The Saratoga Plan has done a great job of preserving wild places and reclaiming wild places in the county. The Graphite Range Community Forest is a somewhat recent addition to what I've learned is the Friendship Trails Master Plan, which has an ambitious goal of connecting Saratoga County with trails from Moreau to Malta. For now, the focus is on the Palmertown Range, Southern foothills of the Adirondacks.
Like many of the places maintained by Saratoga Plan, the Graphite Range is a great multi-use area with loads of criscrossing trails. You are welcome to choose your own adventure here and make it as easy or hard, long or short, as you like. Like may other areas in the Plan, it's surrounded on all sides by close paivate propery.
We hiked up the Old Mine Road where there's are a bunch of fencing to keep casual hikers from falling into the shallow gorge. Signs are also posted to keep people from climbing over and bathing in the waters. I've seen photos of some interesting rock formations in this area. I didn't catch these this time around, but I'll be back again to see what's there.
Suny was having an amazing time. I was enjoying breaking trail, though it was admittedly only 3-6" of fresh powder over already-broken 6" or so. The exercise felt very good. However, I wore my snowpants and it was warm. I was sweating pretty bad. I think in the future, I'll need to pick up some unlined waterproof pants I can wear on warm days.
YAY!
Deer tracks were plentiful, as were rabbit tracks.
Coyote warnings were posted throughout the trail. I did let Sunny off-leash a little, but he did stay on leash for a while as well. I wasn't surprised at the warning. There's a lot of woods in the area, but also a lot of human habitation. Train tracks also run nearby which offer the animals a chance at some choice roadkill.
There are a few spots that seem to exist for hikers only, but the majority of the trails are mixed-use.
There's a little loop through the evergreens on the other side of the long bridge in the Northwest corner of the property. It seems superflous, but the map indicates there's supposed to be some future trail expansion past here and it made sense to build all the bridges when they could.
The trails on the Northern side of the forest are more narrow and rugged than on the Western/central, but they're still laid out in easy-to-traverse switchbacks. It was a magical day in the woods and we didn't see a single person on the trail that day.
There were a couple of chairs to relax in on the Northeast side.
We availed ourselves of them.
It is properly mixed use, so keep that in mind during moutnain biking season. Bikes are directed to follow a clockwise direction, so I recommend hikers go counter-clockwise for safety. I also recommend shorter leashes for pups on mixed-use trails during bike season.
The bottom of the #10 and #1 trails end in banked curves for mountainbikers.
I've heard these trails are very popular in warmer seasons and it doesn't surprise me. I do hope locals avail themselves of the opportunity to engage with nature this place provides. We'll certainly be back to explore the many trails even further.
