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    LAKE PLACID — New trails have been cut in a popular area for hiking, walking, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing on the edge of this village.


    A professional trail-building crew from the Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) has been working for the past five weeks in Henry’s Woods, a 200-acre preserve off of Bear Cub Lane. The workers have been clearing and grading about 3 miles of new trail, which, when complete, will roughly double the amount of mileage available for use by the public.


    “This will complete the entire trail system in Henry’s Woods,” said James McKenna, a trustee of the Uihlein Foundation, which owns and maintains the preserve. “We think the new trails will be a really good addition.”


    Wes Lampman, ADK’s trails director, said his crews have been working on three new sections of trail, all of which will branch off from the preserve’s existing 2-mile loop. Unlike that main loop, which is wider and has a crushed gravel base, the new trails are more narrow and have a natural tread.


    “Most of it was roughed out with a machine; then the crew came through with hand tools to smooth out the grade, remove roots and so on,” Lampman said.


    McKenna said the new trails, which, like the existing trails, were laid out by Tony Goodwin of the Adirondack Ski Touring Council, are a little steeper and more challenging than the existing loop.


    “One is basically like an inner loop that follows a plateau all the way around and offers some good views back toward the village and the McKenzie Range,” McKenna said. “The other one will go to a hilltop, which we might call the Rocky Knob Trail, and it will offer really good views of the Great Range, both Lake Placid and Mirror Lake, and up Main Street.”


    Lampman said the first part of the plateau trail is just about complete. Trail crew members were working Thursday and Friday of this week in the sweltering 90-degree heat to clear and grade the hilltop trail.


    The project started in the second week of June. McKenna said the new trails should be marked and ready for use by hikers by Aug. 1.


    In addition to the new trails, McKenna said 10 benches are being placed throughout Henry’s Woods this summer. The benches are made from maple trees taken from Heaven Hill Farm, the former home of Henry and Mildred Uihlein located just up the road. Henry’s Woods is named for Henry Uihlein.


   

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