I never know where the mountains will take me from one week to the next, but I am almost always guaranteed an adventure of some sort or another. This week brought me to the north end of Hoffman Notch in the Schroon Lake Region. The snow-free aesthetics of our current winter are not normal, but that tends to happen from time to time. Snow is a wonderful addition to the harmony of the wintery mountains and without it we will be left with the dull ambers of the rotting leaves and the damp chill in the air around us. But we would not let that get us down as we can make the best out of almost any situation.
Driving down Blue Ridge Road, the multiple humps of the Hornet Cobbles has intrigued me for many years, and all I had to do is pull the pin and just climb them. In an early morning mental muddle we arrived in Newcomb to carpool down to the Hoffman Notch Trail. Saving fuel, money and energy is important in our pursuits.
The Hoffman Notch Trail is a gateway between the Hornet Cobbles and the massive expanse of Washburn Ridge which rests to the west, a future endeavor, for sure. The initial portion of the trail heads through private land so we could not venture off the trail until we made that obvious step into the Forest Preserve. The Hornet Cobbles consist of four distinct bumps. We first ventured to the one furthest north, called #4, the smallest of the lot. The trail brought us through the forest, past the wreckage of an old, deceased car — a Studebaker, I think.
We then crossed a wonderful structure over Sand Pond Brook and quickly came to a much more rudimentary crossing consisting of an old ladder laid down over a wet segment. From there it wasn’t too far to state land. Once we were sure we had crossed the border we started our bushwhack to Hornet Cobble #4. The terrain was nice and open but was going to get steeper. The mixed forest gave us an easy attack on the small summit, and even with challenging conditions we reached the ridgeline quickly. The ridge offered what we call a “filtered view” through the trees, but it was a nice early treat. The summit was not much further along the ridge and it was positioned atop a large boulder that we needed to scramble upon.
Next in line was Hornet Cobble #3, the third tallest of the lot and about 100 feet higher than our current position. The ridge didn’t require us to descend too much off of #4, which we were grateful for as we knew later that would not be the case. As we started to climb up the next summit, so did the balsam and spruce forest. There is not much to report on the summit of #3 except for the fact that we were standing in some pretty thick growth with barely room to turn around. We didn’t hang out and headed right for the tallest cobble.
As we descended, the forest started to open up and allowed us a nice view of our destination. We tinkered with the thought of heading over a smaller high point along the ridge that was in the way, but to avoid any unneeded thicker growth in our faces we opted to stay low to the east and evade it.
The summit of Hornet Cobble #1 came quickly, much more so than we had anticipated, and avoiding much of the thicker growth was surely a factor of our success. In fact, the final stretch was pretty open and the summit was, too. Unfortunately the open summit was also wooded, giving us seasonal views through the leafless trees.
It was now off to Hornet Cobble #2, the final summit along the ridge and quite a ways away, too. We descended off of #1 and at times it felt as if we were falling off the face of the earth. It was steep and very unstable in the area we chose, but it was fast and it delivered us in the high col at a rapid pace. The saddle was fairly flat with an elevation change that was easy and not steep at any point. We climbed the remaining 100 feet or so to the summit and with a bit of exploring we found a small window view of Hoffman Mountain to the east.
The ridge was not as thick and slow as I anticipated, so with our extra time we decided to visit a hidden pond to the southeast of the ridge to see what we could find in the lowlands. The descent was long and continuous, and in a slow forward progression we made tracks through the open hardwoods and eventually onto the shoreline of the hidden pond. The pond looked to be receding back further and further from the trees making for a wide, open shore. It was a bit of a mucky walk but a pleasant one. This was surely the payoff for the day. The scenery out from the valley and up the mountains was spectacular. Deer tracks dotted the shore, as did fallen trees with decades of being submerged.
We were now in a slight conundrum — should we climb back over the shoulder of the Hornet Cobbles or follow the drainage to the Hoffman Notch trail? We started along the creek and enjoyed a couple small waterfalls, but the shore was not all that friendly and we soon decided to climb up and over the shoulder. It wasn’t very challenging, but we were still not all that thrilled.
We eventually made the trail but in all reality it wasn’t that long, and we still had enough time to visit Big Marsh. Big Marsh is a large body of water that resides near the top of the notch. From our location it was about 1 mile away along a wet and faintly marked trail. The vistas out over the Marsh, which is truly more of a large lake, were wonderful. Texas Ridge shadowed us from across the open waters, and as the shadows of the day grew long we needed to hastily get hiking back to the trailhead. We wasted absolutely no time in our exit and only paused long enough to snap a few pictures of the boulders along the trail and the vintage logging machine park along the way. We were tired and ragged woodsman as we emerged from the forest, but excited about what we had found and excited in the thought of what other adventures we could ponder up in the Hoffman Notch Region.
There's plenty to do in the Schroon Lake Region after you've finished your hike in the Hoffman Notch Region. Go horseback riding, visit a museum or go shopping.
