Amy’s Park in Bolton Landing

A Great Introduction to Winter Hiking

By Tom O’Grady

Amy’s Park in the town of Bolton is a great spot to visit if you are new to winter hiking or if you are looking for a new place to explore any time of the year. The 500 acres included in the preserve were purchased by the Lake George Land Conservancy in February of 2012 and named in memory of Amy Wolgin Wiener. The property is a small ecosystem of ponds, marches and forests. The hiking trails were officially opened for public use in the summer of 2012. The original trails went through updates that were completed in November 2019 so if you have previously visited it’s a perfect time to return to see the changes.

Directions – From the Capital Region the drive is approximately one-hour north on I-87 to exit 24. Once exiting the Northway in Bolton, you’ll continue onto Bolton Landing-Riverbank Road for four miles, until you reach Church Hill Road. Head north on Church Hill Road and continue onto Padanarum Road for another four miles. There are two parking lots available within the park preserve. The first lot is at the bottom of a steep hill and provides access to South Pond. This lot also has a boat launch for nicer weather. 

On our trip a fresh snow had fallen but there was also ice on the road. This made for a slick surface. In the winter extra caution should be given according to the weather. Further north is a second lot that provides access to trails that reach both North and South ponds. There is another access point off of Trout Falls Road on the opposite side of the park. 

Trails – Amy’s Park offers the perfect opportunity to spend a day exploring outside. With four different trails and multiple access points you can create as much variety on this hike as you have time and energy for. For our trip we parked at the second lot on Padanarum Road. There was not much snow but a thin coating had just fallen that morning. There had additionally been a warm day prior which caused some snow to melt and water to form. Sleet with the snow and the colder conditions the day we arrived made for a coating of ice underneath the snow on all of the surfaces. It was truly a winter wonderland scene. Despite the pretty scenery, a fair amount of caution was needed. The snow was not deep enough for snowshoes but micro-spikes were helpful in spots. 

From the parking lot, the Orange and Yellow trails run together for the first 150 to 200 yards until a junction is met. This junction that allows you to follow either the Yellow or Orange trail up to South or North pond respectively. We decided to take the Yellow Trail first. The terrain was not strenuous but had some elevation gain and drop. We quickly came to a bridge crossing. While there was snow and ice covering just about everything on the bridge and path, the temperatures had not been cold enough to freeze the stream. The water was flowing steadily and it was neat to see it flowing around the rocks, logs, and few spots that had begun to freeze. This made for a fun pit stop to see the flowing water enter back under the ice. The auditory input on this trip was as stimulating as the visual as we listened to the steady crunch of icy snow under our feet – crunch, crunch and crunch.

About three-quarters of a mile into the trip we reached the lookout point on the Yellow Trail. One other person had already beaten us to the spot with their dog as a companion. They were the only two sets of footprints in the new snow. The view from the lookout was fantastic. South Pond appeared to be completely frozen over. Directly across the pond a hill called Scenic Overlook is visible. This overlook is accessible by continuing on the Yellow Trail around the perimeter of the pond, or by parking on the opposite side of South Pond, and taking the Red Trail directly to the overlook. 

To our delight there was also a beaver nest visibly protruding from the water near the banks of South Pond. We saw tracks on the pond. We were unsure of whether they were beaver tracks. There did not appear to be the characteristic “tail trail” in between the foot prints that beavers leave behind. It was likely a small predator was making its way to the den or another more benign animal, such as a squirrel, was the culprit. A note of caution here – don’t let the animal tracks here lull you or your children into a false sense of security. We had to tell our children it was likely unsafe to go onto the ice because the temperatures had not been cold enough in recent days or weeks to create thick enough ice for a human. 

We opted not to make a full circuit of the park on this trip. We had allowed the boys to run around a bit and play in the new snow. We also let our younger daughter walk around on her own. All of this took up more time than we would typically take on a short 0.75-mile hike out to a lookout. We made our way back on the Yellow Trail the way we came. We briefly explored the Orange Trail before heading back to the trailhead. 

If you visit Amy’s Park when there is more snow and would like to try snowshoeing or cross country skiing the Blue Trail is a great option. The path on the Blue Trail is a mostly flat and relatively wide 0.75-mile section that follows an old logging road. The path is in the northeast section of the park and serves as a connector between the northern Red Trail and southern Orange Trail. If you do choose a circuit of the entire park, this can be done by connecting each of the four trails. If you hike all sections of each trail the entire hike will be 5.2 miles, while a perimeter walk that utilizes each section will be approximately 0.5 miles shorter.

We went into Bolton Landing to check out the newish headquarters for the Lake George Land Conservancy. The woman working had brought her daughter and our kids enjoyed making a new friend on their day-off from school – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. We were able to learn about new projects underway. Consider making the trip to Amy’s Park and LGLC on your upcoming winter or spring break!

Tom O’Grady, PhD, MPH (thomas.james.ogrady@gmail.com) of Slingerlands is an avid runner, hiker and lover of the outdoors. Learn more at ogradystrategies.com.