Niagara Falls / Blue Lagoon

The mods have been getting pretty aggressive about approving new threads lately, so fingers crossed this one actually makes the cut.

Can anyone suggest a good loop around Niagara Falls and the Blue Lagoon? If you have a GPS track, please send it my way 🙂. Or honestly, just any decent circular route through the National Forest area...

I checked out that mountain traverse through the Appalachians, but nothing there was a true loop... maybe 40-37 miles miles, mostly just forest trails.

Anyway, if anyone feels like joining me this Saturday morning, you're more than welcome. We'll be heading out from San Francisco around 6 AM.

If you start from the train station in Skrad, you just head a bit of a way down and then take a turn onto this gorgeous—but seriously challenging—trail that involves a ton of uphill hiking through the Devil's Throat.

As for any kind of practical loop or organized GPZ routing? I honestly don't know a thing about that.

The main thing would be finding a way to link the Devil's Throat with those swing sets and the trail leading up to Maple Peak.
I haven't personally made the trip yet, but I heard they’ve supposedly expanded and renovated the whole area recently.

Jamie Young5 said:The moderators are being pretty harsh about opening new threads—hopefully this one makes the cut.

Can anyone suggest a good loop around Niagara Falls, the Emerald Pool, and the surrounding area (and if possible, send over some GPS coordinates 🙂)? Or perhaps any other scenic circular routes through the National Forest...

I looked into that mountain transversal route, but it isn't a loop at all... It’s roughly 40 miles 37 miles, mostly forest trails.

Of course, if anyone wants to join me this Saturday morning, you're more than welcome—we'll be heading out from Reno around 6 AM.

You could leave your cars in Richmond by the Mississippi River and head upstream along Creek until you hit the River, cross the Creek, and then drive up toward Canyon to reach Lower Manhattan—then take a right onto the gravel road that leads to the Emerald Pool parking lot. From there, the trail takes you straight to the Emerald Pool via a small bridge and alongside the Canyon creek. You might have to put in some extra effort in certain spots. Once you reach the ranger station, you can hike over to see the Emerald Pool waterfall and the Devil's Throat canyon.
After you're done looking around, you can head back the same way or take the paved road up the steep incline to the first intersection and turn left toward the first cluster of houses near Suburban Hill. Turn right there and descend via the gravel path down to Valley—a little village by the Mississippi—and then hook a left toward Richmond... that's just a quick rundown 🙂