Find the top rated cross country skiing trails in Potsdam, whether you're looking for an easy short cross country skiing trail or a long cross country skiing trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a cross country skiing trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
I have been watching the completion of this trail for some time and couldn’t wait to ride it, which I did this July. Worth the wait and spectacular in so many ways. The surface is pristine gravel (some paving around Saranac, with new guardrails and places for viewing the lakes and marshes. I was not prepared for the absolute beauty and remoteness at times. From Saranac through Floodwater to Tupper Lake there are not many signs of human habitation. A mother deer and her two babies crossed in front of us, as did a weasel. Even though I have an E Bike, I did the trail in two days: Lake Placid to Charlie’s Inn and Charlie’s to Tupper Lake. Gave me time to stop and enjoy the beauty of nature. Obviously care and planning has gone into this project. So glad I did it.
Beautiful scenery from Tupper Lake to Lake Clear. Last couple of miles if going east towards Lake Placid is a deceiving uphill with not much shade. Overall a great trail.
A great ride through boreal forest of the Canadian Shield geological formation! I did an out-and -back from Tupper Lake (the largest trailhead parking lot I’ve ever seen!) to Lake Placid. The trail is in great condition- packed crushed gravel except for a short paved section east of Saranac Lake. The trailheads all have portable toilets. There is a temporary trailhead at Lake Placid as a new one is under construction.
A good portion of the trail runs through deep forest but there are plenty of areas where the views open up, usually associated with the many ponds and lakes.
This one is a gem!
This trail connects to the Adirondack Rail Trail at the Tupper Lake Train Station and takes you directly to the Waterfront Park across from McDonalds. It’s a great trail and highly popular with the locals. The Waterfront portion is paved and takes you into Flanders Park which has a playground, a ball park ( Home of the River Pigs semi-pro baseball team), volleyball courts, little league park and the Sunset Stage where Tupper Lake Arts hosts live music every Monday and Wednesday nights at 7:00 pm during the summer months. It’s a great ride and a wonderful place to visit!
This trail is finally completed and is one of the best rail-trails I have ever ridden. It connects the communities of Tupper Lake, Lake Clear, Saranac Lake and Lake Placid. It's extremely popular, taking you through remote wooded areas with lake vistas, and just enough community connections for you to pick up a coffee, beer or sandwich along the way. It's still a work in progress with more signs, benches, tables and rest areas yet to be completed, but it's a diamond in the rough, and sure to be in the Rails to Trails "Hall of Fame" in the future!
This trail ROCKS! We rode from Saranac to Floodwood Outpost maybe 20 miles. The section we rode is not on the TrailLink map (yet). The Adirondack Rail Trail group has an excellent map of all the trail, from Lake Placid to Tupper Lake, well worth getting if you plan to ride this.
As we rode past Rat Pond, we encountered a moose swimming across the pond being chased by two angry loons. And as we found out latter, seeing a moose in the Adirondacks is a rare event.
The trail surface is gravel and well maintained on a nice gentle grade. Around wet or marshy areas there are wooden fencing in place. And at the trail access points there are porta-potties (clean!). All in all, this is a great trail.
We walked from the parking lot on 86 into Saranac lake Depo. What a wonderful walk. The trail is wide enough for everyone to enjoy. They were planting lots of new trees along the path. There were no bugs¿¿¿¿
X-county skied the trail. Found it was it was heavily used by snowmobiling which was ok 85% of the time because they shared the trail respectfully. The other 15% maintained high rates of speed when passing, enough so we found it best to stop and stand to the side when they passed. One in particular proved a point passing within 10” of us. Would not recommend for mixed use.
The newly opened section is about 15 miles between Saranac Lake Depot and Floodwood Rd. This section is very scenic, passing along the shores of numerous lakes and ponds. Charlie’s Inn at Lake Clear and Floodwood Outpost at Floodwood Rd are good spots to rest and refuel, in addition to numerous spots in Saranac Lake. Can’t wait for the third section to open next year.
Rode the Saranac Lake to Lake Placid section. Great access on both ends. Trail is very well maintained. Beautiful scenery. Can’t wait for the other two sections to open.
This trail is relatively new. The trail is in great condition with part of it covered with crushed stone and part covered with asphalt. It is pretty much flat with slight up and down grades. The bridges and railings are all in excellent condition. There are numerous parking areas with access to the trail. I started in Lake Placid and could not find any signage indicating where the trail started or where the parking was.
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