closest tent site to Marcy summit ?

[Chip]

? (that's the question) don't have my maps. friends going need the 411. danke

 

[1ADAM12]

? (that's the question) don't have my maps. friends going need the 411. danke

I do not have my map handy but coming from Marcy Dam just before or after the Phelps Mountain Trail there are some designated sites. If you come in from the other area like Elk Lake you can camp at Panther Gorge which is a beautiful area. From there you can hit Marcy, Skylight, Haystack or Gray pretty easily

 

[Neil]

I believe that would be Panther Gorge (9 miles in from Elk Lake and 2 miles, roughly, from the summit).

From the High Peaks Information Centre (the Loj) the total hike to Marcy is 7 miles and the tent site closest to Marcy is somewhere near the Phelps junction just above the trail. There is a DEC disc but it's easy to miss it. Most people probably just camp at Marcy Dam, which 5 miles from the summit.

Then there's the Feldspar/Opalescent trail junction, which is probably a little further from the summit than PG but closer to the Loj.

 

[bryan]

probably feldspar or uphill? don't have a map right now either.

bryan

 

[1ADAM12]

I guess another question is: How far are your friends willing to hike to set up base camp? If they dont mind putting in the miles with full pack then definately Feldbar or Uphill Lean-to would be the best bet Great point Bryan

 

[DSettahr]

I've never liked the tent sites at Feldspar, Uphill, or Lake Arnold. They always look like mud puddles every time I go by there.

 

[SAR-EMT40]

I've never liked the tent sites at Feldspar, Uphill, or Lake Arnold. They always look like mud puddles every time I go by there.

I remember doing Mt. Skylight from a camp site near the junction of Feldspar brook and Opalescent river. It was raining fairly heavily at that time and it was an absolute quagmire.

Keith

 

[Chip]

I've only done Marcy in winter by base camping in the lean-tos at Marcy Dam and a now extinct lean-to higher up. a) what's the tent camping access at Marcy Dam like if all the lean-tos are occupied ? and b) these guys would prefer to hike in further than Marcy Dam and tent camp then summit without full packs. I'll review the rec's above for this, thanks.

 

[Tom Rankin]

I've only done Marcy in winter by base camping in the lean-tos at Marcy Dam and a now extinct lean-to higher up. a) what's the tent camping access at Marcy Dam like if all the lean-tos are occupied ? and b) these guys would prefer to hike in further than Marcy Dam and tent camp then summit without full packs. I'll review the rec's above for this, thanks.

There are several places to tent camp near the lean-to area.

 

[DSettahr]

According to the ADK High Peaks Map, there are 24 designated campsites at Marcy Dam. Not all of them are easily located though, as only a few of them are right off the trail. Some of them are set pretty far back in the woods. I recall that there is also a couple about a tenth of a mile down the Whale's Tail ski trail.

As was mentioned, there is also at least 1 site along the trail as it parallels Phelps Brook. It's on the north side of the trail, set back a ways but there is a marker on the main trail pointing out the side trail to the camp site.

If you decide to go in via John's Brook, there are campsites near JBL, as well as farther in at Bushnell Falls and Slant Rock.

 

[Little Rickie]

Can you camp at Indian Falls?

 

[Chip]

Can you camp at Indian Falls?

No. That would be perfect and is where 2 since removed lean-tos used to be.

 

[Little Rickie]

No. That would be perfect and is where 2 since removed lean-tos used to be.

Too bad. I've thought about camping there but wasn't sure of how high it was or if it was allowed.

It must have been a sweet lean-to spot.

How about in the winter?

 

[Oldsmores]

Don't have a map in front of me, but I'm thinking the old Sno-Bird leanto site is closest to Marcy...

 

[Chip]

.

It must have been a sweet lean-to spot.

Yessir, the sweetest. If you know the spot; the leantos were on either side of the stream (pretty much where the trail crosses as I recall) looking west out over the falls to Avalanche and Algonquin. I think there were 2 lean-tos. Maybe we had the lean to and the rest of our party tented. I know Pete Hickey here is more familiar with what occured there.

. How about in the winter?

Honestly I'm not familiar with winter tenting regs in the High Peaks, but it's a good thought. Worth exploring.

 

[PA Ridgerunner]

Can you camp at Indian Falls?

No, but we found some youngsters camped there when we hiked Marcy back in June. We were easy on them...

 

[Grumpy]

Indian Falls history ...

Yessir, the sweetest. If you know the spot; the leantos were on either side of the stream (pretty much where the trail crosses as I recall) looking west out over the falls to Avalanche and Algonquin. I think there were 2 lean-tos. Maybe we had the lean to and the rest of our party tented. I know Pete Hickey here is more familiar with what occured there.

As I recall, one of the Indian Falls leantos was on the left bank of the brook near the brink of the falls and near the trail crossing. The other was on the same side of the brook, but farther upstream. The leanto near the brink of the falls had the nicer view, of course. I was fortunate enough to stay there several times before it was removed.

There also was a leanto on the Van Hoevenberg Trail at a place called The Plateau, near timberline, with a wonderful view to the summit of Marcy framed by the front of the shelter. I never got to stay there, to my regret.

G.

 

[DSettahr]

There also was a leanto on the Van Hoevenberg Trail at a place called The Plateau, near timberline, with a wonderful view to the summit of Marcy framed by the front of the shelter. I never got to stay there, to my regret.

That's the lean-to that the college student disappeared from, I think. The logs from that lean-to as well as the other one that was nearby are now bog bridges in the trail.

 

[imarchant]

How about in the winter?

Probably difficult to find a spot 150' from the trail or stream.

 

[Grumpy]

In re Plateau Leanto:

That's the lean-to that the college student disappeared from, I think. The logs from that lean-to as well as the other one that was nearby are now bog bridges in the trail.

Not to create thread drift, but to add historical perspectives ...

The "nearby" leanto was called "Hopkins," and was just beyond the junction of the Van Hoevenberg and Hopkins Trails, before reaching The Plateau shelter. The Hopkins Trail is a connector between the Phelps Trail up Johns Brook, from Bushnell Falls to the Van Hoevenberg Trail.

The two Indian Falls leantos mentioned above, and the Hopkins and Plateau leantos all are listed as being in existence in the Eighth Edition of the ADK guidebook (1972) but are referred to as "former" leanto sites in the Ninth Edition (1977) that I have in my collection. This would indicate the leantos were removed sometime between late 1972 and 1977. (I stayed in the lower leanto at Indian Falls in summer, 1972.) Someone with a May 1973 or June 1975 reprint of the 1972 Eighth Edition, both of which included revisions, may be able to more closely nail down the actual years in which those leantos were removed.

I have no doubt the timbers from these shelters were recycled in one way or another, but doubt much if anything of them remains other than as well-decayed trailside artifacts after 35 years.

G.