Tom Rankin
Well-known member
Paula, Laurie, and I drove up to Lake Placid Sunday, via the Albany Pump Station, the Adirondack Pub and Brew, LPPB, and Great Adirondack Brewery. 
I'll let Laurie or Paula describe the beer experience.
We stayed with TMax and Topo. Highly recommended!
Monday morning we were up at 5:45 and out door by 6:20. The bridge is still being repaired on Loj Rd. The Loj lot was mostly empty. It was about 55 degrees, mostly clear, and a few bugs were flitting around. We were the 3rd group out of the lot, the 2nd to Marcy. The walk to the Dam took almost an hour. No sense in burning out too quickly, it was going to be a long day. Distance estimates vary for Marcy from 7.0 to 7.7 miles, so it's between 14 - 15.5 miles, take your pick. The Lady Slippers are out in force along the first stretch of trail!
After a brief break (this was Paula's first ADK hike, so we pointed out quite a few sights to her), we headed on. We passed the turn offs for Phelps, and Tabletop, and had another break at Indian Falls. The views were just finishing clearing up from some early morning fog. The water was cold and refreshing, and I re-filled our bottles. This is the last place to get good water, but there are still lots of tiny water sources here and there.
Along the way, we played leapfrog with a few people and were passed by the speedy folks, and we passed a few as well. We kept ticking off the junctions, the mileage and the elevation. Eventually, we made it to the last junction where we met the caretaker from the JBL, who used to be a Marcy Summit Steward. He headed up to the top before us, but hung around long enough to answer some questions for us and a few other hikers. When we topped out it was about 11:50, so me made it up in about 5 hours. The weather was not completely clear all day, but the clouds were welcome, as they blocked the sun. The breezes were mostly light even at the summit, so they did not blow the bugs away, but I would only call this a '3' on the bug scale (1-10). There is what might be NYS's last patch of snow high on the NE flank of Marcy.
We languished at the summit for about 1/2 hour and reluctantly headed back, mindful that thunder storms were predicted, and seeing a few clouds that looked capable of making the prediction come true. We did hear thunder once or twice, and it rained for maybe 5 minutes all told, but we almost didn't get wet under the trees.
We were back a little bit after 4, making it about a 9.5 hour trip. Paula was glad to get another high point, we were glad to be up in the Dacks on a really nice day!
On the way back we hit Cooper's Cave and Davidson Brothers to round out the trip!
Pics to follow...
I'll let Laurie or Paula describe the beer experience.
We stayed with TMax and Topo. Highly recommended!
Monday morning we were up at 5:45 and out door by 6:20. The bridge is still being repaired on Loj Rd. The Loj lot was mostly empty. It was about 55 degrees, mostly clear, and a few bugs were flitting around. We were the 3rd group out of the lot, the 2nd to Marcy. The walk to the Dam took almost an hour. No sense in burning out too quickly, it was going to be a long day. Distance estimates vary for Marcy from 7.0 to 7.7 miles, so it's between 14 - 15.5 miles, take your pick. The Lady Slippers are out in force along the first stretch of trail!
After a brief break (this was Paula's first ADK hike, so we pointed out quite a few sights to her), we headed on. We passed the turn offs for Phelps, and Tabletop, and had another break at Indian Falls. The views were just finishing clearing up from some early morning fog. The water was cold and refreshing, and I re-filled our bottles. This is the last place to get good water, but there are still lots of tiny water sources here and there.
Along the way, we played leapfrog with a few people and were passed by the speedy folks, and we passed a few as well. We kept ticking off the junctions, the mileage and the elevation. Eventually, we made it to the last junction where we met the caretaker from the JBL, who used to be a Marcy Summit Steward. He headed up to the top before us, but hung around long enough to answer some questions for us and a few other hikers. When we topped out it was about 11:50, so me made it up in about 5 hours. The weather was not completely clear all day, but the clouds were welcome, as they blocked the sun. The breezes were mostly light even at the summit, so they did not blow the bugs away, but I would only call this a '3' on the bug scale (1-10). There is what might be NYS's last patch of snow high on the NE flank of Marcy.
We languished at the summit for about 1/2 hour and reluctantly headed back, mindful that thunder storms were predicted, and seeing a few clouds that looked capable of making the prediction come true. We did hear thunder once or twice, and it rained for maybe 5 minutes all told, but we almost didn't get wet under the trees.
We were back a little bit after 4, making it about a 9.5 hour trip. Paula was glad to get another high point, we were glad to be up in the Dacks on a really nice day!
On the way back we hit Cooper's Cave and Davidson Brothers to round out the trip!
Pics to follow...
