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Wanted my children all to get up NY's highest before my oldest ones go off to college (in a few days!), and one of their friends wanted to climb Marcy one more time before permanently moving to N.C., so Thursday 8:20a.m. we're shouldering daypacks at the Elk Lake trailhead.
I had hoped to do an overnight, but couldn't get ahold of a bear cannister so we had to make a day of it. And I just didn't want to deal with the crowds up north, so we concocted the plan to traverse Marcy from south to north and get picked up there...
They must have horses or something special at Elk Lake, because the deerflies were horrid: I killed 64 of 'em before escaping the lowlands. The ridge wasn't bad at all, except for a few thick patches of nettle brushing unprepared and unguarded legs. I think we passed a trail crew heading outward, as later I saw a lot of fresh and excellent trail improvements. Thanks folks!
The trail through Marcy swamp is impressive: a mile of boardwalks meandering through what would otherwise be a hopeless quagmire.
We had made great time up to the point of heading into Panther Gorge, but the initial pitches made my teenaged compatriots regret the activities of the previous days. OK, ok, the old man was dragging his tail a bit, too! But we weren't slowed much, and 4 hours after starting arrived at the leanto.
We stopped for an extended snack/lunch, refilled water bottles, then began the real challenge: the thousand foot ascent to Four Corners. Egad, that was tough. There were a few things to break the misery of that climb: snowberries by the dozen hiding among their leaves at almost every turn, occasional blueberries, and the grand view of Haystack behind us.
I had planned on running up Skylight, since we would pass so close to it, but somewhere along that ascent realized the absurdity of it, so I told Josh:
"I'm going to can Skylight"...as in 'trash the idea'
except that didn't come out, instead I said:
"I'm going to bag Skylight" and he took it to mean yep, we're going up there.
I couldn't disappoint him. While the rest of the gang rested, he and I hid our packs and headed up. Although my knees don't think so, it was a good thing. Skylight is an excellent summit, with 360 degrees of awesome view.
Back down, the rest of the gang had headed up Marcy. We shouldered packs and Josh ran ahead while the old man wheezed upward. It really wasn't as bad as I had remembered it, way back when carrying a 50+ lb pack; but then somewhere along that climb I got my second wind.
We regrouped on the summit but couldn't stay long, as the wind had picked up, the temp had dropped, and clouds were scuttling in. Downward we went, all downward now! My knees were in torment for the first mile, but then the angle eases and often is level or near enough. And shortly the strength of youth was waning to some sort of equality with the persistence of old age, so our group slowly congealed.
Weary, we all collapsed for a long rest somewhere before Marcy Dam. The so-called 2.0 miles from our last trail sign to that Dam seemed to be going on forever, it just seemed we would never get there. After lying about moaning for fifteen minutes, we resigned to our fate and shouldered packs, again to plod on to Marcy Dam, which was....200 feet away!
The walk out from the dam to Heart Lake is a dreary one for me, as it always happens late in the day and after a long endeavour (the Trap Dike being my last destination passing through here). Our group spread out again, each person now lost in their own little miseries, thoughts, or musings; trudging along at whatever pace strength and endurance gave against pain and weariness.
Finally we heard the sound of slamming car doors and knew we would all make it out, and a half hour early at that! We didn't want to sit as getting back up would be tricky, so we walked along the road while we waited for our ride to come for us. My wife came EARLY, bless her heart, and by 7:15, we were on our way to the Noonmark for a great dinner!
I had hoped to do an overnight, but couldn't get ahold of a bear cannister so we had to make a day of it. And I just didn't want to deal with the crowds up north, so we concocted the plan to traverse Marcy from south to north and get picked up there...
They must have horses or something special at Elk Lake, because the deerflies were horrid: I killed 64 of 'em before escaping the lowlands. The ridge wasn't bad at all, except for a few thick patches of nettle brushing unprepared and unguarded legs. I think we passed a trail crew heading outward, as later I saw a lot of fresh and excellent trail improvements. Thanks folks!
The trail through Marcy swamp is impressive: a mile of boardwalks meandering through what would otherwise be a hopeless quagmire.
We had made great time up to the point of heading into Panther Gorge, but the initial pitches made my teenaged compatriots regret the activities of the previous days. OK, ok, the old man was dragging his tail a bit, too! But we weren't slowed much, and 4 hours after starting arrived at the leanto.
We stopped for an extended snack/lunch, refilled water bottles, then began the real challenge: the thousand foot ascent to Four Corners. Egad, that was tough. There were a few things to break the misery of that climb: snowberries by the dozen hiding among their leaves at almost every turn, occasional blueberries, and the grand view of Haystack behind us.
I had planned on running up Skylight, since we would pass so close to it, but somewhere along that ascent realized the absurdity of it, so I told Josh:
"I'm going to can Skylight"...as in 'trash the idea'
except that didn't come out, instead I said:
"I'm going to bag Skylight" and he took it to mean yep, we're going up there.
I couldn't disappoint him. While the rest of the gang rested, he and I hid our packs and headed up. Although my knees don't think so, it was a good thing. Skylight is an excellent summit, with 360 degrees of awesome view.
Back down, the rest of the gang had headed up Marcy. We shouldered packs and Josh ran ahead while the old man wheezed upward. It really wasn't as bad as I had remembered it, way back when carrying a 50+ lb pack; but then somewhere along that climb I got my second wind.
We regrouped on the summit but couldn't stay long, as the wind had picked up, the temp had dropped, and clouds were scuttling in. Downward we went, all downward now! My knees were in torment for the first mile, but then the angle eases and often is level or near enough. And shortly the strength of youth was waning to some sort of equality with the persistence of old age, so our group slowly congealed.
Weary, we all collapsed for a long rest somewhere before Marcy Dam. The so-called 2.0 miles from our last trail sign to that Dam seemed to be going on forever, it just seemed we would never get there. After lying about moaning for fifteen minutes, we resigned to our fate and shouldered packs, again to plod on to Marcy Dam, which was....200 feet away!
The walk out from the dam to Heart Lake is a dreary one for me, as it always happens late in the day and after a long endeavour (the Trap Dike being my last destination passing through here). Our group spread out again, each person now lost in their own little miseries, thoughts, or musings; trudging along at whatever pace strength and endurance gave against pain and weariness.
Finally we heard the sound of slamming car doors and knew we would all make it out, and a half hour early at that! We didn't want to sit as getting back up would be tricky, so we walked along the road while we waited for our ride to come for us. My wife came EARLY, bless her heart, and by 7:15, we were on our way to the Noonmark for a great dinner!
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