If you have followed us on Facebook you may have noticed that we have an affinity for “The” Ohio State University, and have on occasion had some Buckeyes visit us here at the Northwood Cabins. On one such visit we thought it would be nice to take them out and show them a little of what the Adirondacks have to offer. They said they were willing to try anything, but they seem to be fearful of some of the wildlife in the area. They wanted to make sure we would not run into any Wolverines while we were hiking. Apparently, Buckeyes don’t like Wolverines, not to mention Badgers, Lions, Wild Hawks, Gophers, and oddly Spartans for some reason. After much reassurance that they would be safe from most, if not all these creatures, we set out for the the highest point in New York. Mt Marcy stands at 5344′ and is considerably higher then Campbell Hill, OH at 1550′. Also, there is an historical connection between Ohio and the Adirondacks that I wanted to share with them. To make it an adventure they elected to also add Skylight to the itinerary.
We chose to get an early start. We left the Northwood Cabins at 4:25am pulled into the parking lot at the end of South Meadow Rd in a little less than 40 minutes and were ready to hit the trail by 5:30. We arrived at Marcy Dam by first full light, from there we headed up to Avalanche Pass to see the Trap Dike and the Hitch up Matilda.
We pushed on to Lake Tear of the Clouds for a well deserved break and to reload on water before the final push to the top. It was here I told them how Teddy Roosevelt was resting at this very spot after having summited Mt Marcy earlier in the day. While here, he discovered that President McKinley, Ohio’s favorite son, had taken a turn for the worse after having been shot by Leon Czolgosz days earlier. Roosevelt was informed that he needed to return to Buffalo immediately. Somewhere later that night, near North Creek, TR became the 26th President of the United States.
At Four Corners the group split up with the Buckeyes headed up Skylight to enjoy the cloudless day. The rest chose to skip Skylight and head directly up Marcy for a nap, and later a nice conversation with the Summit Steward while we waited for the group to join us.
After a leisurely lunch, it was time to head down to Marcy Damn by way of the Van Hoevenberg Trail. Here we split again, with some choosing to go to the Loj to pick up some Adirondack swag to take back to O-H-I-O. The rest headed back to South Meadow to pick up our vehicle. A 20 mile day in a little over 11 hours.