Camping in South Meadow in Adirondacks: Need details

[hikingfish]

Hi!
I'm planning on trying to do the great range traverse on August 13/14. I've read Andrew Lavigne's website to get some info about the traverse and was planning on camping at South Meadow, then taking the truck road to the Loj and heading to Marcy from the there. I'm not familiar with camping at the South Meadow though and was wondering if there was any details I needed to know in advance: Do I need to reserve, do I need to pay to camp, is there a parking close by, how many spots are there, should I plan to get there extra early, is there a water source close by, etc.

Also, if anyone has done the great traverse, I'd be interested in knowing which water resupply spots you used!

Thanks,

Fish

 

[AntlerPeak]

The last I knew the campsites are free, there are several that you can walk into and several you can get your car into. It is first come first served, get there early especially on a weekend. There is a stream at South Meadow east of the parking areas.

Before the road reaches the parking areas it Y's the left fork takes you to a parking area for the Klondike Notch Trail. The right to a parking area for the Marcy Dam Truck Trail. The camping area is primarily the land between the two parking lots, though there may be some on the sides of the road. In fact there are a few near the trail that climbs MT Vanhovenburg before the Y. This is not the VanHoovenburg trail to Marcy.

The truck trail is a good route and it is a road all the way to Marcy Dam but closed to traffic at the parking lot. A short distance from the lot a ski trail crosses the road, to the left, east it leads to the Klondike Notch Trail. To the right, west, it leads to the ADK complex parking area 1.32 miles away. This is one of the reasons these lots fill up because you can access the Heart Lake trails and avoid the $8.00 per day non member parking fee at the ADK. Parking was free at south Meadow. If going to Marcy Dam the truck trail would be shorter than taking the Mt Van ski Trail to Heart Lake and over.

There is a connector trail between the lots going through some of the campsites. This is a nice area and often visited by the rangers but you never know what you will find there. There is also a nice lean-to on the Mt Van ski trail about .45 miles on the Klondike Notch Trail follow the Mt Van Trail north 1.5 miles to the lean-to. I say nice at least it was a few years ago when I was last there. It is by a stream and seldom used. I don't know what the last few years brought but it is a possibility.

Hope this helps, good luck.

 

[lumberzac]

South Meadows is free and is first come first served so it might be a good idea to get there early. Most of the sites I remember seeing were large enough to allow you to park on site, but there is also a larger parking area at the end of South Meadows Road. I’m not sure of the actual number of sites that are there. You basically drive up the road and the campsite site along the side of it. The truck road goes to Marcy Dam, not Adirondack Loj. Probably the best place to get water at the beginning of your hike would be to filter from the stream near the trail register that is a few tenths of a mile up the truck road.

For the traverse there is water between Haystack and Basin and between Saddleback and Gothics (you may have to hike down the Orr bed trail some to find a spot deep enough to filter). After that there aren’t any really reliable water sources until after Lower Wolfjaw. When I did the traverse (from the other direction) last year I carried a 3L platypus and ran out of water on the way down Gothics. If the weather is supposed to be hot, I would consider carrying at least 4L of water to be on the safe side.

 

[beverly]

Watch out

South Meadow can be a real party place on the weekends. Bring earplugs! The only time that I did the Range by camping at South Meadow, we drove to Keene Valley and started there, finishing at South Meadow. I don't know why, but the walk out from Marcy Dam was painful. I think that was because of the walking surface. Too uniform a surface and tougher on the feet, I think. Other times that I have done the Range and walked out the trail from Marcy dam to the Loj, the walking wasn't nearly as painful.

 

[woodstrider]

South Meadows- Adirondacks

Beware- things have a way of disappearing at South Meadows- I would not leave anything unattended there. Too easy for some local criminal types to go in and hit a camper and then leave. I only stayed there once and we had two pairs of snowshoes stolen while we were sleeping.

 

[hikingfish]

Shuttle

Thanks all for your information. Most valuable! Better than any guide book too hehe.

As I was doing the approach to the Trap Dyke from the Loj this weekend (boooooring!), I was thinking that we're only going to be 2 people doing the traverse and we're only going to have 1 car... which brings me to my next question: Are there any shuttle buses we could use to get back to South Meadow? We might be able to get a lift with friends, but I'd like to have another option if they can't pick us up.

Fish