I've hiked two sections of this trail: Sections 7 and 10. They suffer from extremely poor maintenance, particularly Section 7, with very many blowdowns crossing the trail. Frequently, the crown of a tree lies across the trail, making a go-round time-consuming and tedious. Expect about 10 trees across the trail per quarter mile in this section, especially from Chickadee Creek to Sandy Creek. The wooden walkways, made often from two parallel logs, are okay when in a long section, but when isolated as in crossing a small creek, they're typically rotten and useless. Heading north from Duck Hole, the path is terribly overgrown with striped maple and other fast-growing vegetation. Signage is poor, causing occasional blunders in direction. This trail, once a gem of New York State, needs a great deal of maintenance and attention. Many reviewers, in fact, speak of the Moose Pond lean-to as having a panoramic view of the Sawtooth Range when in fact there are fir trees averaging about 25 years old blocking the entire vista. It would seem that some reviewers haven't really been on the trail, which wouldn't surprise anyone who uses it: if you see one party of hikers a day, that's about all you're likely to meet. The trail itself, aside from its condition, is superbly planned. The 6 mile walk into Wanika Falls from Averyville Road is nearly perfect. Miles of towering birch, fir, and maple trees make this a forest to remember. And Wanika itself is stunning, especially if your timing puts your visit in late Spring. One complaint I'll always have about the trail's design is this: from the height of land on the trail, there is no vista. You struggle up, you go down, and you won't even know that you're in a high saddle. Oh well.

We spent three of our four days in the West Canada Lakes Wilderness Area on at least part of this trail last week. It is ALWAYS beautiful, with great lean-to stops and scenery of lakes, etc. But the trail itself is getting worse and worse; way too much water and deep mud holes. It still offers unparalleled beauty, but it is getting frustrating for seniors trying to hike its length. The DEC needs to hire a trail crew in at least a few places.

These photos are all of Cedar Lakes, as that is where I spent my three days in the woods this past week. It is always gorgeous, and offers incomparable views of everything along the lake. The trail appears to be little used this year, as firewood is available close by all the lean-to's. The loons were singing beautiful songs at night as well; a spellbinding experience!

I am more of a photographer than a writer I compiled this slideshow of our thru hike. Hope you enjoy as we did....... Our trip was from 9/23/13 -10/8/13 We are going again this spring S-N <iframe width=560 height=315 src=https://www.youtube.com/embed/4jbQHSAuScM frameborder=0 allowfullscreen></iframe>

The is an old historic trail that runs south to north or vice versa through the Adirondack park. There are plenty of lean-tos along the route but may be quite busy or full during the summer. I did the trail the last week in September and the lean-tos were empty except along Long Lake where most were occupied by canoeist. The trail is in need of some maintenance but is fairly easy to follow. I recommend the book offered by ADK which includes a map. I found the national geographic maps to be very helpful also.