Mount Marcy's Secrets

[Schultzz]

Can you camp just below 4000 feet?

[DSettahr]

Can you camp just below 4000 feet?

In the High Peaks Wilderness, camping between 3,500 feet and 4,000 feet is restricted to designated sites only. And there are relatively few designated sites within the upper and lower bounds of this regulation.

The Snobird tent sites, at the location of the former Snobird Lean-to on the Great Range Trail between Basin and the turnoff for Haystack, are probably the best bet for basing oneself overnight to try to search the vicinity of the former Hopkins Lean-to. There's two designated tent sites here and they are above 3,500 feet. From there, it is about a 2 mile hike with 1,200 feet of elevation gain to the Hopkins Junction.

Alternative options include camping at Bushnell Falls (2.5 miles with 1,600 feet of elevation gain to the Hopkins Junction) or Marcy Dam (3.6 miles with 2,000 feet of elevation gain to the Hopkins Junction). There's also the two Phelps Brook designated tent sites which would save you about 0.6 miles of hiking and 200 feet of elevation gain over Marcy Dam, but they are frankly not nice spots to try to camp.

[Schultzz]

Thank you for the info.