A reader of my blog post Rails AND Trails - It Can’t Be Done...or Can it? asked the question, “Is it feasible to connect the Northville-Lake Placid Trail to a trail alongside the railroad tracks?” I took a look at the map and sure enough it would be quite easy to extend the Northville-Lake Placid Trail 1.25 miles across the Averyville Road through the Saranac Lake Wild Forest and have it join the rail corridor. When the Lake Placid to Saranac Lake trail alongside the tracks gets built (I’m forever the optimist) and planned changes to the trail in Northville are completed, it would allow hikers to hike from Northville to Lake Placid OR Saranac Lake without having to walk along a highway, and start and finish in communities whereas right now you have to hike nearly three miles alongside roads to get to the center of Lake Placid. If the 1.25 mile extension were built and the trail alongside the tracks were built, hikers could walk 3 miles to the Lake Placid Railroad Station or 8 miles to the Saranac Lake Railroad Station. Both routes would be through woods and along the railroad tracks and avoid roads completely. Kind of a neat idea that continues to build on the possible synergy between the railroad and trails.
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