Baxter Mountain- A 2.4 Mile (3.8 Km.) Hike Near Lake Placid

On our last trip to the Adirondacks, we had lots of hikes planned, and most of them were a bit longer. But then the baby got a bit sick, and then I got sick, and nobody was sleeping… So the itinerary changed quickly! We still wanted to be able to enjoy the outdoors and get some cool views, so we looked up a few of the shorter hikes around Lake Placid. Baxter Mountain came highly recommended. So we set out with the baby on our back to see what we could see!

Baxter turned out to be a great choice, because it was only a short trip to the summit, and the views were lovely. The trail was also designed so well that it didn’t feel too steep. Lots of switchbacks along the way made for a gentler walk than we would have had otherwise.

There are three trails that you can use to get to the summit of Baxter Mountain. We started along Route 9N. Part of the trail starting from there is on private land, so it’s especially important to be respectful and not litter or vandalize anything. Otherwise, the owners might decide to deny access to hikers in the future.

The owners have also let the DEC (the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation) mark the trail.

Getting There

On the side of 9N, there was a trailhead sign that we were able to see as we drove along. The shoulder was really wide alongside the trailhead, we stopped there and parked. You can use these coordinates to get there: 44.220741, -73.749427.

When we arrived, we popped the baby into her casual carrier and hit the trail.

The Trail

The trail had a slight incline right away. Almost immediately, we found ourselves leaving the forest and walking under huge powerlines. We spotted our first trail marker just after the little field with the lines, as we were heading back into the forest.

After hiking a quarter mile (0.4 Km.), the trail started to get a bit steeper. But it was still easy to navigate. So far we had seen a few roots and a few rocks scattered about as we hiked along, but we hadn’t had to pay too much attention to where we were putting our feet.

Switchbacks

The trail thinned out as it continued up the mountain. Soon we began to see the switchbacks coming into effect (around the 0.5 mile/.8 Km. mark). In spots where the trail veered sharply to one direction, there was always a trail marker backed by a white arrow. This made them really easy to spot and follow.

As we made our way up the mountain, the switchbacks became a little shorter and steeper. But the hike still felt really manageable.

Trail Split

After hiking .83 miles (1.3 Km.), we arrived at the only split in the trail. It was well marked, with a big sign here pointing us towards the summit, off to our right. It was this point where the alternate trails joined (from where they started on Beede Road).

The trail started to require a little more attention from us as we carried on. At just under .9 miles (1.44 Km.) it became quite root covered, and we had to take big steps over some tall rocks. Then, the treeline opened up a bit on our left hand side (but the view wasn’t too good just yet).

Then, we found ourselves hiking over open rock face. It wasn’t steep enough to be considered a scramble, but on a wet day, it could be slippery.

State Land and Great Views

Just past the 0.9 mile (1.4 Km.) mark, we noticed a sign saying that we were entering state land. We assumed that everything behind us must have been private.

There was a big boulder along the trail that we had to climb up and over. I cheated a bit and instead of going over the boulder veered off to the left where it wasn’t such a high step to get up.

Soon, at the 1 mile (1.6 Km.) mark, we noticed that the treeline had broken completely off to our left. We stepped out for our first fantastic view.

Carrying on, the trail thinned out and brought us through a section of scrubby brush. We followed it through a section of scraggly pine before coming out onto another open rock face, with some very cool dead trees on our left, and more great views.

The Summit!

We decided to call this the summit, because we knew that the trail we were on would eventually take us all the way back out to a road on the other side of the mountain, where our car was NOT parked.

Plus, we ran into two lovely gentleman who said that the next views were another quarter mile (0.4 m.) away, and weren’t all that good. At this point, we had been hiking for only fifty minutes, and still thought we had a chance to get the baby back to the car before she fell asleep. Spoiler alert: We didn’t make it. We never make it!

We stopped to take a few pictures, and then headed back the way we had come. Of course, the baby fell asleep halfway back to the car. We reached the trailhead having hiked a total distance of 2.4 miles (3.84 Km.). It had taken us 1 hour and 40 minutes to cover that distance. Since the baby was still asleep though, we headed back up the trail for a bit, to let her rest!

Trail Thoughts

Baxter Mountain was a nice, easy hike with great views (for very little effort compared to other hikes in the area!). We’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to explore hikes in the Adirondacks that we might not have considered, if we didn’t have a little person who liked to accompany us (and slow us down sometimes!). I can’t wait to explore more little gems in the area that are fun for the whole family.

I hope this trip report has enough info to get you there too. Let me know in the comments, or share and tag a friend to start planning your next adventure!

Map and Elevation Gain

Whenever I’m hiking somewhere new, I tend to wonder about who was on, and who took care of that land before me. I’ve enjoyed using this website as a place to start learning more about the indigenous people whose land I’m on: Native-land.ca.