Brewer Lake

 

Located in Otter Lake is a great new trail utilizing an old woods road to scenic Brewer Lake inside the Black River Wild Forest.  The hike is a pleasant, easy two mile walk on a gentle grade to the shore of Brewer Lake. The trail is near NY 28 along a state land access road that takes you across the tracks of the Adirondack Scenic Railroad.

The overall elevation gain for this hike is 302 feet, however there are no steep sections and the grade is very gentle.  The trail starts just past a yellow stop gate, with a trail register located nearby.  Follow the well defined old woods road past the gate with the red DEC plastic markers.

 

The start of the trail runs parallel to the Adirondack Scenic Railroad tracks, which you'll notice on your left about 50 feet from the trail.  The sounds of a busy NY 28 might annoy you in the beginning of this hike. At 0.35 miles cross a small bridge and then at 0.65 miles cross another.  At 1.75 miles the trail reaches a high point of the hike and begins to descend toward the lake.  The trail begins to get narrower as it gets closer to the lake.

 

At 2.0 miles the main Brewer Lake Trail ends at a primitive campsite on the shore of the lake. A side trail on the right fades out after about 400 feet and doesn't seem to lead to anything.

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Directions:  

To reach the trailhead, take NY 28 to Otter Lake.  Just south of the old fire department, across from a historical marker along NY 28, there is a small side road with a sign that says 'Access to State Land'.  It looks like a driveway, but this is the side road.  The access road climbs and crosses the railroad tracks of the Adirondack Scenic Railroad.  There is an extremely small pull off next to the yellow stop gate.  There may be parking for two vehicles here.  The access road continues as a private driveway.  The GPS coordinates of the junction of the access road at NY 28 is N43 35.481 W75 06.670 for those who have a GPS devise in their vehicle.