How You Can Help Join the Adirondack Chapter of The Nature Conservancy and help us keep the Adirondack region protected for nature and for people. Silver Lake Bog Fast Facts Location: The Town of Hawkeye, near Union Falls and Silver Lake in Franklin County.  Find out how to visit!  Size:  98 acres What We Do: The Conservancy maintains this preserve for educational and scientific purposes. Take a virtual tour through Silver Lake Bog Preserve with our slideshow! Find out what you can expect to see - and then plan your trip! Take a Quiz! Test your knowledge of the Adirondack Park with our interactive quiz.  Find out if you're an intern, an apprentice, or a true Adirondack conservationist! Contact Us For more information, please contact: The Adirondack Chapter 8 Nature Way Keene Valley, NY 12943 (518) 576-2082 adirondacks@tnc.org

With a 200-foot bluff overlooking Silver Lake, the Silver Lake Bog Preserve provides spectacular views.  It also contains a wide variety of habitats, including a black spruce- tamarack bog, northern white cedar swamp, a hemlock northern hardwood forest, and a pine ridge.

Why We Work Here

This site gives the Conservancy an opportunity to learn about and protect diverse natural communities within a small area. The different vegetation types that grow on the preserve provide a variety of habitats for many bird, mammal, and amphibian species.

What to See

Animals: 

• spring peeper
• wood frog
• Northern leopard frog
• American toad
• porcupine
• white-tail deer
• snowshoe hare
• fisher
• olive-sided flycatcher
• white-throated sparrow

Plants:

• Labrador tea
• creeping snowberry
• pitcher plant
• bunchberry
• sheep laurel
• balsam fir
• black spruce
• white cedar
• cinnamon fern

What to Expect

As you walk along the half-mile boardwalk or up the trail to the bluffs, you will observe distinct changes in the vegetation as the elevation and the soil moisture increase or decrease. A preserve guide is available from the Adirondack Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, the Adirondack Land Trust, and at the trail register.

How to Visit

To prepare for your visit, please read our Preserve Visitation Guidelines.

Directions:  Click here for an interactive map and driving directions.

From the north:

• Take I-87 exit 34 onto Route 9 to Ausable Forks.
• From the blinking light in Ausable Forks, turn right onto Main Street.
• At the stop sign, turn left onto the Silver Lake Road toward Hawkeye.
• Pass the state campground at Taylor Pond and go through Hawkeye to the junction with the Union Falls Road.
• Turn left and travel about 1.5 miles to the Old Hawkeye Road (dirt) on the left.
• The preserve is about a half a mile down the Old Hawkeye Road on the right.

From the south:

• Take I-87 exit 30 onto Route 73 to Lake Placid.
• At the traffic light turn right onto Route 86 to Wilmington.
• At the four-way stop stay straight. This puts you on the Bonneview Road.
• Follow it to the end and make a left onto the Silver Lake Road toward Hawkeye.
• Pass the state campground at Taylor Pond and go through Hawkeye to the junction with the Union Falls Road.
• Turn left and travel about 1.5 miles to the Old Hawkeye Road (dirt) on the left.
• The preserve is about a half a mile down the Old Hawkeye Road on the right.

Back to the Adirondack Homepage >> 

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Carl Heilman II (Silver Lake); Photo © Larry Master (White-throated sparrow); Photo © Larry Master (spring peeper).