Ridden · Adirondacks, New York
Wilmington Notch
Sep 24 to 27, 2026
Back to the mountain bike capital of the Adirondacks, thirteen months after the MTB Fest. Three nights at Wilmington Notch: Hardy Road and East Branch on the Friday, Craig Wood in Lake Placid on the Saturday.
- 3
- Nights
- 6
- Riders
- 6
- Places
- 3
- Rides
- 22.9
- Miles
The ground
Camp, and what we rode from it
The campsite is the square. Green pins carry a number and are where we rode that weekend, with the tracks drawn underneath. The hollow pins were on the list and still are, each linked to the map feature its coordinate was read off. Distances are straight line from camp, not road miles.
Pins mark a trailhead or a parking area, never where an individual ride started. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Basecamp
Wilmington Notch Campground
- Site
- 45
- Operator
- NYS DEC
- In
- Thursday Sep 24
- Out
- Sunday Sep 27
On Route 86 between Lake Placid and Wilmington village, along the Ausable. Check in from 2pm, out by 11am.
4953 NYS Route 86, Wilmington, NY 12997
The list
What we rode, and what we did not
Three rides across the two full days, and every number here is scoped to this trip rather than to the place. The three without numbers were on the list and are still on it.
Hardy Road
3.4 mi from camp
- Rides
- 1
- Miles
- 8.8
- Climbing
- 1,194 ft
- Ridden
- Sep 25 2026
Friday morning, back on the network the 2025 MTB Fest started on. The bigger and more forgiving of the two Wilmington networks.
- GPX
Hardy Rd MTB Ride
East Branch
4.7 mi from camp
- Rides
- 1
- Miles
- 7.3
- Climbing
- 748 ft
- Ridden
- Sep 25 2026
Friday afternoon in Keene Valley, after Hardy Road. Last year we gave it 3.9 miles and said it was worth more; this time it got nearly twice that.
- GPX
East Branch Mountain Bike Ride
Craig Wood
8.4 mi from camp
- Rides
- 1
- Miles
- 6.9
- Climbing
- 1,099 ft
- Ridden
- Sep 26 2026
Saturday's ride, at Lake Placid, twenty minutes down Route 86 from the tent.
- GPX
Craig Wood Mountain Bike Ride
The Flume
1.5 mi from camp · new to us
About ten miles of trail, older and rougher than Hardy Road, straight off Route 86. Still the obvious gap in the record: two trips up here and we have never put a wheel on it.
Pinned at: The trailhead parking on Route 86, beside the path OpenStreetMap has as The Flume.
Poor Man's Downhill
3.7 mi from camp · new to us
Three-plus miles of singletrack snowmobile trail dropping over 1,200 feet from the toll road gate to the hamlet below. Normally shuttled with a car left at the bottom, and it does not need a downhill bike.
Pinned at: The TOP, at the Whiteface Memorial Highway toll booth, which is where the trail starts. The bottom is the shuttle drop in Wilmington village.
Cooper Kiln
4.5 mi from camp · new to us
Open to bikes and barely rideable. A large part of it was wrecked by Hurricane Irene and has not been rebuilt, so it is a hike with a bike on your shoulder more than a ride. It stays on the list.
Pinned at: The western end of the Cooper Kiln Pond Trail, the side OpenStreetMap tags as open to bicycles.
Went
The six
- Paco
- AZ
- Old Goat
- Gurb
- Brooks
- Rob
The tracks and the numbers on this page come from one rider's Strava, so they count one set of miles, not six.
