#16
Cliff, Skylight, Marcy, and Gray Peak
6-25-17.
Adventure was calling once again. This time adventure had led me and my partner to the Adirondacks but more specifically Mt Marcy, Skylight and Gray. We had driven up the night beofre. We bunked at Tmax and Topo, a location that would be our go to lodging arrangements for many winter hikes soon to come. We decided to get an early start and he made the short drive from TMAX and Topo and headed to the adk Loj parking lot. We loaded our gear up and once again we were on the all too familiar trail register. The trail register was always a mark of a great trip beginning or safety from a crazy adventure.
We were on our way to Mt Marcy via the Van hoevenberg trail to Mt Marcy, It was still early, the sun was completely out ,but instead the moon was still providing light to open areas. When we got to Marcy dam the moon was visible but all of the mountains looked like shadows. It looked like something straight out of a movie. It was somewhat nostalgic being so close to the Mt Phelps trail. It was weird not having snow shoes or winter gear. As we were progressing the sun and light started to make it way onto the trail. We hadn’t passed anyone on the trail yet so currently we had most of the trail to ourselves..
As the sky started to slowly light up we were getting closer to Mt Marcy. We started the last stretch and were getting out of treeline very slowly and kept slowly taking in all of the views. Step by step we were seeing more of the surrounding area with every step we took. We were soon at the summit. The views from the top were incredible , 360 all around. Viability was great and clouds were minimal, it was one of the views you will always remember. We were both taking in the views, and soon stuffing our face full with food. Not wanting to waste too much time we took in the view for a bit long and then we were on our way down to sky light and gray. Headed down the other side of Marcy was unforgettable. Sun shining down and clear skies with peaks as far as you could see, while feeling a slight breeze…. Breath taking. We slowly made our way down, making or way to the Four corners. Once we reached the junction we headed up to Mount Skylight. At this point the sun was bearing down at us and I remember the trail being very narrow, but each side of the route going up were alpine flowers lining the side. We soon made it to Mount skylight, the most notable was seeing Mount Marcy in the background with the route down we took as well. A fun, but unplanned summit event was getting chased by bee by the summit markers. It took me 10 seconds after I had sat down to realize that bees were starting to swarm. I had wondered what the buzz was about. As delicious as my cliff bar was, I decided to relocate to a better seating area 20 feet over. After our break was over and enjoying the summit, we headed back to the four corners where we soon headed to Skylight . The path up Gray was short and sweet with some nice obstacles. When we arrived at the summit point we were greeted with a up close and personal view of Mt Marcy. Apparently at one point there was a path from skylight to Mt Marcy but it was closed for re-vegetation. After taking in the summit views and taking a break we headed back down to the 4 corners.
Feeling pretty good after we hit the four corners, we decided to head to either Cliff or Redfield. We headed west from the four corners on the mount Marcy Trail until we hit the marker for cliff and redsfield. I had heard that this was a muddy trail and it has just rained the day before so I knew that we were in for a muddy trail.. Muddy it was up to the thigh in spots. We trotted on through the mud so we would help not erode the trail .After going through the mud we hit of elevation gain in the forms of some scrambles. Now here is the interesting part after navigating the short steep part, I ran into a hiker who had lost his corgis. First of all Corgis navigating up cliff mountain Mud free was incredible. I soon found 1 of the 2 corgis, and I shouted , ” I found your Corgis”. Sadly after this a hiker turned the corner was was perplexed. We continued to the stump marker which marked Cliff Mountain. We made it down once again through the mud. We made it back to the junction and took the Lake Placid trail all the way back to Indian Falls look out. We would take the junction here back to Marcy dam and then once we hit the dam, we knew we were at the home stretch. From there it didn’t take too long before we reached the Loj parking lot after a long day.
Stay tuned for the next adventure.
Thanks for reading.
