Tommy Caldwell said in an instagram post “It turns out this trip was about showing our kids that joy and suffering are 2 sides of the same coin. A great reminder we should strive to live as much of our lives as possible like that.”
I’ve thought about this idea a lot since coming down from some of the highest points in New York State, Mount Marcy, Skylight Mountain and Gray Peak. Mostly because the coming down was absolute suffering.
In the last 2 miles I began to wonder whose legs I was walking on because I had been on my last leg 4 miles ago. In the morning I knew exactly whose legs I was walking on. They were mine, and they hurt.
The last mile was probably the longest of my life. I can’t be sure of this though because it’s so easy to forget the suffering. It’s like how they say you forget the pain of having a baby. Pain is forgettable. But joy can last.
It’s two days later and I can still feel the ache of lactic acid in my muscles but what I remember is the rush of wind over a mountain, clear air filling me up, trees rolling away like waves across the ridges of the landscape and blue as the ocean. Suffering and joy.
If you want to do what I did, prepare, it’s tough. Make sure you’re confident enough in your body that you can put it through 17 miles and 5,000 feet of elevation gain. I know it seems like hiking up is the hardest part, but I swear it’s the walk down, you need trekking poles.
Bring plenty of water. It was 83 degrees the day we went and I brought 4 liters of water but probably needed 5 or even 6. There is excellent water access on most of the trail so if you have a water filter you could filter water as you need it rather than carrying it all the whole way.
We camped at the Adirondack Loj Wilderness Campground. It’s a place that books up fast so if you are planning a trip, I recommend booking your site early, like 6 months ahead of time, yes really.
The trailhead is at parking lot 1, sign in at the Van Hoevenberg Trail Register and walk until you reach Marcy Dam (about 2 miles). Sign in at the Marcy Dam trail register. From here we took the Van Hoevenberg Trail to the top of Marcy and then took the back side of Marcy down to a crossroads. At the crossroads we walked up to Skylight Mountain, down, and then up to Gray Peak and back down. Then it was the Lake Arnold Trail all the way to the Avalanche Pass trail and back to the Van Hoevenberg trail at Marcy Dam.
That’s what we did, but I would maybe recommend doing the opposite. I think it might be a little better to take the Avalanche Pass Trail and Lake Arnold trail to do Gray Peak and Skylight first and then end on Marcy. This trail to Gray Peak is tough and would have been easier to do fresh, there’s an extra 500 foot elevation gain around Lake Arnold that was awful at the end of the day. Gray peak requires a bit of technical rock scrambling that is not best done while exhausted from two other peaks. I would also recommend bringing waterproof gaiters, a section of this trail is essentially under water in a swamp and a pair of lightweight waterproof gaiters may keep your feet dry for the rest of the hike.
