Day 1 - 2020 Northville Placid Trail Thru Hike - Northville to Abner Brook Campsite
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).
About to head northbound from the Upper Benson Road trail crossing
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 the first day on the NPT, we kicked off the day with a SOBO* slackpack** from Upper Benson Road to the Village of Northville. Once back at Northville, we swapped our shuttle cars and put one car at Piseco and began our NOBO*** hike at the Upper Benson Road crossing. We finished the day with around 18 miles under our belt and set up a late camp at the Abner Brook Campsite.
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 1 - Upper Benson Road to Northville (SOBO) and then North Benson Road to Abner Brook (NOBO)
Signed in at kiosk in Northville and decided to leave a car there and start the hike sobo’ing from Upper Benson Road back to Northville. That way we are able to slackpack and the trail should be more descent than ascent. We entered the woods at Upper Benson Road and started heading south. Lightly used trail. Some blowdowns. Was more or less a descent to West Stony Creek, which is the only significant ford of the entire NPT. From there it was a lot of up for next 4 miles and then generally a descent to the roadwalk before Northville.
When we came out of access road from trailhead and it wasn’t clear which way the NPT went and we ended going the wrong way for about two tenths of a mile. Turned around and then made a short climb before the road walk became level and then downhill. Road walk was very hot and as you got closer to Northville the traffic became steadier. Hiked into town to the NPT kiosk.
Got car and drove back to Upper Benson Road to get other car. Brought both cars to Piseco. Dropped my car off at Piseco. Drove back with Moe’s to Upper Benson Road. Entered woods with plan to camp somewhere not too far in (hit trail at about 6pm). Ended up hiking about 5 miles in to Abner Brook Campsite. A fairly new (and barely findable) official campsite. Ended up hiking in the dark and setting up camp around 9:30 at night.
It was a very hot day for the Adirondacks - upper 80s with very high humidity.
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.
Definitions
* SOBO - southbound hiking
** Slackpack - hiking with a day pack
*** NOBO northbound hiking
Gear we used on the Northville Placid Trail