The Blue Ridge Wilderness consists of more than 47,000 acres of State Forest Preserve lands in the central Adirondacks, near the communities of Raquette Lake, Blue Mountain Lake and Indian Lake. The wilderness area's northern and eastern boundaries are roughly defined by NY 28 as it arcs from the South Inlet of Raquette Lake to Cedar River Road. The area is bounded on the south by Cedar River Road and on the west by the Moose River Plains Wild Forest and Great Camp Sagamore.

Many people enjoy hiking the famous Northville-Lake Placid Trail that was established in 1922.  A 2009 reroute was completed which eliminates some road walk and the trail going through the private lands of McCane's Resort.  The trail now follows the Cedar River Road for 0.9 miles past Wakely Dam, leaves the road and travels northwestward along an interior road known as the Gould Road for about 1 mile. Then it proceeds northeastward for approximately 6.6 miles through the Blue Ridge Wilderness to intersect the existing trail just south of Stephens Pond and continues to Lake Durant Campground on NY 28.

Others enjoy big game hunting in the fall, cross-country skiing near Great Camp Sagamore, and camping in the lean-tos on Wilson Pond, Cascade Pond and Stephen's Pond.  The Cascade Pond lean-to was removed in 2009. A new lean-to has been constructed on the east side of the pond, a few hundred feet eastward (toward the Northville-Placid Trail) along the trail past the old lean-to site.

The area is dominated by Blue Ridge, a height of land ranging from 2,700 to 3,497 feet in elevation and running in a general east-west direction for a distance of more than six miles. On the lower north slopes of the ridge there are a number of attractive little trout ponds with foot trails leading to them from NY 28.

The forest cover is typical mixed hardwood-softwood types with the higher elevations predominantly covered with spruce and balsam. Most of the old growth spruce and hemlock suffered heavy damage in a 1950 blow down, which affects the character of the area even to this day.

The Wakely Mountain Primitive Area is adjacent to the Blue Ridge Wilderness and consists of 235 acres of State Forest Preserve lands in the Town of Lake Pleasant. The primitive area encompasses the Wakely Mountain fire tower, observer cabin, and helipad. A hike to the tower is rewarded by panoramic views of the central Adirondacks.

Popular hikes in Blue Ridge Wilderness