After my Algonquin trip, my knee (which I had previously injured on Middle Sister in AB) was acting up quite a bit, so I returned to physio and it was diagnosed as a mild MCL sprain. They were confident that with a bit of time and gradual return to activity, I would be good to go for my planned Civic Holiday weekend trip to the Adirondacks in New York. Things progressed relatively smoothly so I went ahead into full gear the week before the long weekend planning my trip. I plotted my route on FATMAP – my goal was to include summiting Mount Marcy (the highest point in New York and my first US state highpoint) and also include a few extra peaks along the way. I had to do a bit of research regarding parking. Since I planned to arrive after lunch on the Saturday, I was concerned I would not be able to get parking at the Adirondack Loj, a popular starting point for backpacking trips. After posting on Reddit, I learned that the Upper Works trailhead would be a solid choice, so that’s where I planned to park and start my trek. My tentative plan going in was as follows:
Day 1: Upper Works trailhead to campsite east or southeast of Lake Colden (11km)
Day 2: Campsite to Sno-bird campsite (highest elevation campsite in the High Peaks area) via Mount Marcy, make camp and climb Mount Haystack (3rd highest peak in NY) (10.1km). Possible 1-1.5km add-on(s), depending on how I felt, to Mount Skylight and/or Gray Peak (4th and 7th highest peaks in NY respectively).
Day 3: Sno-bird campsite back to Upper Works trailhead (18.4km)
I also picked up a few additional pieces of gear (some of which I had gotten just after Algonquin) to test out on this trip:
- 50L pack – I’m looking go a bit more lightweight backpacking (not quite ultralight yet), so this is a good size pack for that. I also wanted to get a mountaineering pack, so the Gregory Alpinisto checks both boxes.
- Bivy – a staple for lightweight and ultralight, this is effectively a tent with no structure, and packs down really small. I ended up getting the Outdoor Research Helium.
- Summer sleeping bag & bag liner – I used an old Canadian Tire bag on my recent trips to Killarney and Algonquin. The bag is okay, but is really bulky. I ended up grabbing the MEC Talon +5C which offers space savings in my pack (this thing compresses a LOT). I also grabbed a sleeping bag liner, which will keep the bag clean, and also serve alone as a lighter alternative for warm nights, or add warmth on colder nights.
- Adirondack bear-proof canister – I have a BearVault but apparently the bears in the Adirondacks have figured out how to open them. I went and bought the Bear Keg from Counter Assault (they also make bear spray), which is the same canister that Nikola brought on the Ishpatina trip. It’s about the same size and a bit heavier, unfortunately.
For packing, I went really light on clothing, only bringing two sets of clothes, one for hiking (hiking shirt, hiking pants, with two pairs of socks) and one for at camp (base layers plus soft shell jacket). The weather looked really good for the weekend, so I opted to only bring my rain jacket (doubles as a windbreaker) and not my rain pants. This small amount of clothing was what I was shifting towards anyway, as I was very economical on both the Killarney and Algonquin trips.
Finally, as this was my first trip to the USA since COVID started, I made sure to triple check I had all the boxes ticked for leaving and re-entering Canada, including vaccine certificates and the ArriveCAN app. I also bought three days of roaming data in the USA to make navigation easier and also just in case.
Day 1
I woke up bright and early at 5am and was out the door at 5:30am. The drive was largely uneventful, other than there being a 25 min wait at the ON Route in Mallorytown for coffee at 7 in the morning, which was crazy. Signs of things to come… I started off the drive listening to podcasts but realized that was a bad idea as I was getting drowsy. So I switched it up to some energetic music until I was more awake.
I ended up crossing the Canada-USA border at Champlain, going through Quebec. A bit of a wait to get in, which was expected, and no issues getting through. After a quick stop at McDs for some fries, it was back on the road down to the Adirondacks. Google Maps gave a very inaccurate speed limit, which I think had to do with switching from the metric to the imperial system. Good thing I didn’t follow it and I read the posted signs!
I eventually made it to Upper Works trailhead and although the parking lot was near full, I was able to find parking without too much difficulty. After getting my stuff together, I hit the trail at 2:30pm. The hike was pretty uneventful, not too difficult until I reached Colden Lake. I noticed that all the campsites were occupied, so I planned to hike until I found something. Well, I got to my final possibility at Flowed Lands, and after talking to a couple girls (from Calgary, what are the odds), they told me that everything was taken and my best bet would be to find a spot not designated for camping. I set up my stove by the river to cook – had pasta, dehydrated veggies and some beans (I forgot to buy lentils but luckily had some leftover rehydrated beans from home which I quickly ate to avoid spoiling). After washing up and brushing my teeth, I set off again up the trail and found a tiny little bit of ground (2m x 0.6m or so) to set up my bivy. I love how little space is needed for this thing!
Day 2
Sleep, as always was pretty uncomfortable. The bivy was quite warm despite the cool night and the front opened up for ventilation. I ended up using the sleeping bag liner for the most part, and had the Talon available, but never really used it. I was woken up around 3:30 in the morning to noises outside and looking out, I saw two hikers making their way up the trail, no doubt for a sunrise summit. I ended up getting up at 6am and after quickly packing my stuff up, was on the trail at 6:30am. Since the space I had at my “site” was very limited, I opted to delay breakfast until I was on top of my first planned peak of the day, Gray Peak, whose trailhead was about 30 mins from my campsite.
After collecting water at the Gray trailhead (Lake Tear of the Clouds, located here, is the highest pond in NY and the source of the Hudson River!), I started up and was confronted with some tricky climbing sections of rock, which were slick in places and required some scrambling. This was made a bit harder by the fact I had my pack! Gray only recently got a (herd) trail and used to be a bushwhack. I was able to make my way up and reached the summit at around 7:40am. It wasn’t a great view as Gray’s summit is covered in trees and it was quite cloudy, but it was a nice place for hot oatmeal. I usually cook at my site before packing up and hiking, but I kind of liked hiking out and eating on the trail, especially on the top of a mountain. I’ll have to do this more often. After about 50 mins, I made my way down and continued up the trail towards the next two peaks on my itinerary.
Next up, almost opposite each other at the Four Corners Junction, were the trailheads to Mount Marcy and Mount Skylight. Skylight was the logical choice to do next, as my route traversed over the top of Marcy towards Sno-bird and Mount Haystack. For Skylight, I stashed my pack, and brought my inReach and bear spray, along with my poles for a quick hike up. This hike was significantly easier – due to the terrain and the lack of pack. I made it to the top in 25 mins and the views at the top were much better owing to the lack of trees. Pretty nice peak with, as the name suggests, great views!
After a brief 10 min stop on the summit to take photos, I descended and met the Canadians I had spoken to the night before, before gathering my gear and starting up the trail. After a brief wooded section, I emerged out onto a steep rocky section all the way up to the summit. Quite the spectacular view looking up. About halfway up the rocky section, I met a pretty cool dude named Matt, who was doing a trail run up Marcy, Haystack and Skylight. We had a good chat and exchanged Instagram handles, and he indicated that he was heading down to summit Skylight and would be tackling Haystack next – so maybe we would reconvene there. Since the bugs were almost non-existent, I hiked up this sections sans shirt – it was nice to cool off a bit!
I eventually made it to the summit of Marcy, the highest point in New York and my first US state highpoint. It was pretty busy up at the top – it’s a popular hiking destination. There was a summit steward at the top who had a lot of interesting information about the peaks and the plant growth in the alpine zone. There are initiatives to promote the growth of these plants by cordoning them off to prevent people sitting/walking on them. Apparently the growth season is only two months long so any interruptions are a huge setback. These plants apparently originated from millions of years ago when the mountains were formed by glaciers!
The views were very good at the top and I could spot a ton of mountains in the High Peaks range, including Algonquin (the second highest peak in NY and a future summit goal) and Haystack, the next peak of the day. After about 40 mins at the top, I started down the east trail of Marcy towards the Phelps trail. It was here I changed my plans for the rest of the trip – my initial plan was to drop off most of my gear at Sno-bird which is a very neat high altitude campsite, hike up Haystack, then return to Sno-bird for the night and hike back AGAIN over Marcy to get back to Upper Works the next day. This would have resulted in a very long final day, so I decided in the interest of keeping my last day short to camp in roughly the same place as the previous night (hopefully at a proper campsite), and do Haystack with my pack.
The hike up Haystack, which required traversing over a subsidiary peak, Little Haystack, was pretty tough as I was tired, but had the most enjoyable approach in which I was by myself (super serene) and had to climb some tricky rocky sections. I eventually reached the summit of Haystack, the 3rd highest peak in NY and my fourth Adirondack high peak of the day, and met back up with Matt, who was there with a couple other hikers including Kelz who later connected on Instagram. We relaxed at the top and had some great conversations before going our separate ways. It’s always fun meeting people on the mountains! I’ll be sure to reach out to Matt next time I’m in the area – he’s a 46er (climbed all 46 Adirondack high peaks) so he knows the area well!
On my way down, I encountered a group of middle-aged ladies who Matt had had lunch with earlier and planned to meet at the summit of Haystack but unfortunately he had to leave early. They were disappointed that he had to go but were very happy to meet me and were even more happy when they found out I was from Canada. I helped them out with a group photo before continuing the (absolutely brutal) descent back to the main trail. The descent (alongside Panther Gorge) was very steep, so I took my time to avoid overworking my knees, and used my hands as much as possible. I eventually reached the main trail and rested at Marcy Brook almost 1.5 hours after beginning my descent. After a long stretch on the Marcy Trail that seemed to never end, I arrived at Lake Tear of the Clouds to rest and then reached the Flowed Lands area where thankfully there was space at one of the campsites. Definitely needed it after almost 12 hours on the trail and over 2km of ascent/descent!
After setting up my bivy and getting changed, I had dinner – continuation of my sweet potato lentil soup, along with the leftover pasta and veggies, and after washing up, returned to the campsite to start settling down. My neighbors (a dad and two sons, whose tent was set up when I arrived) returned from a long day hike not long after, so I ended up going to sleep a bit later as I had to wait for them to get settled down.
Day 3
Sleep was pretty awful again – one of my neighbors – the dad most likely – was snoring in his hammock, and I was struggling to stay warm as I started out sans sleeping bag and was only using my liner. I eventually got up and grabbed my bag. While it was significantly warmer it was more ideal, and the snoring thankfully stopped when I got up to grab my bag.
I was up bright and early at 5:30am and on the trail just before 6:15am. The hike down started off pretty tough as I was pretty sore from the previous day, but at the halfway point it flattened out and I was flying down the trail. I opted once again to eat breakfast on the trail and actually decided to not pull out my stove to make oatmeal, and just eat Clif bars and protein bars instead. I arrived at the Upper Works trailhead just before 10am, and spent some time looking at the plaques set up which provided a historical account of the area. It was particularly interesting to me as a metallurgist since the area has a rich history in steelmaking!
I got changed and was on the road just before 11am. I was low on gas and had no reception, so it was a bit gnarly driving semi-blind at the start. I knew roughly which way I needed to go (was taking a different border crossing) so it wasn’t too bad, and was able to fuel my car in Long Lake. The drive up to the border was smooth and very scenic – the Tupper Lake area is quite beautiful – and I quickly arrived at the border and crossed via the Ogdensburg toll bridge. Brief wait at Canadian customs and was surprised to not need to show my ArriveCAN receipt nor proof of vaccination*. The drive on the 401 once I entered Canada was probably the worst I have ever experienced (end of long weekend + everyone with post-COVID travel fever) and it took almost 6 hours to get home, including a very quick stop at a super busy ON Route in Odessa to inhale 2 A&W Beyond Meat Burgers + sweet potato fries (normally it’s a 3.5 hour drive). Most importantly, I made it home safe and without getting injured on the trail.
*Update August 10th 2022: I found out that the ArriveCAN information is seen by the border officers when they scan your passport; the receipt and vaccination docs are good to have just in case.
Final Thoughts
First, I wanted to review the new pieces of gear I bought and how they held up.
- My 50L pack (the Alpinisto) was a perfect size for this kind of trip – even though I packed light I feel like I still had a bit of space to spare (could have brought an extra hiking shirt as the one I had got pretty sweaty!). One con of this pack is there really isn’t a great place to stash a water bottle other than in the crampon pouch at the front – this was fine on this trip as I didn’t have crampons and I was able to make it work with 2 x 1L bottles, with one always full. The pack was pretty comfy as well and fits me better than my 65L Gregory Zulu which I usually backpack with.
- The bivy was a nice change having an ultralight structure but it was really warm and sticky at night (the latter likely because I couldn’t take a dip in a lake after hiking), so I’ll need to get used to that, or use my tent here and there instead. I should probably do a bit of research into a summer sleeping pad – I use a Neo Air which is a bit better for shoulder seasons and might have contributed to the high temperature inside. I do have a closed foam cell pad but it’s super bulky.
- I really liked the sleeping bag (MEC Talon) and sleeping bag liner I bought before this trip. Both take up very little space in the pack. The bag was a bit warm in the bivy, but in colder temperatures will be great, and the liner adds some flexibility not to mention will help keep my bags clean. Highly recommend!
- I wasn’t super happy with the Bear Keg I bought. It’s very big (same size as the BearVault) and pretty heavy as well. Not really good for a solo hiker for a 2 night trip. There is another Adirondack-friendly canister that is much smaller (Bare Box Contender) which is perfect for my long weekend trips and I will look into.
One gripe I had with this trip was the fact that it was first come, first serve for campsites, which prevents people arriving late (out of towners especially) from getting a site and having to improvise (to be fair, with the bivy it wasn’t too bad – and it was quieter being away from other people!). I’m the kind of hiker who tends to spend the whole day hiking, arriving at camp around 4-5pm and going to bed at 7pm after eating, so the booking model we have in Canada works a bit better for me, though makes trip planning more finicky since you have to book far in advance a lot of the time, especially in peak season.
Super happy my knee held up and glad I took the time to rehab it properly. Overall, I had a great time in the Adirondacks. Great weather, really nice people, great, tough hikes, and amazing views. Really looking forward to going back and exploring more trails in the area, and working on more of the High Peaks! I’ve already plotted out a few possible future routes which I hope to tackle this fall or in spring 2023!
Veg 'n' Alpine 
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