Cobble Hill

After bluebird skies on Mt. Jo yesterday, today was overcast with low clouds.  We decided on another short loop hike, one that was new to all of us.  Cobble Hill is a tiny little mountain on the east side of Mirror Lake, prominently visible from town.  I can't count the number of times we've wondered about Cobble Hill while walking around town, out on the ice, or paddling Mirror Lake.  Today we would climb it and finally scratch that itch!

The trailhead for Cobble Hill is located on the grounds of the Northwood School, right off Mirror Lake Drive.  There is a small section of parking designated for hikers.  We easily secured a spot, donned our snowshoes, and set off along the well-packed trail. 

The trail is flat at the beginning, then begins to climb, steeply in places.  One steep pitch had a rope to assist the scramble.  Erwin and I inspected the rope and found it sound, then I climbed the pitch first, so we could keep Frankie between us.  Of course he did fine and required no assistance... and loved it!  It was great fun for all of us, a novelty that while not necessary, was actually very helpful in these conditions, saving us from having to switch to microspikes to navigate the steep ice (we have lowland snowshoes with no special mountaineering crampons). 

At the top of the rope, there was more steepness to scale, up and across a big clearing with a view into town, then back into the woods briefly before popping out onto the summit.  We continued down slightly past the high point to check out the view from the ledges. 

After snacking and taking pictures, we headed back to the junction we'd passed shortly before the summit.  We had come up the steep way and planned to make a loop, so turned right and headed down the easier grades toward Echo Pond.  Frankie had a blast letting gravity run him down the mountain. 

At the bottom of the hill, the easy grades became flat and we explored the lovely Echo Pond.  We went out onto the ice intending to walk across it, but the snow was deep and unbroken and we eventually returned to marked trail alongside it. 

Then we spied a little snowman on the ice and had to go back out -- Frankie was smitten.  From there is was a short jaunt back to the trailhead. 

MapMyRide tracked this outing at 2.4 miles with about 400 feet elevation gain -- short and sweet!  It was nice to tick off another Lake Placid 9er peak and even nicer to check out a mountain we'd wondered about for years.