The washout occurred at the north end of Hoel Pond, where a small, unnamed stream feeds into the pond. On Wednesday morning, the stream — which drains a small pond in the St. Regis Canoe Area — was only a few feet wide and maybe 6 inches deep. However, that little stream made a big mess, washing out an area under the tracks about 75 feet wide and 20 deep.

The washout did not take out the tracks themselves but left them hanging in the air, with some ties still attached.

The state Department of Transportation, which oversees management of the corridor, did not respond Wednesday to an email seeking comment.

The northern end of the corridor is currently idle, regardless of the washout. Snowmobilers use the corridor in the winter, and the Adirondack Scenic Railroad used to use this part of it to move equipment between Utica and Lake Placid from 2000 to 2016, when it operated tourist trains in summer and fall between Saranac Lake and Lake Placid. But the railroad’s permit from the state only allows operations at the southern end of the line this year.

Some railroad ties hang from the tracks of the Remsen-Lake Placid Travel Corridor near Hoel Pond. (Enterprise photo — Justin A. Levine)

The railroad’s volunteers used to repair washouts, although this one is particularly severe.

This is not the only part of the state-owned travel corridor where deteriorated track conditions have been reported. Also, the status of the tracks as a whole is up in the air. DOT and the state Department of Environmental Conservation are expected to release a unit management plan this summer that is likely to call for removal of the tracks between Lake Placid and Tupper Lake in favor of a multi-use trail.

A previous iteration of the UMP, which was shot down in court, also called for the state to upgrade the tracks from Big Moose to Tupper Lake for passenger and tourist train service north from Utica.

Although the DEC and DOT’s 2016 rail trail plan was blocked in court, the state Adirondack Park Agency has since changed the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan definition of a travel corridor, and that change could pave the way for a trail. It is unclear whether the ASR, which led the first court challenge, will challenge the new UMP when it is released.