Mount Marcy via Van Hoevenberg trail, New York

Getting to the trail

My brother and I decided to climb Mount Marcy, NY as our 6th state highpoint. https://www.summitpost.org/mount-marcy/150394

We live about 4 hours away from Lake Placid, NY, which is a good base for hiking Mount Marcy, so we decided to spend the night before the climb in Lake Placid. We stayed at the Econo Lodge in Lake Placid. This is a perfect place to crash if you're looking just to spend a night or two in the area. It is cheap and easy. A big plus was that it was about 10 minutes from the trail head too!

We heard from some folks at the EMS shop in Lake Placid say that there was snow above 3,500 feet. This prompted us to purchase micro spikes. Man, was this a good decision. Nothing like having proper gear.

We heard the climb can take up to 10-12 hours so we woke up at 5:15 a.m. to pack up and get going to the trail.

By 6:00 a.m. we were at the trail head at the Adirondak Loj parking area. Parking was $10 and you can park literally 15 feet away from the trail head.

The way up

We officially started our climb at 6:12 a.m. We took the Van Hoevenberg trail which is the shortest way up Marcy to my knowledge. Its 7.4 miles one way however.

The first two miles are a nice, easy going 2.3 mile hike to the Marcy Dam. These 2 miles served as a great way to warm up the body to the rest of the long hike. There is a river crossing before you reach the Dam, but note that a bridge labeled "High Water Bridge" can be crossed and will lead you back to the trail about 100 feet after crossing. It's a good idea to use this bridge to stay as dry as possible for as long as possible.

River crossing before Marcy Dam

The next 2 miles runs with a nice brook and eventually make a distinct change into steeper terrain. The trail is very well traveled and following it is simple. Again, this portion of the hike is generally pleasing as you enter some thick wilderness. The trail was extremely muddy.

As you reach Indian Falls you have to cross over another river. To my knowledge there isn't a bridge to assist you however. This is where things got a little interesting. Apparently, there was some snow melt still going on at this point in the upper Adirondacks and the river was pretty swollen. We had to try to find a spot where we could cross on top of rocks. Upon locating a spot where I thought I would get less wet, I made the jump. Bearly keeping my balance I made it across and managed to stay pretty dry as well. However, as I reached the other side of the river bank, a bottle of bug spray flew out of my bag and into the river. I managed to run down the bottle down river just in time to realize my wallet had also flown out of my bag mid-river crossing.

We looked in vain for about 10 minutes trying to find my wallet but it was hopeless because the water was moving so fast toward the Indian Falls. Just as we were about to give up, my brother yells, "Dude, look, look!." And sure enough, clinging onto a tree root in the water, 25 feet from where it fell out of my bag, my wallet floated in the water. What are the odds of that? I packed everything up tight this time and we proceeded up the mountain.

Quite honestly, the next 3 miles pretty much blur together for me until we reached the summit. A short while after Indian Falls we ran into some snow. A Summit Steward passed us and appeared to be agitated that we had beat her up this far of the mountain. She nearly fell as she passed us on the snow. Of course, she gave us the standard, "watch out for the vegetation" talk.

At about 3,500 - 3,800 feet we finally reached an area where the snow and ice had become quite thick and plenty. Snow on the trail was hard-packed and deep, about a foot or more in some places. If you stepped too far to the side of the middle of the trail, and in the wrong spot, post-holing was inevitable. It was time to put our new mircospikes to work.

Microspikes are awesome to those who haven't used them before. It was my first time and they pretty much make you feel like you have claws for feet. Steep, shear ice-covered terrain? Absolutely no problem.

We continued our journey through the New York wilderness completely alone. Not a single hiker was encountered on the way up Marcy. The woods in this area is so thick and everything was dead quiet. It was almost surreal in some spots. The weather gave us a low cloud ceiling which probably contributed to the insulation. We experienced some rain for about 45 minutes as well.

About .5-1 mile away from the summit the trees start to get small. Rock ledge begins to take over the terrain. Microspikes were no longer needed as the snow and ice had subsided due to their exposure to the sun no doubt. No sun on this day however, only clouds and thick fog the entire way to the summit.

Summit and the way back down

The summit push provides a pretty good amount of scrambling and climbing. Nothing technical however. We finally reached the summit of Marcy at 10:30 a.m.-5,344 feet above sea level.

We had absolutely no view which was a major disappointment. Clouds and fog made visibility only about 30 feet. However, we had to climb that day because we had planned for so long. We took some pictures, had a snack and a drink and started to head down the highest mountain in New York. We spent only 15-20 minutes on the summit. We had heard there may be thunderstorms rolling in later in the day and we did not want to be caught up high. It felt good to be the first people on the summit for the day.

Mt. Marcy summit

The way down was long and demanded mental concentration. A sloppy step and you would post-hole deep. My brother sank to his hip one time. Although we passed almost 60 people on the way down, I would estimate about only 20-25 would make it to the summit that day. Most people apparently lacked essential gear and were not far enough on the trail to make it to the top and back before dark.

Post-hole much?

We finally made it back to the car at 2:30 p.m., more than 8 hours after we started. We both had run out of water and didn't have much food left either. Also, we were absolutely exhausted, both mentally and physically. We essentially were hiking for 8 straight hours with only minimal breaks. There is a nice little shop at the Adirondack Loj which has drinks and some food. I believe its called "High Peaks Information Center." This was a well-deserved refueling for us. We hit the road for the 4 hour ride back home.

I put up a couple more pics which can be seen below.

Our 6th highpoint is in the books.