There are many mountain biking/ snowmobiling/ hiking trails within a few miles of Southern Adirondack Pines.

So far we've only tried one of them, but can't wait to go back for more. A description of the

Nine Corner Lake - Pleasant Lake Loop ( part of the Ferris Lake Wild Forest Trail) is below.

 

Barb and Jeff Ulreich, Rochester, New York

 

Nine Corner Lake - Pleasant Lake Loop

We left from Hemlock cabin at around 11am. It was a little chilly, and kind of cloudy with a little sun poking through every once in a while. We drove up the main gravel road of Southern Adirondack Pines. When we got to Creekside drive (about 0.3mi from Hemlock cabin), we took a left and then a quick right onto the bridge going out to Rt.10.
Hemlock CabinBridge to Rt.29
Once across the bridge and on Rt.10, we took a left and rode for a short while before taking a right onto Rt.29A. We went uphill on Rt. 29A for about 1/4 mile and stopped at the trailhead on the right hand side of the road. We always like starting trails with the uphill first because we know we're eventually in for a good downhill. The trail was very technical, and full of rocks and roots.

We truly enjoyed the beautiful fall colors - even while huffing and puffing uphill for the first mile.

We came to a fork in the trail part way up. Jeff went one way, and I went the other. Both of us ended up in the same place. I think going right was steeper and shorter.

We crossed over two bridges, and then came to another fork at about 2 miles into the trail. This time we both went right; toward the lake.

Jeff and I have considered ourselves advanced level riders - we don't wear body armor and do tricks, but we can usually negotiate an uphill fairly easily. We both considered this on the more difficult side of what we've done in the past.

The trail is well maintained with several bridges over creeks. There were a few swampy sections, but we've had a lot of rain this year, so I wouldn't expect that to be the norm. We passed several hikers out enjoying the beautiful day. There were a few small logs across the trail. One particularly slippery one diagonally across the trail was responsible for my only fall. There was one tree down across the trail (shown below)- not much of a problem for a hiker or someone on a bike, but maybe trouble for a snowmobile.
We finally reached the lake after about 3 miles of riding. We stopped for several minutes to catch our breath and enjoy the view. The trail changed from relatively wide to close single track for a little while. Less than a 1/4 mile from when we left the lake, we got to a long technical downhill. We crossed another bridge and arrived at a rest area a little over 4.5mi in. At the rest area there was a sign showing the direction to Caroga Lake and Pleasant Lake. From here there is only 1.1 miles to get back to Rt.29A - - almost done!

Once we were back out onto Rt.29A, we turned left, and rode for about 3 miles to get back to our starting point. We considered going back and riding the trail the other direction, but it was getting cloudier and we thought we might get rained on. If you're a bigger fan of downhill than uphill, it might be wise to ride the trail opposite to the direction Jeff and I did it.

We got back to Hemlock Cabin at about 1pm - and there was Grant (the mountain man) to meet us with a smile. Perfect timing too - about 10 minutes after we entered our cozy cabin, it started to rain.