5 Great Spring Hikes in the Adirondacks (Mud Season)

On my first day in the Adirondacks, I realized that it was one of those special places that you cannot visit just once in your life. I had only talked to 5 people, all of which made the Adirondacks their yearly vacation spot or just straight up moved to the area. It’s one of those places that catches your heart and never lets go. It keeps you guessing around every twist in the road, makes you want to hike to just one more mountain peak, it begs you to wake up far before sunrise to catch a glimpse of the golden glow at dawn, or stay up late to see the millions of twinkling stars. It’s an outdoor adventurer’s paradise and a hiker’s playground. I hardly scratched the surface on what to explore on my first trip here, but these hikes are a good starting point for first-timers to the Adirondacks; especially the Lake Placid area.

Here are the hikes that I completed while visiting the Adirondacks. I start with the easiest hikes and end with the most strenuous. 

Flume Falls

This loop trail is about 2 and a half miles long. It’s a nice walk in the woods that takes you past a lake, river, and the beginning of the flume. The elevation gain is only 436ft throughout the trail. It was a great warm-up trail on our first full day of the trip. Once you are finished the trail, make sure you cross the road from where you parked and follow another trail down the rest of the flumes. If you look up the trail on AllTrails, it doesn’t show you this added part to the trail. While the trail isn’t marked, it seems to be highly trafficked and is easy to follow. This second part of the trail is where you will get the best sights of the flume. It only takes about 10-15 minutes to hike and is an out and back type of trail.

Mount Jo Loop Trail

Mount Jo Loop Trail is a 1.8-mile trail that has an elevation gain of about 700 feet. There is an easy trail that takes its time getting to the top, or you could take the harder trail which goes a lot more vertical. We hiked this trail early in the morning to see the sunrise at the mountain top. We took the harder trail straight up and it was a nice morning wake up, especially climbing over the rocks to get up the trail. Sitting at the top, eating breakfast, and watching the morning light creep its way over Algonquin was awesome and worth the early start and rock scrambling. On the way back down, we took the longer route and stopped by the lake near the bottom of the trail. Overall, this trail was an awesome short hike, especially at sunrise!

Silver Lake Mountain Trail

This is a 2 mile out and back trail that has about 930 ft elevation gain. It is about a 30-minute drive from the center of town in Lake Placid. Most of the trail is hiking up a mountain and rewards you with amazing views at the top. The trail was somewhat rocky but not as rocky as the Mount. Jo trail. We hiked this trail in the dark because we heard the top was great for stargazing! The rocks didn’t prove to be too much of an issue, but we all had flashlights or headlamps. The view of the last rays of sunset and the stars over the lake and forest was amazing! We stayed up there for hours enjoying stars emerging as the sky grew darker. I was able to practice astrophotography for the first time and, unsurprisingly given it was my first time, none of the pictures turned out how I had hoped. However, I highly recommended this spot for astrophotographers.

Wright

Wright peak was a fun out and back hike that is part of the Adirondack 46 high peak mountains. The top of the mountain stands at 4,580 feet tall and gives you great views of the amazingly beautiful landscape. Near the top of the mountain, you will find a plaque about a plane that crashed on the mountain in 1962. When we hiked in mid-May there was no snow on the trail to Wright. To hike to the top we used the trail for Algonquin which splits off to give your access to Wright. The split can be hard to notice so make sure you keep an eye out for it and use a map! There were some rock scrambles along the way and some were a little wet, so be careful. If you are up for a second peak on this hike, I highly recommend taking the trip to Algonquin as well.

Algonquin

Algonquin is named after Native Americans who used to hunt in and possibly live in the area. It is about a 10 mile out-and-back hike and is also part of the Adirondacks 46 by standing at 5,114 ft. Since the trail can be pretty steep at times, plan for it to take longer to complete than was a 10-mile hike might usually take you. The summit is worth the steepness because it rewards you with an amazing view of the landscape. I was surprised how different it looks compared to when standing on Wright. When we hiked in mid-May there was still snow on the trail and we needed to use our spikes. The snow started shortly after the split from the Wright trail. We definitely still needed to use our microspikes once we got to the snow because the trail was fairly steep with half-melted snow. There were multiple rock scrambles along this trail as well, so make sure you are prepared. This was by far my favorite hike on the trip and if anyone is up for the challenge, I highly recommend it!

Bonus: Iroquois

Just a little past the summit of Algonquin is Iroquois. This mountain was also named after the Native Americans who roamed this land. You can see the summit and path to get there when you are at the top of Algonquin. If you have the time and energy, definitely check it out. It is another of the 46 peaks, standing at 4,840 ft tall. While I didn’t have the time to do Iroquois, I have heard it is a worthwhile addition to your Algonquin hike.

Please remember that I did these hikes in May, so the conditions I am writing about are during Mud season. Make sure you check what conditions are like before you hike. I recommend stopping by High Peaks Cyclery and Mountain Adventure Center and talking with an employee. It is a local shop and employees know a lot about the Adirondacks. They were very helpful when we stopped by to talk to them before starting our adventures.

If you are looking for more posts about hiking on the East Coast, check out my blog about the best day hikes near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.