Gray, Skylight, and Marcy (again) 22'nd and 23'rd High Peak Ascent

Gray Peak and Skylight Mountain

The 7'th, and 4'th highest peaks in New York State with elevations of 4,840 and 4,920 ft.

On Saturday 10-19-13 my son, my good friend, and two of my son's college friends from GCC set our for the weekend. My son and his buddies drove up earlier on Friday night and hiked from the Loj into Marcy Dam and camped at a lean-to there for the night. Later Friday night my buddy and I arrived and stayed at a lean-to at the wilderness campground at the Loj. We got up before sunrise, signed the trail register at 6:15 AM and set out in the dark to meet the boys for breakfast at Marcy Dam. 

It took us a little over an hour to hike in to them. After a quick breakfast of Starbucks via coffee, egg beaters, and “pot” bacon we set out to climb Gray Peak. 

The hike was pretty uneventful other than the crossing of the Feldspar bog. It appears that beavers had dammed up a section around the bog and it was more like a pond. After wasting some time trying to cross the bog via the official trail, which was totally flooded out. My buddy used his mountain man instincts to get us around by bushwhacking to the left. 

We then continued to gain elevation slow and steadily as we made our way to Lake Tear of the Clouds, the source of the Hudson River. 

The college boys were moving much faster than us two by now and when we finally caught up with them at the base of Gray near Lake Tear they were chilling and brewing some spruce tea and coffee on the camp stove that my son was carrying. 

After a few pictures at Lake Tear we climbed Gray Peak. I’m glad this was our first ascent because it was difficult, muddy, and in two places a bit difficult because of the rock slabs that we had to scale. 

Fortunately I found ways around both of them, but of course the college boys went right up them. We arrived at the summit around 2 pm, number 22 for me, and I was starting to question our plans to also climb Skylight and then Marcy on the way out. 

I met another couple who were basically doing our hike but in reverse. They had already come over Marcy and Skylight and were just now climbing Gray. I expressed my concern to them about maybe bailing out of Skylight and to just head back to Marcy Dam. They assured me that Gray was the toughest of the three and that since we had done that already to continue with our plans to do all three. I must say without their encouragement I don’t think I would have stayed the course. So after descending Gray we continued to four corners.

At four corners we were now at the bottom of Skylight and the trail sign confirmed that the summit of Skylight was 0.5 miles. That meant that in one mile and about an hour we could be back at this sign. Evan and I dropped our packs to lighten the load and we all continued to scale Skylight. I have done some cool climbs and have had some amazing summit views but none so far could compare to Skylight. It is a true bald summit with a legit 360 degree view. The only bad thing about Skylight was that from there I saw Marcy looking imposing in the distance and realized how tall and far away it was and that we still had to climb up and over it on the way out. 

After some summit pictures we headed back down to four corners, picked up our packs, and then headed up to Marcy. I tried to climb some of the way up without a jacket but it got too cold with the wind and fog so I had to stop to break out the jacket, hat, and gloves. I hadn't eaten much all day and I was out of energy on the way up Marcy. I tried to choke down a Clif Bar to get some energy but it didn't taste good and I was spent. I literally had to force myself to put one foot in front of another and slowly and eventually surely summited Marcy. The college boys were probably up there a half an hour before us but my buddy stuck with me and together we pushed upward and onward. 

On the Marcy summit it was now after 4 pm and I knew for sure we would be hiking out for hours in the dark. I was really glad that my son had suggested the Marcy Dam lean-to and was encourage to know that tonight we would not have to hike the last 2+ miles from Marcy Dam to the Loj. The rest of the hike from Marcy was long, mostly down hill, rocky, muddy, and the last two hours or so in the dark. 

We finally got back to the Marcy Dam lean-to at 8:15 pm in a slight drizzle. My son cooked a dinner of pulled chicken fajitas and then we called it a night. I woke up a couple of times during the night to hear the downpour of rain and was thankful for the lean-to. 

We got up around 8 am on Sunday morning, finished off the rest of the egg beaters and bacon and then broke camp and hiked out to the cars at the Loj parking lot. 

The college boys headed back to GCC and my buddy and I headed for a real cup of coffee at the ADK Café in Keene. 

All in all this was probably the longest and toughest hike I have done to date. We hiked from 6:15 am in the dark until 8:15 pm in the dark, climbed three peaks, and traversed approximately 16 miles in a day.  The best thing is that I had another quality outing with one of my sons and one of my very best friends and am now exactly half way to my goal of becoming a 46’R!