While Leesa was attending the 46er spring meeting and the Crowne Plaza hotel in Lake Placid on Saturday, I was charge of keeping our dog Rev occupied. I dropped Leesa off at 11:30 and then headed to Whiteface Mountain Road to hike Eagle Eyrie (2631') via the Shore Owners Association (SOA) Lake Trail.
Eagle Eyrie has been on my list for awhile, and I had attempted it once, but the snow was too deep and I had turned around. This time, all I needed was my bug head net to keep the black flies out of my face. I started at Bloget Road and fo;;owed the road a couple hundred yards until the trail began on the left hand side of the road just before the road gate.
The Lake Shore trail is nothing special, but it leads to a bunch of options. The signage is good on all the SOA trails, but they don't get much foot traffic, so sometimes you cannot even tell you are on a trail. The trail discs are pretty good, but you occasionally have to look for them. On this day, I just stayed on the Lake Shore trail all the say to the Eagle Eyrie trail. It was about 4.8 miles on the Lake Shore Trail and then another 0.7 to the top.
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| A pair of the many good signs along the way. |
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| A foot bridge near the beginning of the Lake Shore Trail. |
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| Eagle Ryrie in the center left background. |
When I got near the north shore of Lake Placide, just west of Head Brook, I found the remains of a house: foundation, sink, tub, beds & stove.
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| An old firebox |
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| I think I'll pass... |
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| A twin size bedframe |
Just after crossing Head Brook, there is a 0.1 spur trail to the lake, where boaters have access to a 0.8 mile hike to Eagle Eyrie. Still the trail is lightly used. It appears that not many boaters have stopped to do this hike.
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| A 2nd option is to approach Eagle Eyrie from Connery Popnd and Whiteface Landing. That would be a slightly shorter and easier hike, |
The climb from the lake is about a 600' elevation gain in 0.8 miles, with the forest transitioning from hardwoods to a coniferous forest about halfway up.
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| The Eagle Eyrie Trail. |
The actual summit of Eagle Eyrie is heavily forested, but there is a small lookout which provides a nice view of Lake Placid.
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| lake Placid from Eagle Eyrie |
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| The Eagle has landed... |
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| A couple zoom views... |
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| Mount Colden and the McIntyre Range in the background. |
I returned via the same route. I only saw one person all day, even though it was a holiday weekend. It just goes to show that the SOA trail don't generally receive many visi
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| One of the many brook crossings |
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| An SOA trail to a Cascade and Pool(o.7 miles) leads partway before a sign tells hikers to follow the streambed. |
I got back in time to feed the dog and get myself some dinner before picking up Leesa from the Crowne Plaza. Rev was sufficiently tired so slept on the drive home.
Hike Stats:
Hike Distance: 11.7 miles
Hike Time: 6 hours
Total Vertical Gain: ~ 1300'
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| The route |
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| The route on the Nat Geo map |
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