Wolf Lake Rd.

[Woodly]

Is it maintained in the summer? Is its entire length open at any time?
It runs between Coreys in the north and 28n west of Newcomb in the south.

[DSettahr]

Short answer is no, none of this road is accessible to be driven by the public at any time of the year. It's an old logging road that (in it's current iteration) dates to the post-hurricane timber salvage operations that were conducted in the Cold River valley after the 1950 hurricane. After the hurricane, the state was worried that the immense quantities of blowdown would likely contribute to increased risk of a high-intensity wildfire, and logging companies were allowed into the Cold River area to salvage much of the downed wood. (The decision to allow this remains controversial even to this day.)

The section between Coreys and the state land boundary a bit south of Shattuck Clearing (near the junction with the trail to Moose Pond and Newcomb Lake) has been closed to all motor vehicle use for decades- ever since the High Peaks were zoned as a Wilderness Area (and I don't know that it was ever open to public motor vehicle use anyways). It's now a designated hiking and horseback riding trail- if you tried to drive it, not only would you not make it very far, you'd likely get ticketed and fined by the state for doing so. It's also not really in great shape, especially for horseback riding and even for hiking- it gets pretty brushy between the Calkins Creek lean-tos and Shattuck Clearing.

The southern stretch of the road, between the state land boundary south of Shattuck Clearing and Route 28N, is a private road posted against trespassing. This the the SUNY ESF Huntington Wildlife Forest; the property is privately owned by Syracuse University and it is used for forestry, fisheries, and wildlife research.

In any case, both ends are gated and locked year-round anyways. Several online mapping services (including Google Maps) have mistakenly shown the old road as a public road for years.

[Woodly]

Thanks DS. I knew some of that but wondered about the remainder.

[DSettahr]

If you ever get the chance, the Cold River loop that starts and ends in Coreys is an excellent 3+ day backpacking trip. The loop is comprised of this trail (known as the "Calkins Creek Truck Trail"), the Northville-Placid Trail between Shattuck Clearing and Duck Hole, and the Ward Brook Truck Trail. It's roughly 30+ miles through generally easy terrain- flat to gently rolling hills. The Cold River area is the most remote location in the Adirondacks. The Ward Brook area is very popular with hikers hiking in to climb the Sewards, and the NPT occasionally can see moderate levels of use, but on some good stretches of this loop you'll likely see few other hikers.

With the recent MacIntyre East land purchase, there are plans for a similar loop trail that starts/ends in Upper Works- a "Cold River south loop" around the Santanoni Range to complement this already existing "Cold River north loop" around the Seward Range. Combined, the two loops will form a roughly 50+ mile large loop (or a 60+ mile figure eight if you hike the Cold River stretch twice). The "Cold River south loop" is already possible using existing trails, logging roads, and herd paths, but much of it is as of yet unmarked so it does require some advanced navigational ability (finding unmarked junctions that aren't always very obvious, and knowing which way to go at each junction).

It also remains to be seen whether these trails will ever again see any meaningful maintenance. As I posted above, even the existing Cold River north loop (which is entirely on "marked and maintained" DEC trails) gets a bit brushy and hard to follow in spots. Even the NPT has a few spots where things get a bit less than clear (although a DEC employee did hike through and put up fresh markers on the entire NPT between Long Lake and Lake Placid last summer). Hopefully, with the new funding for trail maintenance things will improve somewhat in the Cold River area (at least with regards to keeping these trails from becoming completely overgrown).

[Cold River Bob]

DS that would be nice if dec spent some time in there. They have had stuff in there for the two bridges for years an still haven't done a thing with them. Like you said some of the trails are all grown in , That's why you don't see many if any horses in there like you used to

[WBB]

The horse trail from Duck Hole to Shattucks Clearing was almost nonexistent in 2016 when I did the loop. Northern LT's were in good shape with the exception of the privy which was on it's side. I could not imagine getting a horse through there.

Another fun trip over that way is to go from Newcomb to Coreys Rd. Camp Santanoni to Moose Pond to Cold River then to Corey's easy two or three night trip.

[jtcohen1964]

Question - Regarding the Calkins Brook trail from Coreys down to Shattuck Clearing - You describe it as "pretty brushy" and "hard to follow in spots". I was thinking of doing the three-day north loop late summer / early fall (Day 1 - Coreys to somewhere around Shattuck Clearing; Day 2 - Cold River trail along the northern bank to somewhere around Duck Hole; Day 3 - back out to Coreys). Is the first day of that route too risky to take, in terms of not being able to follow it? Are there any other problems with that route I should be aware of?

[DuctTape]

Question - Regarding the Calkins Brook trail from Coreys down to Shattuck Clearing - You describe it as "pretty brushy" and "hard to follow in spots". I was thinking of doing the three-day north loop late summer / early fall (Day 1 - Coreys to somewhere around Shattuck Clearing; Day 2 - Cold River trail along the northern bank to somewhere around Duck Hole; Day 3 - back out to Coreys). Is the first day of that route too risky to take, in terms of not being able to follow it? Are there any other problems with that route I should be aware of?

from Coreys to Shattuck is not brushy at all. Clear as day except a few blowdowns and a washed out bridge which make travel with horses near impossible.