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High adventure on Lows Ridge
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Lows Ridge rises only four hundred fifty feet above the landscape of the northern Adirondacks, but it offers an awesome view of the Bog River country, with the High Peaks in the distance.
- Click here to see a slideshow of a hike to Lows Ridge.
A short trail ascends the ridge, but getting to the trail takes some doing. Most people paddle up the Bog to Hitchins Pond, then hike up the ridge. But the trailhead also can be reached by an old woods road now closed to vehicles.
In other words, you hike to the hike. Given that the 2.3-mile dirt road is wide, flat, and some might say boring, you may want to spice things up by running or biking (fat tires recommended) along the road.
Yet some people relish the quiet walk on a little-traveled road. The scenic highlights include a large bog with views of far-off peaks and a grassy wetland with views of the cliffs on Silver Lake Mountain. Birders walk the road in quest of black-backed woodpeckers, gray jays, palm warblers, and other uncommon species.
The road begins at a gate about a mile west of Horseshoe Lake and ends at another gate near a dam on the Bog that impounds Lows Lake. When you reach the end of the road, look to the right for the ruins of a stone building. Walk to the right of the ruins to the trail register.
The sign says it’s 1.1 miles to the overlook, but our GPS watch measured the distance as 0.7 miles. If the watch is accurate, the overlook is 3.0 miles from the start of the road. Marked by blue disks, the trail winds its way up the mountain at a moderate gradient—a welcome model of modern trail design. (Many Adirondack trails go straight up the mountain.)
When you emerge from the woods onto the ridge, the vista is stunning. You look down on Hitchins Pond, the Bog River, and a vast marshy landscape. Mount Morris stands out not far away in the northeast. Beyond it are the High Peaks.
But you’re not done yet. White paint blazes lead down the ridge a short distance to a plaque dedicated to A. Augustus Low, who died in 1963. Low’s father acquired forty thousand acres in these parts in the 1890s and built a woodland empire based on logging, maple sugar, preserves, and bottled water (from “Virgin Forest Springs”). Before leaving the ridge, be sure to walk to its southern end for a partial view of Lows Lake.
When you get back to the trail register, follow the Bog downriver about a tenth of a mile to the shore of Hitchins Pond. If you’re lucky, you may see a loon or a bald eagle. On the way, you’ll pass some more ruins of the Low empire and a kiosk with information about Low.
By the time you get back to your car, you should be ready for a swim in Horseshoe Lake.
Directions: From Tupper Lake, drive south on NY 30. After crossing the Raquette River, continue 6.9 miles to NY 421. Turn right and drive 7.6 miles past Horseshoe Lake to a gated dirt road on the left. If coming from the south, NY 421 is on the left about 13 miles from Long Lake. Note: NY 421 turns to dirt after 5.8 miles and makes a hairpin turn as it crosses railroad tracks. The gate is 0.9 miles past the tracks.
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