Afterwards, it recrosses the Schoharie into the village of Middleburgh and follows NY 145 briefly to climb the Middleburgh cliffs, then makes its way across Cotton Hill and Dutch Settlement state forests to Albany County, where it takes in the Partridge Run Wildlife Management Area, Cole Hill State Forest, and the Helderberg Escarpment, which it follows north through John Boyd Thacher State Park, with its Indian Ladder. Currently Thacher State Park is the end of the trail for end-to-enders, but a partially off-road route has been blazed across the Mohawk River at Lock 9 park to the Saratoga County line, and from there a road walk is described to the Northville-Placid Trail within the Adirondack Park.