Mt. Marcy New York, 5,344 feet

My high pointing adventures  resumed with the American Alpine Club's New York Summer Outing.  I was invited to join a group of climbing friends at the Ausable Club in Keene Valley, NY.  Our trip began by train from Grand Central Station where I met James Holmes, Dana Lucas, Carey Edwards and Jim Thayer. Aston Erler was late so we boarded the train and agreed to wait for him in Cortlandt where James parks his car.  After a stop at a local convenience store for some snacks and our lunch for tomorrows hike we connected with Aston and were on our way toward Keene Valley. After reaching Albany we decided to stop at Hooters for some of James favorite chicken wings and a brief birthday celebration for Aston who was cheered on by a bodacious group of Hooter's waitresses from his perch atop the counter near the cash register.  It was a unique, one of a kind experience.

Fortified by our load of chicken wings the rest of our ride went very smoothly and we reached the Au Sable Club, the last guests to arrive for the AAC outing.  We checked into our cabin and prepared our packs for an early morning departure.

In the morning we ran into NY Phil Erhard, NY Section Chair of the AAC.  Phil offered to accompany us to the boat house to pick up our canoe at about 7:00 am for our "death march", as he described it, up Mt Marcy...

This was a unique route requiring a canoe, which we had access to as a consequence of our outing and being guests of the Ausable Club.  It was too good to resist.  I tried to google the route and could not find it, but here is the description straight out of the document prepared by Bob Hall, an AAC member who has compiled a great list of hikes, listing them by difficulty.  Our hike, described as beyond difficult, in the "beat out" category:

Canoe Lower Ausable Lake and climb Mt. Marcy (or Mt. Skylight): Hike 12 miles, elevation gain 3900 feet, estimated HIKING time = 7 hours, estimated TOTAL time = 10 hours (due to the canoeing)   This, believe it or not, is the EASIEST way to climb Mt. Marcy and is "available" only to those who can drive the road and paddle the lake.  Canoe 2 1/2 miles, hike 12 miles total round trip.  Most ascents of Mt. Marcy are 7-9 miles ONE WAY! 

Drive to the Lower Lake boathouse, obtain a Grumman Canoe from the boatman and paddle the length of Lower Lake.  Secure the canoe on the dock and hike the flat mile to the cabins at Upper Ausable Lake.  

The trail to Mt. Marcy and Haystack starts a little behind the cabins.  After about 0.2 mile, ignore the trail (which branches right) to Sawteeth.  Another 1- 1/2 mile of fairly steep going and the trail to Snowbird shelter and Little Haystack branches off right.  You keep left towards Panther Gorge, Haystack and Marcy.  The trail reaches the height-of-land at Bartlett ridge and then drops slightly as it starts its descent toward Panther Gorge.  There is one area here of "swampy going" and blowdown where the trail may be hard to follow. Continue straight where the trail up Haystack branches off to the right.  The trail will start to descend into Panther Gorge.  In another 1/2 to 3/4 mile the "Elk Lake - Mt. Marcy trail" enters from the left.  Continue up out of Panther Gorge heading for Mt. Marcy (or Mt. Skylight).

Reaching "Four Corners" turn right for Mt. Marcy, 3/4 mile away and about 1000 feet above you.  To climb Skylight, turn left at Four Corners, and 1/2 mile and 500 feet will see you to this summit.  (Heck, while you're here, why not climb them both!)

RETURN via the same route, or from the summit of Marcy take the Range Trail back towards Little Haystack and descend via the trail past the old Snowbird shelter to Upper Ausable Lake.  (See hike # 31)

It was a beautiful sunny morning on the Lower Ausable Lake our Carey Roberts had used her charm and assertiveness to convince the boathouse to leave three canoes unlocked for our trip, making it possible for us to get an early start, they normally do not open until 9:00 am.  So, equipped with three canoes, the 6 of us were on the water and rowing at about 8:00 am.  

After a 2 1/2 mile row we arrived at a landing on the other side of the Lower Ausable Lake where the trailhead began.  Our progress was steady, we tried to take a break about every hour, but it was more frequent as the trail took on a very steep tract.  We were all pretty intent on making it back in time for happy hour at the AAC event by 5:00 pm. After dropping into Panther Gorge and regaining the elevation loss, we were nearing a col and began to discuss the weather.  It appeared to be headed toward a storm.  Ultimately, we agreed to climb to the col and then turn around, however, when we got to the col the weather appeared to be fine.  So we persevered for the remaining 1000 feet to successfully summit Mt. Marcy, the highest point in New York (5,344), on Saturday June 1, 2013!  We could see rain in distant valleys, but nothing near us.

We happily celebrated our success, Ashton headed off toward an alternate route on the descent and the rest of us began the trek back, retracing our route through Panther Gorge where we had to regain several hundred feet before returning to our canoes on the Lower Ausable.  The rain held off until the moment that I rejoined Ashton in our canoe and pushed off toward the Ausable Club Boathouse. The sky broke open for about four minutes an we were drenched, but cool and happy when it stopped.  The sun was then beginning to get low in the horizon and a mist rolled slowly across the lake.  It was magical!

We returned to the accolades of our AAC Colleagues just concluding happy hour, quickly showered and dressed in time for the formal evening dinner, slide show and drinks at the Ausable Club.  It was a stellar day and a successful summit of New York high point Mt. Marcy.