I made a thru-hikers guide with a data book and re supply, town information...want a copy?
You might run into me. I'm going to thru it and fish along the way in very late Sept/early Oct.Originally Posted by Cookerhiker
I just ordered the NPT book so haven't read through it. Sorry if this has been discussed elsewhere, Stranger, or anyone else can you elaborate on those resupply pts and maps needed(Nat Geo TI maps, etc?)
Stranger, is it in electronic format? If so, I'll take a copy. I have your e-mail address and I'll send you a note. I've made up a spreadsheet (which I'm in the midst of revising) based on what I've gleaned from this and other WB threads along with the very helpful NPT FB page.
What I've learned from the FB page is that there are enough relocations post-guidebook that it's better to get the National Geographic TI map, number 244 for the southern half of the NPT. This website administered by the ADK is relatively current and contains a wealth of info.
Stranger wrote up a thorough synopsis of his experience on a previous thread in Sept. 2010. I've pasted it here:
"Just hiked this trail and thought I would post some information that I found along the way that's not in the guidebook.
First off, the trail is basically traversing a water system. It winds past beaver ponds, lakes, ponds, creeks, rivers and streams...which means, it's always wet and muddy. It's quite common for bridges to wash out each spring and on our hike we had a few fords, one was only shin deep but about 40 yards long, another was thigh deep and about 20 feet across.
People often say this trail is easy, I would completely disagree. The trail is relatively flat...that's correct, but the footing is crazy in places, especially your first 60 miles or so, the trail improves alot once you reach Lake Durant, until then expect dozens of large mudholes each day. We hiked just after the area got 5 inches of rain over 3 days, so perhaps we were a little unlucky. But I would prepare for wet feet everyday on this trail, regardless of rain.
Lean-to's are not always marked, so if you plan to use the shelters you need to be aware of their locations and look for them. Many times it's just a faint trail off the main trail with no markings, many of them are easy to miss. There are also many shelters right on the trail that you walk by.
We didn't use bear canisters, we used the PCT method and hung our food, in a few places this is tricky and took some time to find a good branch, we saw no bears. We got our water mostly from lakes and used Aqua Mira, there is only about 3 springs on the whole trail that we saw.
The 7 mile former roadwalk that started at Wakely Dam has been re-routed off the road and the re-route has been flooded by beaver activity, it's a long 9miles to Stephens Pond and very slow going, the last few miles into Lake Durant Campground is in much better condition.
In the guidebook they make 'the ridge' sound difficult, it's the only principle climb on the trail and is located between Lake Durant and Long Lake. Pay this information no mind, it's an easy 15 mile section, the climb is about 1000feet and gradual, with a final steep push towards the end. The descent is not all that bad. They make it sound like a tough section, that wasn't our experience at all.
Town Information (going northbound):
Upon reaching NY 8 in Piseco, there is Casey's Corner across the road and to the right. This place has limited hiker supplies, pizza, hot and cold food to go. They didn't stock denatured or HEET, I don't know about white gas.
---0.3 miles to the right, Oxbow Lake Motel $80, laundry facilities, baked goods and hot coffee in the morning, accepts maildrops, possible ride to avoid 3 mile roadwalk, restaurant and bar next to motel, open lunch and dinner, some days only dinner
---6-8 miles to the right, Stevensons Hardware with denatured alcohol
Just before reaching Route 28/30 you will walk through Lake Durant Campground $22, hot showers, swimming. If possible you might want to send a food drop here instead of Blue Mountain Lake Village, which has very little. Indian Lake Village is about 10-12 miles or so to the right and has much more than Blue Mountain Lake, including a Stewarts Convienance Store, restaurants, a couple motels, etc...
Upon reaching Route 28N, Long Lake NY is less than 2 miles to the left. As you come into Long Lake, you reach an intersection. Go straight ahead up the hill to reach the Corner Motel $65 or a little further to the Shamrock Motel $95. At the intersection is Stewarts with a good bread/bagel selection and HEET fuel, Hoss's store across the road with more hiker supplies, and a pizza place behind Hoss's in season only (and not the best pizza). Hoss's also has an ice-cream stand across from the store and a small campground.
If you were to turn right at the intersection, you will pass a good diner, then public library with 3 internet terminals, then the hardware store which doesn't sell HEET and only gallons of denatured when I was there, then follow the road to the left to the pretty decent grocery store, long term resupply, deli, foot care products, etc...Grocery store is only about 0.4 from the intersection.
Finally, upon reaching Averyville Road near Lake Placid, you can obviously hitch, or call one of two taxi's in town (google them), we got a cab into town for $6 and only had to wait 15 mins. In Lake Placid, the Art Devlin Olympic Motor Inn has a variety of rooms, standard rooms $68, rooms with view $78, and the full blown hot tub rooms are $108 (best money I ever spent), these rates for were early September. Not far from the Inn is a decent diner, another Stewarts, a good pizza joint, basic outfitters, bar and bowling alley. Amtrak has bus connection to Westport NY, the bus leaves Lake Placid at 12 noon, not sure if it's daily or not, check with Amtrak.
Anyhow...hope this helps anyone looking to do this trail."
Does anyone know how current NYS DEC Roads and Trails is with the NPT relocations? I've been using that for a lot of my electronic trail maps, although I haven't really got a good start on the 'Daks. It has a few unaccountable gaps (that I think I can fill in from the GPX file on nptrail.org) but it has the beaver pond relocations between West Lake and Mud Lake, above Tirrell Pond. and near Round Pond, and the big reroute off of Cedar River Road near Wakely Dam. Are there other significant relocations that are missing from both files?
I always know where I am. I'm right here.
Would love a copy. You seem much more up to date than me. If it was available electronically I'll just print it out myself. Pm or Email me. Would be much appreciated.
THX CookerHiker for reposting Stranger's bit. Good to see others using the supposedly for crap WB Search feature.
"Lean-to's are not always marked, so if you plan to use the shelters you need to be aware of their locations and look for them. Many times it's just a faint trail off the main trail with no markings, many of them are easy to miss. There are also many shelters right on the trail that you walk by."
As I work out the logistics of my thru I can't find anyplace where all the NPT lean-tos are listed or their corresponding trail mileages.
Can someone suggest where I can look?
You mentioned above that you had recently ordered the NPT guidebook. In addition to the sectional writeups, there's an appendix in the back listing all the leantos.
Or you can look at my new spreadsheet depicting my leisurely schedule. Since I created it in QuattroPro, I had to convert all the formulae when I saved it as an Excel file. I think it will be readable except for the "Night" column.
Northville-Placid Trail Spreadsheet.xls
THX Cookie. Nice info on the spreadsheet.
You're resupplying at the Piesco PO and Long Valley PO(?)?
Planning to send mail drops to motels in both locations so that I don't have to deal with PO hours. I'm going to call them first and may physically drop the supply boxes by before the hike because I think I'll have sufficient time. I got some good and recent leads on motels from the discussion on the FB page.
We hiked the NPT in July 2011 and really lucked out with unusually dry trails per NPT norms. From our journal entries, it looks like we used the NPTrail.org site, one of the best hiking info sites we have ever seen, and NatGeo maps 742 and 744. Basically we created a databook from all the data on the NPTrail.org site.
We still have the NatGeo maps 742 and 744 and are willing to sell them if you are interested. If so, send us a PM or email.
In regards to finding shelters – somehow we missed the turnoff for the Carry Shelter. Not sure how that happened! They are not all marked quite as well as the AT shelters.
We did not do a resupply as we did the trail in 8 days, including a side-trip to Mt. Marcy....and just figured we would carry all the food with us and skip the resupply process.
For more info, check out our journal: http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=355436 or video: http://www.youtube.com/user/royalusa/videos
Our journal summary entry reflects these thoughts:
“It seems like it takes us a good day or two to become accustomed to trail conditions. Each trail is so different and this one was no exception. Once our expectations or perceptions were in line with reality, we really began to settle in for the hike.
It also seems like we hit the trail at the perfect time, as the amount of mud and bogs that we experienced were extremely little. No knee deep mud for us. No miles of submerged bog planks. Only ankle deep mud with the consistency of play doh …. only a couple submerged planks …we’ll take it!
The trail reminded us of several sections of the AT:
· MASS-BUG-MUD-CHUSETTS, as we called MA on our thru-hike
· Maine with the boreal forests (though NPT’s forests were not boreal, they were similar)
If you’re looking for a beaten path, no mud, no blow downs, and no overgrowth then this trail is not for you. This trail needs a lot of maintenance as shown by the 5 page trail condition report on NPTrail.org.
If you don’t mind some rugged trail conditions and are looking for a trail where you can gel at lakes or ponds or creeks, then this trail is for you.
We had a lot of solitude on this hike; something we treasure. We were also pleasantly surprised by the lack of trash on the trail! The amount of trash was extremely little! A very clean trail. (Though some of the shelters had a considerable amount of discarded gear.)
In summary, I think this trail is best done slow, perhaps a 10 day pace. I’d recommend carrying a collapsible plastic paddle and enjoying time at the many lakes, ponds and streams and perhaps even partaking a canoe ride. I’d also recommend a side trip into the wilderness if time permits to summit a peak that is above tree line, such as Mt. Marcy.” Mt. Marcy is NY’s highest peak.
How did you organize the Mt Marcy side hike? That's exactly what I want to do on this trail - throw in some above treeline miles. Does the NPT link up with a side trail to Mt M?
Elevation Profile for the NPtrail
The NPTrail elevation profile is at:
http://www.nptrail.org/HikePlanning.html#NPT_Elevations
The only difference is where the reroute off of Cedar River Rd is as the profile predates the reroute but the elevations there are about the same. Tom W. The NPtrail Fanatic -
So, after glancing over your trail journal royalusa, the shelters are designated on the NG TI 742 and 744 maps
All the lean-tos on the NPTrail are designated on the 742 and 744 maps. Also, there is a cumulative mileage chart that shows the mileage figures for all the lean-tos so you can figure the distance between them for planning purposes. http://www.nptrail.org/HikePlanning....ge_Information
Royalusa, that was a funny story of you mistakenly heading up Mt Gray instead of Mt Marcy.
THX NPT fanatic. I somehow missed that link. Duh.
I have it in electronic form...how do I upload here? Alternatively Dogwood, email me at [email protected] and I will send it to you.
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