Left Ottawa at 11:30 on Saturday. Lunch in Cornwall then straight to the the High Peaks Information Centre. There was plenty of parking space arriving around 4pm. We hit the trail to Marcy Dam around 4:30 and passed many hikers on their way out.

After a little while, we started hearing gentle rumbles of thunder. We arrived at Marcy Dam in just under an hour and knew we should pick a site asap. We found a tent site on the close side of Marcy Brook and started putting up our tent as the rain began to fall. Quickly, it started pouring and we rushed to put up a tarp as well.

And what a storm it was! We drank beer and ate chips under the tarp as we watched the site fill up with water, with lightning crashing down nearby.

After the storm

After about an hour of heavy rain, it started to let up, so we figured we’d better take advantage and get dinner started. As we mobilized, we bumped into the family at the lean-to next to us and found out that they were just using it to eat dinner during the rain. Their tent was nice and dry and they were planning to sleep there.

Great news for us! It meant we could sleep in the lean-to since there was a distinct puddle underneath our tent.

We went down to the brook to filter some water and leapt across a narrow stream to access the little island in the middle where the water was most accessible. After we filled up, we turned back to find that the little stream had widened significantly. We had to find a different way off the island. Apparently there was a flash flood warning in the area and the water was rising fast. We were lucky, but must be more careful!

Rising waters at Marcy Dam

Since it was still raining, we decided to eat dinner in the lean-to, being very careful not to spill to avoid attracting bears.

It continued to pour rain over night, but we stayed nice and dry in our lean-to. We woke up at 7 and ate breakfast at the dam. The rain had stopped, but it was still slightly overcast.

We hit the trail by 9:30, crossing the high water bridge and signing the Marcy Dam trail register. The trail was easy going to start. After 30 minutes, the trail split to either Avalanche Lake or Lake Arnold. We turned toward Avalanche Lake and got there after another 45 minutes. On our way, we had to bushwhack around a tree completely blocking the trail. It looked like it must have just come down in the previous day’s storm!

Can you spot a special friend?

Surging waters

Boardwalks

and lots of ladders

We arrived at Avalanche Lake at 10:45 and it was just as stunning as we remembered. The water was pouring down off the cliff faces along the “hitch-up Matilda’s” that form a boardwalk bolted into the sides of the cliff, extending over the lake. Lots of fun ladders along the trail here as well.

Hitch-up Matildas

Making our way along the lake

As the trap dike came into view on the other side of the lake, we encountered a park ranger with an epic beard. He warned us that the trails were completely soaked and that there was a mud advisory, meaning they were discouraging people from overusing the trails. Since we were already out there, we were asked to make sure we walked through the middle of the mud and not on the edge, which expands the puddle and damages the environment. He said there had been many rescues recently of people who had slipped on wet rock and mud. There was also an incident a few days earlier when someone had nearly lost his life after falling on the trap dike. He had to be evacuated by helicopter and was in rough condition. The ranger said that it should be ok if we took our time, though. We thanked him for his advice and continued on.

The trail only got wetter from there and pretty soon the trail went through the middle of some knee-deep water. That marked the end of our efforts to keep our boots dry. From that point on, we couldn’t get any wetter, so we marched through the middle of the wet, muddy trail. It was liberating!

Knee-deep water

Lunch spot

At 12:15, we decided to eat lunch on the shore of Lake Colden just before the trail turned and began the straight uphill ascent. The only good spot to sit was a log bridge that was the trail itself, so we had to get up a couple of times to let other hikers pass. This included a small group heading further for Cliff and Redfield. They were trying to decide if it would be easier to summit Colden and go down the other side on their way back instead of retracing their steps along Avalanche Lake. This sounded crazy to us! Ultimately, they posted a trip report on Facebook and we were able to see that they managed to complete Cliff and Redfield and did not add Colden. However, they were negotiating the hitch-up Matildas and ladders in the dark and only got back to the Lot parking at 12:30 am!

From our lunch stop the trail started steeply uphill, but although it was steep, it was not especially technical. No hands required for the most part! For much of the way, the trail was along smooth, steep rock faces that had water cascading down. It was a really fun trail! There were plenty of wood steps or ladders built in where we may have otherwise needed hand holds. Our boots did remarkably well gripping the rock through the stream of water. The uphill was unrelenting, but it was pretty gorgeous.

Water cascading down the slabs

More climbing, more water

Eventually we arrived at some monumental boulders rising into the air. After that, the trail was pretty exposed, with alpine vegetation. We were very close to the top and had amazing views in all directions, including a close-up view of Marcy to the east and the McIntyre range (Algonquin, etc.) to the west. We could also see the town of Lake Placid and the ski jumps.

Massive boulders

Approaching the top

Alpine zone

Taking in the view

We continued onward to the actual summit, arriving at 2pm. There was no sign, but we did find a little hole in a rock, which we assumed was the marker. The summit had several rocky outcrops where different groups were enjoying the view. We took a nice long break and refuelled with Mars bars.

The hole marks the spot

We made it

We continued along the trail, which descended to where the trap dike comes up (though we didn’t spot it) and then up and over another bump. The descent was pretty moderate: no need for butt sliding. After a while we connected with the Lake Arnold trail. It was was muddy, but no worse than the way in. Apparently we avoided the infamous Lake Arnold floating logs which are in the other direction, en route to Gray and Skylight.

We arrived back at our campsite at 5 pm and discovered that others had set up a small tent next to our things in the lean-to. It’s required to share a lean-to if there is space, but we were still disappointed since there available tent sites. To be fair, we were also hogging space at our old site where our tent was attempting to dry out. Unfortunately, it was still sitting in a pretty large puddle. We decided to carefully take down the tent, without getting the inside wet and move it to a site on higher ground, using our tarp as the new ground sheet.

Dinner set up

Delish dinner

Dinner was KD and broccoli at the dam, where a hiker joked that he had seen us there in the AM and questioned whether we had been there all day. After cleaning up and stashing the bear barrels, we hung out on the dam to watch the stars. We caught several really long shooting stars that were part of the Perseids meteor shower.

We hiked out after breakfast the next day and hit up the Big Mountain Deli in Lake Placid for the best sandwiches. We stopped briefly at Walmart in Massena on the way home. Always stunned by the massive selection at US stores. So many cracker flavours!