be difficult deciding which route to take, as they all have their merits. Fortunately, Indian Head is a loop trail, which means you can choose one route to reach the summit and another route to come back down. That way you get to enjoy different scenery. The end of the trail, closest to the summit, also has atmospheric pathways through dense woodland. Be prepared for slippery and sludgy terrain, especially during the Adirondack Mountains' muddy season.
You can start your trek from the parking lot at St Huberts in Keene, first walking past a golf course before turning left down Lake Road. No dogs are allowed and you will need to apply for a free hiking permit if you're visiting between May 1 and October 31. Both of these rules are enforced so don't forget to bring evidence of your permit, which states your allocated hiking day and start time. It's possible to hike the trail in winter, when you don't need a reservation, but it's not recommended unless you have experience hiking through snow and ice. Fall is a great time for admiring the colorful foliage, while spring is ideal for seeing wildflowers.
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