This winter I wanted to kick-start the season with a new hiking challenge! This challenge being the Winter Lake Placid 9er which consists of: Cobble Hill, Mt. Jo, Baxter, Mt Van Hoevenberg, Big Crow, Bear Den, Catamount and Hurricane Mountain.
To start the challenge we decided to do Cobble Hill on December 27th, which we knew would be a nice short and easy hike for our first official winter hike. Cobble Hill is a 2.2. roundtrip hike that's trailhead is found in downtown Lake Placid. The trailhead prior to COVID could be found in the school, but because of the pandemic - the trailhead is now PAST the school (if the school is on your right hand side) on your right hand side. It's the first turn past the school, however you can't drive down this road, so you have to park in town down the street and then walk back to this road. When you walk down the road, keep your eyes open because there is a small tiny yellow sign up that reads "Cobble Hill Trail" (again on your right hand side).
The trail starts out very gradually winding through trees, and has a very weird feel to it - you see people's homes and can hear the road and cars passing for about a .5 mile of the trail. Then the trail begins to climb, and this section is VERY poorly marked - so make sure to keep your eyes peeled and have your map downloaded on your phone/printed out so you can navigate this path.
The trail climbs approximately 450 ft of elevation over some short moderately steep sections but is a pretty simple trail. When you're almost to the top of the peak, there is one slab section that offers some nice views over looking the town of Lake Placid. To navigate this slab there is a rope that you can hold onto to hoist yourself - which I tried, but honestly - I felt more comfortable climbing the roots and using my poles/hands.
The summit is definitely underrated! I read online that the views weren't that great, but really the views were really nice! We snapped a few photos and then headed back down the trail.
Overall the hike was really fairly easy, and wasn't anything to write home about. Pretty views, but not very well marked and I didn't like the feel of being so close to people's backyards - didn't have that deep in nature feel to it!
1/9 for the Winter Lake Placid 9er