Schumann Preserve at Pilot Knob

Fantastic Views of Snow and Ice

By Tom O’Grady

The Schumann Preserve at Pilot Knob is a great place to visit in the winter if you are looking for a hike that will provide the opportunity to explore and also to capture some breathtaking views. Located on the southeastern side of Lake George, the preserve occupies 223-acres of land that further protects the lands within the basin. Regardless of the season you decide to hike the Schumann Preserve and its 3.8-mile circuit of trails, remember to plan ahead. There are two parking lots and when weather is nice both are usually full. When there is snow only the lower lot is available and that also fills up quickly. 

Directions – From the Capital Region the drive is approximately one-hour. Start by heading north on I-87 to Exit 20. Once exiting the Northway in Queensbury, continue onto NY Route 149 for five miles before taking a left onto NY Route 9L. Once on Route 9L, head north for 4.6 miles, and take a slight right onto Pilot Knob Road. The parking area for the preserve will be on the right side of the road. There are two parking lots available within the park preserve. The first lot is right off the road while the second lot is on top of a short hill through the first lot.

Our trip this year came after a fresh snowfall but there had already been a lot of traffic from hikers wearing snowshoes so that our walk on the trail was packed enough to use boots and micro spikes. This is normally a rocky area to hike but with snowshoes and packed snow our trip was nice and smooth. While it appeared there had been many hikers earlier in the day, we had arrived later in the afternoon, which made for a very peaceful hike and we only encountered two other couples. 

Trails – The trails at Schumann Preserve offer the perfect opportunity to spend time exploring outside. There is plenty to keep everyone in the family satisfied while on the two lollipop-shaped (orange and blue marked) out-and-back trails that are connected.

From the parking lot you will start out on the orange marked trail. The incline is moderately steep and has an ascent of 620-feet in a little over 0.7-mile. As a general rule, when I’m hiking an incline of 500-feet in one-mile is a good demarcation of moderate to more difficult. This incline, while steeper, seems much milder likely for two reasons. The first reason is that the trail switchbacks on itself a little and offers brief plateaus. These brief rests break up the trip a little and offer a new focal point to focus on and hike to. The second reason is that some of the steeper spots are aided by a series of stone stairs that are built into the trail. The stairs offer an even grade that is neither tricky nor rocky to navigate, making the incline easier to handle. 

Prior to being purchased and repurposed as a nature preserve the land was privately owned. A house occupied the clearing at the top of the first trail and was accompanied by a very long driveway. After learning the history of the land, the steady grade of the trail and the nature in which it meanders through the woods, it gives you the sense that the trail you’re walking on is likely the old driveway. For the Lake George Land Conservancy, this returning of the preserve land to its wild state is a crowning achievement that took over a decade of planning and negotiation before being finalized in 2000. 

Waiting in the clearing at the top of the first trail is a gazebo. This spot offers a peaceful place to sit, relax, and take in the fantastic views of Lake George and the surrounding Adirondack Mountains. If you have ever been to nearby Buck Mountain, you will agree that the views from this southeastern vantage point of Lake George are some of the best the area has to offer. The Schumann Preserve offers many of the same views but with an easier hike. The view from the gazebo is surely breathtaking in any season, and the clear winter day that we visited was no exception, as snow and ice covered a pristine looking landscape. 

Just past the gazebo is a bench with an informational post that provides educational content about the animal life present at the preserve. If you have younger children with you this is a great opportunity for them to learn more about the wildlife. This bench also offers a second vantage point to look in a more southwestern direction towards the village of Lake George and over to the Prospect Mountain area. The great thing about the Schumann Preserve is that because of its layout this first clearing offers a good spot to hang out for a while, and then turn around if you are time strapped, or simply wanted an easy hike and a great view of Lake George. From the Gazebo, your return options include heading back on the same trail you ascended or making a loop by returning on the side trail of the orange loop. On our trip this side trail did not appear to be accessible. We will keep it in mind for another season. 

From the gazebo and clearing area you can walk approximately 2.2 miles extra out-and-back along the blue trail prior to returning to the clearing. The blue trail offers a gentler rolling walk with a much more gradual incline than the shorter orange trail. While on your way, take note of the oak and hemlocks that make up much of the forest. After about 0.9 miles, you reach the short waterfall loop. From here, if you head to the right the waterfall is only about a 0.1-mile from the junction. When we arrived, the waterfall was completely frozen.

The forest is quite thick in this area so you cannot see out towards Lake George. On our trip, the view of the frozen waterfall within the enclosed forest more than made up for the lack of additional view points of the surrounding lake. There was a small pool of frozen water where water from the waterfall first collects before running down into a deep gully as a stream that exits out into Lake George. Remember to be safe while exploring because it can be slippery. Again, as with the Gazebo area, the waterfall area is a nice place to enjoy regardless of season.

The layout of Schumann Preserve at Pilot Knob offers a great opportunity for people of nearly any ability to get out and enjoy great views, along with the interesting history behind its inception. The length and difficulty of the trails are a great middle ground between trails that have no elevation gain and the steeper more rugged trails of nearby mountains. Because of its location, in non-pandemic times a hike at Schumann Preserve is short enough to be enjoyed as a prelude to spending time afterward in the Lake George village area. 

For a trail guide, go to Lake George Land Conservancy: lglc.org. I encourage you to visit this protected ridge preserve.

Tom O’Grady, Ph.D., M.P.H. of Slingerlands is a public health professional and researcher who’s also a NASM certified personal trainer and a USATF Level 1 and VdotO2 certified run coach. For more info on training or coaching, email ogrady.strategies@gmail.com or visit ogradystrategies.com.