A few years ago I spent several hours skiing some informal trails in the Forest Preserve along the Bog River in Tupper Lake. I liked the trails so much that I wrote an article describing the experience.

I got some heat for the article, because after it was published the state Department of Environmental Conservation removed the trails’ home-made markers and signs. I also wrote an article for the Adirondack Almanack that can be read here.

But there may be a happy ending to the story: DEC is proposing to adopt and maintain the trails.

In all, DEC plans to mark seven miles of trail for hiking and cross-country skiing. Because the trails follow old logging roads, little other work will be required.

DEC proposes to build two parking areas on Route 421, which leads from Route 30 to Horseshoe Lake. From the first parking area, hikers and skiers will be able to travel in a six-mile loop, crossing Round Pond Outlet near its confluence with the Bog and later crossing the Bog twice, once near Winding Falls and again near the trailhead. Starting at the second trailhead will give people the option of doing a seven-mile “lollipop” trip or a three-mile round trip to the Bog.

The department is also proposing to adopt and partially reroute an informal footpath to Goodman Mountain, which is located just a few miles away. It would construct a parking area and kiosk at Lumberjack Spring.

Bill Frenette, the late Tupper Lake historian, had petitioned the federal government to name the small peak after the Goodman family. Charles Goodman had a summer house on Tupper Lake and built the stone bridge near Bog River Falls. His grandson, Andrew, was murdered in Mississippi while helping African-Americans register to vote. He was twenty years old.

Both proposals will require amendments to the management plan for the Bog River Complex, which includes the Bog River Wilderness and Horseshoe Lake Wild Forest. The Adirondack Park Agency is accepting public comments on the proposals until May 30.

Click here to read the full text of the proposals.

Comments can be sent to: apa_slmp@gw.dec.state.ny.us

The APA also is accepting public comments until May 30 on a proposal to build two trails in the Cranberry Lake Wild Forest that will substantially cut down on the amount of road walking in the Cranberry Lake 50—a fifty-mile loop through the Five Ponds Wilderness and the Cranberry Lake Wild Forest.

Currently, the Cranberry Lake 50 includes 5.7 miles of road walking. If the proposed trails are built, this will be reduced to 1.6 miles.

Photo by Susan Bibeau: Skier on the Bog River trails.

Click here to read the full proposal.