Marcy Dam & Mt Marcy
Adirondacks, New York
・
July 2025
About the trail
Marcy Dam is a campsite in the Adirondack mountains that acts as a perfect first backpacking trip! It's ~4 miles from the parking lot to a beautiful river with plenty of tent sites. From Marcy Dam you have access to a bunch of trail heads with a wide range of difficulties. Mt. Marcy is the primary hike in the area and ends with gorgeous view of the Adirondacks. This mountain range also requires heavy duty bear cans because a bear in the area named "Yellow Yellow" learned how to break into the lighter ones! (she then taught this skill to her cubs!)
The story
Day 1 - 4mi
The Marcy Dam trail head is a short drive from Lake Placid which gives you plenty of options for hotels the night before. We started early, parked our car at the trail head, then found out about the bear can requirements. Thankfully the park will let you trade a "lightweight" bear can for a "heavy duty" one free of charge. We set off from the park's guest lodge and quickly got to the dam where we saw a beautiful river cutting through the mountains. This made for a great place to make camp and hangout with the other hikers. We finished the day off with a quick "day hike" from the campsite to a nearby lake before enjoying dinner by the river.
Day 2 - 10mi
On our second day we left our campsite set up and hiked up to the peak of Mt. Marcy. Along the way we saw a bunch of great dogs all working their hardest to get to the top too (most of them had their own little backpacks). Once we'd gotten to the top we stayed there for a while, taking in the views, and, of course, hanging out with a couple of the dogs who had also made it to the top! Once we'd gotten our fill of the summit we started our way back down towards our campsite. From our campsite we returned to the river to refill our water supply and enjoy our dinner.
Day 3 - 4mi
On our final day we leisurely packed up our tent site before heading back to the car and heading home.
