If you are in the Wilmington area and have two hours to spare, consider this short bushwhack hike to to a wonderful summit. The Cobble Mountain (2103') lies in the Sentinel Range Wilderness and I suspect it is mostly a local secret. It is overshadowed by it's larger brothers that are part of the ADK Hundred Highest list: Kilburn, Slide, Sentinel and Stewart. The larger peaks in the Sentinel Wilderness, while higher, do not compare to this peak (in my opinion).
 |
| A sample of the rock we saw on the way up. |
The Cobble Mountain offers a lot of bang for the buck. It is a short walk (0.8 miles) to the summit. The climb is open and enjoyable. We followed an old woods road to a herd path to the summit where there is a mix of open rock and red pine forest. On the way down, we followed the SE ridge (also with a herd path) back to the small pulloff parking area from where we started.
 |
| Nearing the summit. |
To reach this peak, we took Route 9N to Upper Jay, then proceeded west on Springfield Road to a left on Bartlett Road. Bartlett turns to a gravel road, but even with the spring thaw we were able to drive the road with our front wheel drive car on this day. We followed Bartlett past a sharp right bend in the road to a small pulloff on the left. We climbed following the old woods road on the north side of Barlett, but if you climb the ridge on your right, it's a nice ridgeline with a herd path. At the end of the ridgeline, you reach the woods road and can follow that to where it ends near the steeper portion of the base.
 |
| Great view looking south towards Keene. |
At the end of the woods road, we found another herd path leading upward. The saplings and branches had even been clipped and pruned by someone. There were no markings or ribbon, but the herd path was easy to follow with some care.
 |
| Looking SW. Sentinel Mountain on the right. |
 |
| The red pine forest. |
 |
| Leesa and Rev on the summit. |
 |
| Looking at the summit from the red pine forest |
 |
| Sentinel Mountain in the background |
 |
| Looking down at the 3 tiered ledge. |
 |
| Looking NW |
 |
| Looking up from the 3rd tier |
 |
| Looking south from the summit. |
 |
| Just an awesome summit. |
 |
| I believe the snow capped peak in the back left is Algonquin. |
 |
| Looking NW |
I've been saying this a lot lately, but this is a peak that I'll come back to; especially since it is such a short hike and so easy to get to.
 |
| Our parking pulloff on the south side of Bartlett Road. |
Hike Stats:
Hike Distance: 2.6 miles
Hike Time: 2 hours
Total Vertical Gain: ~1000'
 |
| The route. |
No comments:
Post a Comment