Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks, W!ld Walk, Tupper Lake

The Wild Walk project offers visitors to the Adirondacks a new perspective for viewing the region’s lush landscape and diverse wildlife. Billed as a “High Line for the Forest,” the Wild Walk is an elevated nature trail and interactive museum that meanders along the treetops surrounding Tupper Lake in northern New York.

Set on 80 wooded acres inhabited by more than 70 species of birds, as well as bats, butterflies and flying squirrels, the trail consists of a series of suspension bridges and platforms that rise up to 40 feet above the ground that are supported by hollow steel columns welded together at the top to form teepees. Each steel column is securely anchored to a 30’ diameter and 5’ deep concrete footer. The Wild Walk features attractions like an oversized replica of a raptor’s nest made with real branches and twigs brought in from the nearby Cedar Swamp. The nest is a complex construction of intricately woven branches secured to a metal railing that surrounds the platform. On another platform is a 30’ diameter spider’s web complete with safety netting designed to allow visitors to actually walk out onto the web. Perched on the edge of the web structure is a bigger than life metal spider sculpture. A realistic reproduction of a massive white pine that houses a spiral stairway called the “snag” leads up to a suspension bridge and allows a glimpse of what the inside of a tree might look like.