ON MARCY FOR THE FIRST TIME!

In the summer of 2003, I was part of a church youth group that ventured out into the wild outdoors. We camped out at the lean-to's in Marcy Dam. The dam really made a nice place to hang out, but since then things have changed drastically. Food had to be rigged and hung over the dam so that bears wouldn't get to them. Now there are bear canisters for storage, which makes it all that easier for hikers and impossible complex for bears.

Looking back at my first hike in the ADK, I marvel at how things didn't go wrong. The 4 of us that hiked Marcy had 5% knowledge of the idea of hiking. We didn't have the proper footwear and clothing to start with. We didn't anticipate the temperature to drastically change from Marcy Dam to Marcy Summit. We didn't travel with a map to our name either. Thank God for the DEC Trail Markers!! We didn't have enough water for the complete trip. After eating salty beef jerky and trail mixes, the thirst level sky rockets. We didn't have the slightest idea what we do in case of an emergency. Come to think of it we didn't even record our names in the log book.

But some how, we made it to the summit without any tribulation. The hike to the summit was new and exciting but the weather at top was far from it. Nearing the summit we realized that we were in clouds and it started to drizzle. The wind was picking up with every foot, so we decided to take out our flimsy panchos that we purchased in Walmart for $3. We located the plaque acknowledging that we were at the highest point in New York State. Took summit photos and decided to try a new route for the descent. I recall 2 of us looking at a ranger's map the day before and seeing that there is another trail on the opposite end of the summit. We didn't recognize that it was also that much longer.

On the descent, the clouds thinned out and we are dry again. Parts of the exposed rock were extremely slippery and one of the guys took a nice slide for a few yards, giving all of us an adrenaline rush. We appreciated the interesting trail system more and more as we hiked down the mountain. We made a right between 2 mountains, later to learn that we hiked through Avalanche Pass. It was amazing to see the amount of timber that lay at the base of the mountain. We made it to camp before dinner and felt a great sense of accomplishment.

Total time: 8 hrs. 5 hr ascent; 3 hr descent.

Later after doing some research I learned that we had ascended via the VonHoevenberg Trail and descended via the trail to Lake Colden and through Avalanche Pass.