Daniels Road State Forest

A Good Place to get Lost for a Few Hours

By Rich Macha

A few years ago, The Nature Conservancy bought many tracts of land in and around the Adirondack Park from the Finch, Pruyn & Co., a lumber company, then later sold those lands to New York State. Places like the Boreas Ponds, Essex Chain Lakes, and OK Slip Falls got much of the publicity but the deal also included a fair number of smaller, less well-known areas. One of those areas is now the Daniels Road State Forest.

Daniels Road State Forest is located a little north of the city of Saratoga Springs and the campus of Skidmore College. While I am not very enamored with state forests in general – most state forests that I know of don’t offer much of interest for the hiker – when I first visited Daniels, I had low expectations but I was very pleasantly surprised, especially with its ecological and geological aspects. The area has a history as a prime destination for expert mountain bikers – the Saratoga Mountain Bike Association had formerly leased the land from Finch Pruyn and The Nature Conservancy, and developed a complex of trails well before the state took it over (see the June 2016 issue of Adirondack Sports for more info from a biker’s perspective). While it’s still popular with bikers, hikers and birders are slowly discovering the area as well, and I see great potential in the area as a cross country skiing destination for experienced skiers.

Daniels is at the southern end of the Palmertown Range, a mountain range that stretches northeast to Mount Defiance near Ticonderoga and includes the mountains on both sides of Lake George. The Open Space Institute, along with Saratoga PLAN, is promoting the Southern Palmertown Range, and a trail from Moreau Lake State Park to Daniels Road, via Lincoln Mountain State Forest and Greentree Lake, is planned – more information can be found at saratogaplan.org.

NYSDEC has marked about 12 miles of trails in the forest. Elevations vary from 450 feet to 700 feet. From the newer parking area at The Clearing, the Main Trail (red markers) wanders north for 3.3 miles. There are several trails (with blue or yellow markers) that connect with the Main Trail and offer a variety of loop options. The best map can be found at SMBA’s website at saratogamtb.org/daniels-road, although a couple of the trails have changed names – Backstretch is now known as Lucy’s Point Trail, and Putnam Dam is now the Putnam Brook Trail.

The forest consists of mixed hardwoods, primarily oaks, plus some areas of hemlock and white pine. Most trails feature rocks and tree roots but, thankfully, very little mud. What makes this area popular with advanced mountain bikers, as well as hikers, are the ridges where the bedrock is exposed. The trails are seldom flat and they snake through the woods with seemingly little purpose except to go over an interesting feature.

Another unique aspect of this forest is the extensive wet meadows – they may look like ponds on the map but only the southern one is currently a pond. The meadows were probably once beaver ponds, but it seems like the beavers have abandoned this forest for some reason. Whitetail deer do seem to like it here, though. One of my favorite nature moments was watching two green herons flying busily over the swamp on the Here to There trail (There to Here, if you do it in the other direction). Chipmunks and mosquitoes have been plentiful this summer. Mosquitoes attacked when I was moving but left me alone whenever I stopped for a break at the edge of a meadow – either they enjoy the chase or they are keying into my carbon dioxide output. Mushrooms have been plentiful and I have found at least four edible types.

Perhaps my favorite trail, The Rookery (yellow markers), and its extension, Dam Peninsula (older non-DEC markers), offer a variety of meadow views and spots where civilization seems far away – and where you can sit and relax in peace. There seems to be very little air traffic noise too. At the Lookout, you can see the trees that great blue herons once nested on, but there does not look like they have been nesting there in recent years. The Point also makes a nice spot for a break.

At the north end of the Main Trail is the Devils Den, a small canyon with loop trails around the tops of both rims. I wanted to get a closer look and enjoyed a short bushwhack over mossy boulders within the Den – the Devil must have been napping while I was there.

Lucy’s Point Trail and Putnam Brook Trail can be combined to make a bigger loop – each has meadow views. Twizzler and Ridgeline Trails are high and dry and meander through pleasant hemlock woods. There are some unmarked paths that wander across the marked trails and some trails leave the state forest and enter conservation lands owned by Skidmore College, some of which have SMBA markers.

There are signs at most of the junctions in the state forest but it is still best to bring a copy of the map with you. That being said, Daniels Road State Forest is a good place to get lost in for a few hours.

Directions – From Saratoga Springs, drive north on Clinton Street to Daniels Road – there is a parking area immediately across the road by a gate. Hike or bike past the gate and, after 0.1 miles, take a sharp left along a Carriage Trail, an old woods road. Soon after, the Carriage Trail splits and each of the two routes reaches Daniels Road State Forest in about a mile.

Optional – From the junction with Clinton Street, drive east on Daniels Road for 0.2 miles and look for a brown signpost (but no sign) on the north side of the road, and take a left on the second gravel driveway (the other driveway is the private Shadow Woods Way). If coming from the east, this is about a mile from NY Route 9. Drive up the gravel road for 0.5 miles to the parking area at The Clearing.

A lover of wild places, Rich Macha has led many trips for the Adirondack Mountain Club, and has spent 20 years in the paddlesport/snowsport business. More of Rich’s adventures can be found at northeastwild.blogspot.com.