Adirondack Nature Trails:
Heart Lake Trail

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The Heart Lake Trail, located at the end of Adirondack Loj Road near Lake Placid, New York, is an Adirondack nature trail providing access to varied habitats, stunning views of the High Peaks, a tree trail, a Nature Museum, and a fern garden with interpretive signs.

• The trail around the lake is inside the Adirondack Mountain Club's 640-acre Heart Lake property, which includes the High Peaks Program Center, the Adirondak Loj, and the Wilderness Campground.
• The Heart Lake Trail is part of a much larger system of interconnected backcountry trails to the Adirondack High Peaks.
• There is a trailhead parking fee. The daily rate is $7 for members of the Adirondack Mountain Club and $15 for nonmembers. The weekly rate is $28 for members and $60 for nonmembers. You pay at the parking booth at the end of the Adirondack Loj Road or get a permit from the self-service box at the side of the booth when the parking attendant is not present.

Trail Overview

The Heart Lake Trail, which is accessed from the lawn by Adirondak Loj, is one of the best places in the Adirondacks to learn about nature in the mountains.

• The Heart Lake Trail includes the ADK Tree Trail, a system of seasonal interpretive signs which identify and describe over a dozen Adirondack trees. The Tree Trail was developed in 2011 by Larry Montague, a naturalist intern at Heart Lake. The interpretive signs are proof that low-tech sometimes works best. Each sign includes a series of photos highlighting key features that help identify each tree, plus a hand-written and illustrated page from a "Naturalist's Notebook," listing the tree's scientific name, key features, identification clues, and habitat.
• The trail also goes by the Heart Lake Nature Museum, a tiny cabin with a series of low-tech, but highly effective, exhibits covering diverse environmental topics, such as the geology of the Adirondacks and the impact of logging, invasive species, and climate change on the region. The Nature Museum is open from 9 AM to 5 PM in the summer and is staffed by summer naturalist interns.
• For those interested in learning more about ferns, there is a fern garden adjacent to the Nature Museum, with seasonal interpretive signs. Each sign has a photo of the fern, providing the common and scientific name and information on habitat and keys to identity.

ADK also hosts a series of free summer naturalist programs open to the public and hosted by naturalist interns.

• The series includes daily guided hikes up nearby Mount Jo (covering the history, ecology, and geology of the mountain) and morning and afternoon naturalist-guided walks focusing on the natural history of the Adirondacks. Some of the naturalist walks focus on the sights and sounds on the Heart Lake Trail.
• There are also Friday evening hikes to explore the natural world after dusk and one-hour presentations on Saturday night featuring natural and cultural history, adventure travel, or live music.
• ADK hosts a one-hour presentation every Saturday night on topics ranging from natural and cultural history to adventure travel and live music.
• ADK also offers a Sunday children's program with an ADK naturalist, with activities designed specifically for kids.

The Heart Lake Trail itself provides both beautiful views of a pristine mountain lake and access to varied habitats. Much of the trail follows the lake shore and passes through mixed forest, with some marshy areas close to the shore, where marsh-dwelling plants such as Labrador Tea and Sheep Laurel may be found. The areas adjacent to the Loj and picnic areas by the shore feature several of the trees in the ADK Tree Trail. The lake shore is also a good place to look for Common Loons and Great Blue Herons.

If you do a clockwise loop, take a left at Adirondack Loj.

• The trail leads you past a series of lakeside campsites on your right and several of the trees included in the ADK Tree Trail.
• Descend a short hill curving to your right to a small bridge over Outlet Brook. The swampy area around the brook is a good place to look for wetland-loving plants, such as Tall Meadow Rue.
• The trail then leads upward and opens up into a ski slope dedicated to the memory of Alice Waterhouse, a longtime member of the Adirondack Mountain Club who was instrumental in making sure that the ski slope would remain open. This is a boon for naturalists, since it provides a meadow habitat featuring old field wildflowers and some magnificent specimens of Interrupted Fern. Hay-scented Ferns, New York Ferns, Cinnamon Ferns, Royal Ferns, and Sensitive Ferns can also be found here.
• Follow the trail up the hill and to the right through a hardwood forest, featuring plants and birds that prefer a home dominated by deciduous trees (hardwoods).
• The trail then curves right and downward, bringing you closer to the lake shore and moister ground. Keep bearing to your right at the intersection with the Indian Pass Trail and the next intersection with the Street and Nye Trail, putting you on the Indian Pass Trail as it curves around the lake shore. For a quick, but very scenic side-trip, take a right to visit Roger's Outlook, for nice views of the mountains surrounding the lake. The outlook is flanked by Northern White Cedar.
• Continue a short distance along the trail through mixed forest to the Nature Museum, fern garden, and the remaining trees in the ADK Tree Trail.

Birds at Heart Lake

Birds seen or heard along the Heart Lake Trail include:

Wildflowers and Flowering Shrubs at Heart Lake

Wildflowers and flowering shrubs seen along the Heart Lake Trail include:

Ferns in the Fern Garden

Ferns in the fern garden outside the Nature Museum at Heart Lake include:

Trees on the ADK Tree Trail

Interpretive signs for the ADK Tree Trail are deployed during the summer monts. Trees with interpretive signs include:

Trail Map and Directions to the Heart Lake Trail

• The wildflower and flowering shrub list is based on photographs from 2011 through 2021. 
• The list of ferns identified with interpretive signs in the fern garden adjacent to the Nature Museum at Heart Lake is based on photographs from 2017 through 2021. 
• The list of trees in the ADK Tree Trail is based on photographs from 2017 through 2022. 
• The bird list reflects the more frequently-seen birds listed in eBird reports (Adirondak Loj. Essex County, New York, US), verified in part by personal observations made in 2017 through 2022. For those birds I have not personally seen or heard, the species included on the list are those which (1) are consistent with the habitat; and (2) either appear in many reports or are included in at least one report by an experienced birder whose birding skills are known to me.