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| Early Friday morning, we awake relatively fresh after our 5 mile hike into the interior of the Eastern High Peaks region. |
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| The view from our shelter of the Flowed Lands landscape. |
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| On our way from the shelter to Colden Dam for breakfast. |
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| Not a bad spot for sipping hot coffee and eating rehydrated eggs and bacon. |
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| Chris enjoys some breakfast along the edge of the dam. |
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| Chris saddles up the pack as the sun rises behind him and Mt. Colden. |
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| Shortly after we begin our hike towards the mountain, we enjoy crossing the beautiful Opalescent river on a steel cable bridge. |
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| We had the approach to ourselves. A beautiful sunny morning and cool temps made for a fairly easy ascent that we enjoyed alternately in good conversation and peaceful silence. |
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| A striking chasm on the way up to Marcy in which the Opalescent carves a deep and treacherous gash through which the river falls at speed. |
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| Above 4000 feet. |
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| Chris tried to gain a little more elevation to catch a glimpse of the mountain. Despite being the highest point in New York, Marcy is well concealed by the surrounding peaks. |
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| About 4 hours after starting the hike we reach Lake Tear of the Clouds, a small pond at the foot of the mountain. Here we had a leisurely lunch while drying out the fleece and preparing for the 1 mile ascent. |
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| No trail in the Adirondacks is easy and Marcy's south side trail is no exception. The going was steep and rocky, but there was no ice or significant mud to deal with this time. |
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| We break treeline, the scraggly pines parting as we draw near to the height of Mt. Skylight (background) to the south. |
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| Our first glimpse of the summit pyramid from on the mountain. |
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| Above treeline we ascended a 1/4 mile long ramp of bare rock and rare alpine vegetation. The going was slower as we climbed from cairn to cairn, resting about 15-30 secs at each. I was beyond excited to feel the summit drawing near. |
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| Looking back down the ramp to Chris as we toil higher. |
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| Foreshortening makes the summit look very close but it was still about 10 mins away. |
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| I don't think I've ever been so happy on a mountain. It was a wonderful feeling to finally summit and to take in the amazing vistas that Marcy offers in all directions. |
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| We enjoyed a good hour and a half up there exploring the ancient rock, texting summit pictutres to loved ones, and basking in the beautiful weather. We found a nice spot out of the wind and even enjoyed a victory coffee :) |
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| I kept Becky's picture close at hand as motivation on the way up. Behind her photo is the view west with Mt. Colden in the immediate foreground, standing in front of and Mt. Iroquois, Algonquin and Wright Peak in the distance. |
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| Chris was in a contemplative mood on top. We both enjoyed our own personal experience for a while, taking time to think, sit and pray. Great space has a way of putting me in my place, which is one reason I can't stay out of the mountains. |
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| After a wonderful stay at the top, we headed down. I tried to drink in the beauty of the mountain knowing that it would soon be a memory. |
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| Before dipping back below the treeline, we do a shot to memorialize the trip. |
