A Winter Adventure (High Peaks 42-43)

On February 15th, 2020, I embarked on a 12 hour "Type 1 Fun" adventure with Rensselaer Outing Club. We hiked 18.51 miles and gained 6,184 feet of elevation through the Adirondack wilderness to summit Marcy (a repeat for me, though I hiked it in the summer), Skylight (#42), and Gray (#43).

This was definitely one of my favorite hikes so far.

We ascended Marcy via the Van Hoevenberg Trail. This trail was packed down like a highway, saving us the effort of trail breaking. However, as we left treeline, the slope became icier. While my snowshoes maintained a secure grip on the terrain, I would have felt more comfortable with an ice axe in my hand. Wind gusts were strong as we approached the summit and I paused a couple of times to let them die down before continuing.

The views were absolutely insane. Definitely some of the best I've ever seen.

I remember looking around, doing my best to soak it all in. It was such a lovely winter day. It was cold and the winds were strong but the whole climb and experience made me feel so gracious and free to be up above treeline in the wilderness. I really felt maximum enthusiasm. I got to hike the tallest peak in New York in winter!!!

We took photos and enjoyed the sunny summit views, but then Paul and I had to discuss whether we felt safe pushing on to our other two summits of the day– Skylight and Gray. Marcy was pretty icy and windy, and Skylight would be another 360° bare summit. We decided to scope out how the back side of Marcy was and bail if it felt sketchy.

Luckily, the conditions on the back side of Marcy felt much more secure. The snow had a crust, but wasn't icy. However, once we got further from the summit, the snow got much deeper. It seemed like not many others had taken this path and there was only one set of tracks ahead of us in the powder. Descending the rest of the mountain on the warmed, sliding powder was tiring on our knees. Eventually, we made our way down to Four Corners.

The junction was covered in deep snow. We dug out the trail sign while we took a break. No one had been up to Skylight yet.

Out of nowhere, a man appeared, spooking me. It was actually Henri, a Canadian striving for his Single Season Winter 46er that I recognized from Instagram. His hikes were super impressive (very long days) and he was very nice. We stopped to eat lunch and Henri continued on, having many miles still left ahead of him. He broke the out trail up to Skylight for us, so thanks, Henri!

We caught back up to Henri on the summit, enjoyed the views, and took some more photographs. The summit winds were roaring again, so we had some fun leaning forward into the gusts and letting the wind keep us up.

After enjoying Skylight's summit for a while, we eventually headed back down to Four Corners.

We took another snack break at the junction where we met a 46er working on his Winter 46. He had done Skylight but was dealing with some leg pain and didn't know if he'd have enough energy to continue on to any other peaks. He was quite an entertaining guy though, so our group chatted with him for a while until he continued on back towards the Loj, abandoning Marcy for the day.

Not long after, we got going as well. I was beginning to feel pretty fatigued at this point. I hadn't slept well the whole week and the night before this hike, I only managed to sleep about two hours. But we still had one more peak to go, and it was only an extra ~.6 miles on top of the exit hike we already had to do. Even though I was tired, I knew I could still finish this hike strong.

I led the way up Gray, chasing a light set of tracks in the deep powder. Henri had been kind enough to break this one out for us too. It's too bad that we didn't have the chance to break these peaks out for him instead (he was also hitting Cliff and Redfield this day), but he was a cyclist with strong cardio and was moving much faster than our group.

As we neared the summit, we saw Henri descending and wished him luck on the rest of his peaks. To our surprise, we also saw the 46er from the junction as well. He saw that Gray was broken out with a set of tracks and had decided to go for it after all.

We caught the start of some pretty sunset colors in the sky on the way down from Gray.

On our way back to the Loj, we passed Lake Tear of the Clouds. This tarn is the highest pond in New York State and the source of the Hudson River.

“Far above the chilly waters of Lake Avalanche at an elevation of 4,293 feet lies summit water, a minute, unpretending, tear of the clouds — as it were — a lovely pool shivering in the breezes of the mountains and sending its limpid surplus through Feldspar Brook to the Opalescent River, the well-spring of the Hudson.”
–  Verplanck Colvin, 1872, while surveying the Adirondack Mountains.

Additionally, Theodore Roosevelt’s famous “midnight ride to the presidency" began here, at Lake Tear of the Clouds.

On September 6th, President McKinley was shot by an anarchist. Roosevelt left his Adirondack vacation for Buffalo, New York where McKinley was. After what appeared to be a successful surgery, Roosevelt was persuaded to leave and continue his vacation. If he stayed, it might make the public worry for the president. Roosevelt returned to the Adirondacks.

On September 13th, Roosevelt had just hiked Mount Marcy. He was at Lake Tear of the Clouds when he was met by messenger Harrison Hall. McKinley had taken a turn for the worse, so Roosevelt began his descent down the mountain and then embarked on a midnight stage coach ride. It was 40 miles to North Creek Train Station, a ride that took at least 7 hours in daylight. However, Roosevelt made record time. Part of this historic route is now part of Route 28N, a scenic highway, called the Roosevelt-Marcy Trail.

At the train station, Roosevelt learned that President McKinley's had died that morning. He took the next train to Buffalo, where he would become the 26th President of the United States. As president, Roosevelt, who protected the Hudson River as Governor of New York, would preserve over 200,000 acres of wilderness as the country's first national parks and forests.

The rest of our return hike was much less eventful than Teddy Roosevelt's.