Order of Visit: High Point #42
Date Visited: August 17, 2021
Route Taken: Van Hoevenberg Trail from the ADK Loj/High Peaks Info Center – 15.8 miles (round-trip)
Type of Terrain: Forested trail with lots of rocks, roots, and boulders. The final 0.6 miles of the trail is above treeline with some boulder scrambling.
Elevation: 5,344′
Ancestral Lands: Haudenosaunee, Mohawk, Algonquin
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
The highest peak in the Adirondack Mountains was known by two different names by the Native Americans living in the region.
The Mohawk people called the mountain Tewaswa’ésta (“it pierces”), while the Algonquin people referred to it as Tahawus (“cloud-splitter”). The Anglo setters in the Adirondack region continued to use this second name Tahawus to refer to the mountain well into the 19th century.
In the late 1830s, the state tasked noted geologist Ebenezer Emmons with surveying and inventorying the New York Wilderness, which he would eventually rename The Adirondacks (an Anglicized version of the Mohawk word ratirontacks).
After Emmons and his party made the first recorded ascent of the great mountain Tahawus on August 5, 1837, he wanted to rename the peak too. He chose the name Mt. Marcy to honor New York’s Governor, William L. Marcy.
Marcy, the statesman who’d commissioned the environmental survey of the area, would later distinguish himself as the Secretary of War (under President James Polk from 1845-49) and Secretary of State (under President Franklin Pierce from 1853-57).
The name Tahawus didn’t fall completely by the wayside once the mountain was renamed though. A village on the southern side of the Adirondacks was given the same name, and it became a thriving steel town until 1858 (when it became too great a challenge to get the railroad there) and the town simply dried up.
The name Tahawus was also adopted by a local upstate New York hunting and fishing club in 1876. A quarter century later, Vice President Teddy Roosevelt was staying at the Tahawus Club when his life would irreversibly change.
Roosevelt was climbing Mt. Marcy in mid-September 1901 when he received word that President McKinley’s health had taken a critical turn. He quickly raced back to Buffalo, NY (where McKinley had been shot the week prior), yet he didn’t arrive before the President succumbed to his injuries.
And so, Roosevelt suddenly went from climbing Tahawus (and staying at the Tahawus Club) to becoming the 26th President of the United States.
TRIP SUMMARY
Mt. Marcy was my final remaining high point east of the Rocky Mountains, so I decided it was time to climb it while visiting my in-law in New Jersey in August 2021. They live about 300 miles south of the Adirondacks, so this was going to need to be a multi-day trip.
I roped my hubby, Keith, into joining me for this mini-adventure and booked us an overnight stay at the Adirondack Loj for the evening before our hike. The Loj is a historic timber lodge built by the Adirondack Mountain Club in 1927, and it sits right on the edge of Heart Lake beside the trailhead for the Van Hoevenberg Trail.
Waking up adjacent to the trailhead was one of the biggest benefits of staying at the Adirondack Loj the night before our Mt. Marcy hike. We’d have no tent or gear to pack up. And no long drive to the trail in the early morning hours. We just had to roll out of our bunks and hit the trail.
Beautiful, clear summer weather descended on the Adirondacks for the 10 days preceding our trip, yet once we drove up, there was suddenly rain in the forecast. Sigh!
I’d read plenty of online reviews about the trail and knew to expect spectacularly muddy conditions if it rained. So we made plans to get up at 5:30 am, and skip the Loj’s complimentary buffet breakfast, in hopes that we’d beat the inbound precipitation that supposed to descend on us around 8 am.
Unfortunately, our best-laid plans didn’t work. It was already lightly raining as we packed our belongings in the car just after 6 am. We were definitely going to get wet today. There was no way around it!
We moseyed past the campground and the High Peaks Information Center toward the trailhead’s parking area just as it was getting light. A handful of other hikers were already there and packing up but nobody looked very motivated.
The prior day we’d seen a sign announcing that the parking lot was completely full, but I expected it was going to be far less crowded out here today.
After signing in at the register, Keith and I set off down the Van Hoevenberg Trail. Some of our fellow guests at the Loj told us the trail would be really easy to follow, but we’d soon discover that there were a lot of little unmarked side trails that joined or intersected with our trail.
Luckily, we’d seen the small round disks at the registration station showing what our trial markers would look like. We’d need to just keep an eye out for the blue dots along the way. And when in doubt, we were told to follow the widest, most-defined trail.
The first few miles between the trailhead and the Marcy Dam were pretty easy and the grade was gentle. The trail was still mostly dirt here, as the rain hadn’t completely saturated the ground (like it would over the remainder of the morning).
By the time we got to the former site of the Marcy Dam though, my lightweight rain jacket was beginning to wet out. The thin nylon layer was keeping my skin from getting too cold from the wind, but it was doing absolutely nothing to keep me dry. The saturated material was clinging to my arms and rivulets were running down my upper body and soaking my shorts.
I was expecting to see some sort of an earthen or concrete dam near this junction of the trail, but Marcy Dam was destroyed by Hurricane Irene back in 2011. All that was left were the wood abutments on either bank, with a small, easily-fordable river running through it.
Each side of the former dam had a metal railing running across it – probably to keep hikers from trodding out onto the broken wooden planks. I took a few photos in the rain, as Keith scurried off in the opposite direction toward small campground/shelter advertising access to a privy. Then it was time to make our way to the other side of the small river.
The trail made a sharp left turn at the old dam, then and dropped down a few dozen feet before crossing over the river using a new footbridge. I’d been prepared to ford the river, but my socks would remain-semi dry (at least for now).
The trail ahead of us was beginning to become muddier and rockier now. Bog boards covered several sections of trail, and I slowed my pace to avoid falling. I appreciate the trail maintenance crews’ efforts to keep hikers above the mud, but these wooden boards can be slick as ice when they are well. I fell on more than my fair share of them while hiking the Appalachian Trail two summers ago.
Then we had to ford a small river with no bridge across it. The water was low enough that we could rock-hop our way to the opposite side and still maintain the illusion that we weren’t going to be completely drenched on the this adventure. Unfortunately, this pipe dream was beginning to crumble as the rain picked up to a steady downpour near the trail junction for Indian Falls.
We passed one other hiking duo, and then the trail began to slowly climb and become rockier. Some places were like walking through a riverbed with a torrent of water running down the trail toward us.
Other spots were covered in muck and mud punctuated by large boulders.
There was no reprieve for the next few miles. The climb wasn’t difficult in terms of steepness or elevation gain, but the footing just seemed to get harder and harder. The rocks were slick and just kept going and going and going.
After what seemed to be an eternity (but was really only about two more hours), we finally made it to the trail junction above treeline. From here, we’d be mostly doing a rock scrambles or walking on slick rock slabs marked with bright yellow blazes and rock cairns.
In addition to the rain – which was still steadily falling – we could now feel the wind whipping around us. The tall trees that had protected us until now were gone. Keith and I were beginning to feel the chill, and we pulled out jacket sleeves over our hands to keep them warm. We hadn’t thought to carry gloves in mid August!
Regretfully, I don’t have any photos of this final half mile of the route of rock scrambling. I needed to tuck my phone into daypack to keep it dry in the rain while I used my hands to pull myself up the boulders and navigate upward.
I doubt it was a loss though. We could barely see where we were headed because of the thick fog of clouds.
Finally, just before the final rock scramble, we crossed paths with a family of five heading back down. They encouraged us by announcing the summit was just another 100 yards or so.
Shortly above this spot, I could see a plaque commemorating Mt. Marcy’s 100th anniversary as we neared the final climb. Then we scrambled up to search the rocks for the brass survey monument. The wet conditions made it hard to distinguish anything on the rock’s surface, and we might not have spotted the flat marker, but for the small bits of discoloration around its edges. Finally! We made it to the summit!
My summit picture leaves a lot to be desired in terms of clarity, but it pretty accurately depicts the conditions in that moment. Wet. Cold. Cloudy. And bordering on the edge of miserable.
After scrambling back down to the plaque we’d seen before inset into the boulders, we got a quick break in the clouds and posed for a better photo with the the two of us. While the smiles on our faces might hide the adversity of the conditions, the our drenched rain jackets don’t lie!
Knowing that we still had another 3.5 hours of hiking ahead of us, we departed the summit quickly. The sooner we got back to the trailhead, the sooner we’d get to change into dry clothes.
The hike back down was as wretched as we’d anticipated, except the trail was now 100% muddier and wetter. We had to traverse slick rock sheets that angled down like waterslides. And somehow the descent felt even steeper than either of us remembered on the way up.
Right in the middle of our descent though, we got a sudden weather reprieve. The rain slowed from a torrent to mere sprinkles. Hikers were heading uphill toward us and they seemed to be mostly dry and fewer than half of them were even wearing jackets.
Maybe we’d been too hasty to begin our hike so early. Perhaps we should have hung out at the Loj and had a leisurely breakfast and wait it out instead of racing to the trailhead at sunrise.
Both Keith and I pulled dry shirts out of our daypacks and tried to warm back up while stowing our sopping wet rain jackets in a plastic bag. We were semi-warm now and our spirits lifted as we each ate a snack.
Unfortunately, those new dry layers would eventually get soaked too. The break in the rain only lasted 45 minutes before the skies opened up again.
By the time we got to that small river we’d rock-hopped across earlier in the day, we were too wet to even care. We both walked straight through the calf-deep water in our soaking wet shoes. We’d given up on pretending anymore.
Wet was wet. If nothing else, the maybe the river would wash some of clumps of mud off our lower legs.
We finished our hike at 1:13 pm, exactly seven hours (to the minute) after we’d departed the trailhead this morning. We were soaked to the bone and weary, but our adventure was complete.
My 42nd high point (and Keith 30th) was in the books! It was time for a hot shower and a dry change of clothes!!
DETAILS
When to Visit: Mt. Marcy is open year-round, but it’s usually covered in snow from October to May and can see winter temperatures as low as -30°F. The trail also tends to be quite muddy in late spring and early summer as the snow is melting. Therefore, the vast majority of visitors hike Mt. Marcy in summer or early fall.
Getting There: Mt. Marcy is located in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains near Lake Placid, and approximately 140 miles north of Albany. There are four trails to Mt. Marcy’s summit, but most hikers approach Mt. Marcy from the north via the Van Hoevenberg Trail near Heart Lake. Not only is this the most popular trail, it is also the shortest route at 7.9 miles (each way).
Entrance Fees/Permits: None.
Parking: If you are day hiking, there is a $7-15 fee to use the Adirondack Mountain Club’s parking lot near the trailhead. However, if you stay overnight at the ADK Loj or campground, parking is included in your stay. There are flush toilets located inside the High Peaks Information Center at the edge of this parking area.
Accessibility: The shortest route to the summit (and back) requires just under 16 miles of hiking. The first few miles of the hike are fairly easy, but the moderately steep climb to the summit and 3,500 feet of elevation gain is best-suited for fit hikers.
Bonus: Just eight miles north of the Van Hoevenberg Trailhead, you’ll find the village of Lake Placid. Best known for hosting the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid is equally enjoyable to visit in summer. There’s an endless number of hiking trails, kayaking or paddle boarding rentals, and multiple microbreweries to enjoy in town! The night before our hike, we stopped for dinner at Big Slide Brewery (located near the bottom of the two massive ski jumps that you can’t miss on your way into town). If you visit, I’d highly recommend trying the Hot Pepper Ale – it was delicious!
Resources:
- An Overview of Mt. Marcy (Summit Post)
- Adirondack Loj (Adirondack Mountain Club)
- Mt. Marcy via the Van Hoevenberg Trail (Hiking Project)