Location: Keene Valley, New York - Adirondack Mountain Preserve
Parking: St. Huberts Parking Area (address: 24-78 Ausable Rd, Keene Valley, NY 12943) or other parking spots along Route 73 (requires walking a minimum of 0.5 miles to lake road and an additional ~3 miles to the Indian Head foot trail).
Distance: ~10.5 mile loop
Completion Time: 5 hours for experience hikers and up to 8 hours for less experienced hikers or families with kids
Difficulty Level: Challenging
Elevation: 2,700 feet
Terrain: Muddy, Rocky, Steep
Scenic Outlook Rating: 10 out of 10
Planning your hike up Indian Head Summit
Arrival Time
An arrival time of 5:30am is highly recommended. This will assure that you find a parking spot either on St. Huberts parking area (the closest parking lot to the trail) or the closest parking spots along Route 73. Parking spaces in the St. Huberts parking area can fill up by 6:00 am, specially on weekends or holidays.
Food
There are no establishments that sell food nearby, so bringing enough food and water is highly recommended. Pack a substantial breakfast to fuel up before starting the hike. Find a parking spot, enjoy your meal, and prepare for the long trek. Bring another snack for when you reach the summit and plenty of water. A cooler to store a meal for when you return to your car is also advised.
What to Wear
Hiking boots are ideal or any other footwear that will be comfortable and can withstand the muddy rocky terrain. Layers are highly recommended. During the summer months it can get very hot hiking up the mountain, but once you reach the summit it can feel cold and windy.
During the peak of summer you can also carry swimwear since there are swim holes along other trails that you pass by, on your way to the Indian Head trail.
Finding the Indian Head Trail
Trailhead Location
Once you park you will make your way up Ausable Road (St. Huberts Road), which has some residences and a golf course along the way. You will then reach Lake Rd to your left. Once on Lake Rd, you will need to walk about 3 miles down that private road to find the sign to the Indian Head trail to your left.
The Indian Head trail will create a loop. If you enter the trail in the first entrance you encounter on your left, then you can choose to make your way down the other path on your way down, which will lead you back to Lake Rd. Upon exiting you will see Ausable Lake to your left, that will be the direction to take to enter the trail to Rainbow Falls which will add about 1.5 miles more to the trip.
Rainbow Falls
The trailhead to Rainbow Falls can be found at the end of Lake Rd, by the narrow bridge over Lower Ausable Lake Dam. From then it will be about 0.75 miles one way to reach Rainbow Falls.
Once you reach Rainbow Falls you will have to walk over large slippery rocks to get a closer view of the falls from the base or do steep climbing up a narrow slippery trail to get a view of the falls from above. It isn't the safest place for kids, so it is important to take precaution if making a stop in this location.
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