Cook Mountain Yellow Trail Loop

Cook Mountain Yellow Trail is the preserve's easy lower loop through mixed woods and the flat ground left by a beaver pond. The full walk is about 0.9 mile round trip from Baldwin Road, including the short approach to and from the loop. Allow about 30 minutes, plus time to stop along the pondflat. Some published mileage is 0.73 mile; that appears to count the shared 0.12-mile approach once, while this distance includes walking back to the lot.

Start at the kiosk and follow the wide, flat path for about 0.12 mile to the loop. One leg rises gently and becomes a dirt road; the other winds beside the old pondflat. The Yellow Trail meets the red-marked Ridges Trail, but the steep summit climb is a separate hike. Ridges climbs about 680 feet in its first half-mile and continues to Cook Mountain's 1,213-foot summit. Stay on the lower loop if you came for an easier walk.

Beavers once dammed a stream here. After they left, the dam broke and the water drained; grasses and shrubs returned across the pondflat, which is slowly turning back toward woodland. Look for old stumps and beaver-chewed marks along the former pond edge. Calico aster, Queen Anne's lace and goldenrod are characteristic meadow plants, though none is guaranteed on a particular visit.

Part of the lower preserve follows a subtle old railroad bed that once carried passengers between Ticonderoga and the Baldwin steamer dock on Lake George. The route is easy to miss if you aren't looking for it. Cook Mountain was bought by George Delano in 1876; he farmed the slopes, kept a maple-syrup sugar bush and apple orchards, and shipped apples to New York City.

The Baldwin Road pull-off and kiosk mark the start. Parking is limited, and the lot is not plowed in winter. The preserve is open from dawn to dusk year-round; dogs must stay leashed. A separate blue trail reaches a Civil War-era cemetery about 0.15 mile beyond the beginning of the Yellow loop, and is not included in this route's distance.