News

April 1, 2026

A Walk Near Home

David Trithart

Brookfield Access Road, East Side

Sugar Island Dam

West Side Trail

It’s great to have so many nice walking and hiking options here in the North Country. A while ago I walked with my wife, Rose Rivezzi, on a short section of the Red Sandstone Trail along the west bank of the Raquette River near Potsdam. The trail continues all the way to Hannawa Falls, but there wasn’t time to go that far. We turned back toward Potsdam and passed the Sugar Island power dam for the second time. We could see a spur trail coming down to the river from the other side; It comes off a Brookfield Power service road that is also a pleasant walk. Both that trail and the one we were on come out near the dam and Rt. 56 bridge in Hannawa.

Add to those two the Clarkson Munter Trail on the west side of the river nearer Potsdam, and it started to look to me like a walkable loop. It would involve walking on the Back Hannawa Road to connect the two west-side trails, as well as along Rt. 56 to get back to Potsdam from Hannawa. I knew immediately that I had to give it a try.

A few days later the mild, dry, early autumn weather got me started from our home off Pierrepont Ave. in Potsdam. I headed downstream through Ives Park and across the Rt. 11 bridges over the Raquette. Immediately past the second bridge, on the left is the start of the Munter Trail. It is well used by walkers, dogs, and bicyclists and follows a lovely route upstream to the edge of Bayside Cemetery.

From there I shifted onto the Back Hannawa Road and followed it until I reached the gated (to cars) gravel road to the Sugar Island power station. Continuing alongside the penstock (large-diameter pipe) that brings water to the station’s turbines, I passed a parking area and started to climb on the gravel road to the dam.

Just before the dam, an indistinct trail branches steeply right. It is marked as a Canoe Carry -- but that’s another story.

Coming out at the top under power lines, you reach a view down to the river and the Sugar Island dam. The marked trail drops to the river bank, which it follows closely, crossing a few bridges maintained by ADK volunteers. Soon you pass the old sandstone quarry, just out of sight but easily accessible.

The trail slowly climbs out of the trees into recently cleared land under power lines. Then it moves back toward the river but stays high above the bed. It ends on Mill St. in Hannawa Falls, where you go left to reach Rt. 56 upstream of the dam.

Cross the bridge and very shortly you will see, behind Chip’s Place, the service road that leads to another Brookfield power plant. The road follows the canal that carried water to the original plant, one of the oldest on the Raquette, and remains in use today even though pipes have been installed for subsequent hydro facilities. This road gets some use, by service vehicles, up to the plant. But it continues, with little apparent use, beyond. It ends at a gate where it meets the short branch road called “Old State Rt. 56.”

Walking along “new State Rt. 56” to complete the loop back to Potsdam isn’t the most interesting part of the outing, but there is ample shoulder. The day I did this walk it took me 3-1/2 hours, without haste but with few stops.

Did this “loop trail” have a name? Not that I knew or could discover. I tried to come up with one; the best I could do was “The Raquette three-dam ramble.” It’s not in the same class with the Stone Valley Trails a short distance upstream, but it has its attractions. And it’s not far from home - mine and many others.

News Archive