An artist’s view of Panther Gorge

Anne Diggory painted this scene from Mount Marcy in 2001.

I recently wrote a blog for Adirondack Almanack about an art exhibit featuring the work of Anne Diggory, who often paints Adirondack landscapes. When asked which of her Adirondack paintings was her favorite, she replied that it was a scene of Panther Gorge as seen from Mount Marcy.

I thought people would like to see the painting, so I posted it above.

Diggory painted two studies of the scene in 2001—one a watercolor, the other acrylic—while visiting her daughter Ariel, who was then a summit steward.

“The watercolor set the composition and the smaller one (along with photographs) set the color,” she told me in an e-mail. “I had really liked how the sky felt like a roof, with Dix just about touching it.”

Note the boulder in the foreground. At the time, Diggory was painting a lot of boulders for her Sisyphus Series. Sisyphus was the Greek king condemned to push a huge boulder up a hill; each time he got near the top, it rolled back down, and he had to begin again. It doesn’t sound like a fun way to spend eternity, but Diggory has a different take. “There is the idea that Sisyphus actually enjoyed going up and down: just think what he could see each time,” she said.

The painting, called Boulder at the Top, is not part of the current exhibit at the Blue Mountain Gallery in Manhattan. The exhibit, titled “Turbulence,” will run through Saturday, January 28. The gallery is located at 530 West 25 Street in Manhattan.

You can view more of Diggory’s work on her website.

Mount Marcy trail in good condition

The summit of Mount Marcy. Photo by Phil Brown.

I hiked the Van Hoevenberg Trail to Mount Marcy today (Saturday) and found it fine shape, despite a few changes wrought by Hurricane Irene.

It was just two days after the state Department of Environmental Conservation reopened the eastern High Peaks, and many hikers were out enjoying the sunshine.

Starting at Adirondak Loj, the Van Hoevenberg Trail is the shortest and most popular route to the state’s highest summit. It ascends 3,166 feet over 7.4 miles.

As we reported earlier, the floods caused by Irene washed away at the bridge at Marcy Dam, located 2.3 miles from the Loj. Consequently, hikers must rock-hop across Marcy Brook below the dam.

About 1.8 miles from the Loj, DEC has put up a board with an arrow indicating a short path to the brook. You cross on boulders to an island, then rock-hop again to the opposite shore. The boulders are numerous and big, so as rock hops go, this isn’t too bad, but DEC warns that the brook might be impassable in high water.

Once on the opposite shore, you turn right onto a narrow footpath that soon leads to the Marcy Dam Truck Trail. Marcy Dam is less than a quarter-mile up the truck trail.

The pond at Marcy Dam has lost quite a bit more water since I visited the day after Irene. The shores and the middle of the pond are now mudflats.

Eroded trail above Marcy Dam. Photo by Phil Brown.

Just beyond Marcy Dam, DEC has rerouted the trail for about a quarter-mile to avoid a stretch of the old trail that was eroded during Irene. The old trail is now a rock-filled gully. The rerouted trail ends near the high-water bridge over Phelps Brook. Although the bridge still stands, DEC has closed it.

Over the next five miles to the summit, I saw nothing out of the ordinary. Above Indian Falls, there were a few trees across the trail that were easily stepped over and a few that appeared to have been recently cut through. That was it.

From Indian Falls you can get a good view of a long narrow slide on Algonquin Peak that was created by Irene’s torrential rains. At Marcy Dam you can see the new slide on Wright Peak.

When I got to Marcy’s summit, the only person there was Seth Jones, the summit steward. Before I left, several other parties arrived, and on the descent to the Loj, I encountered several more on their way up. It was fairly busy, given all the uncertainty about trail conditions in the aftermath of the storm.

I talked with others who had hiked to Table Top Mountain, Wright Peak, and Avalanche Lake, and all told me the same thing: the trails were not bad at all.

Algonquin Peak from Indian Falls. Photo by Phil Brown.

Marcy just got farther way

If you’re thinking of climbing Mount Marcy from Adirondak Loj this weekend, you should plan for a longer-than-usual journey, thanks to the loss of a log bridge over Phelps Brook.

The bridge that hikers use to cross the brook in high water was washed downstream about a week ago, according to David Winchell, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Skiers ascend Mount Marcy in spring. Photo by Dick Tucker.

Winchell said DEC is advising hikers to take a detour that will add roughly a mile to the round trip to Marcy, making it about sixteen miles.

Ordinarily, hikers starting at the Loj take the Van Hoevenberg Trail, marked by blue disks, to Marcy Dam and then on to the summit—a 7.4-mile trip (one way). DEC now recommends that you should turn right onto the yellow-disked Avalanche Pass Trail just after passing Marcy Dam and follow it 0.9 miles to Avalanche Camps, where there is another trail junction. Turn left onto the Lake Arnold Trail, marked by blue disks, and follow it a mile to a junction. Turn left onto the Indian Falls Crossover Trail, marked by yellow disks, and follow it 0.8 miles, where it ends at the Van Hoevenberg Trail. Turn right to continue your trek up Marcy.

Tony Goodwin, editor of the Adirondack Mountain Club’s High Peaks guidebook, suggests another option. At Marcy Dam, turn left onto the Marcy Dam Truck Trail and follow it about a third of a mile to a bridge over Phelps Brook. Cross the bridge and turn right to bushwhack along the brook for about three quarters of a mile to the Van Hoevenberg Trail. Be sure the brook is on your right when you begin the bushwhack.

Hikers usually need to use the high-water bridge only in early spring. At other times, it’s possible to cross Phelps Brook on boulders upstream from the bridge.

Winchell said DEC hopes to replace the bridge later in the year. Nate Jeffrey, the Lake Colden caretaker, tied it to a tree to prevent it from floating farther downstream. “It’s not in a lot of pieces; it’s pretty much intact,” Winchell said.

DEC will post updates on the Van Hoevenberg Trail on its website.

Keep in mind that there is still lots of snow at higher elevations. Skis or snowshoes are required.

Master skier on the Marcy trail

Mark Meschinelli at Marcy Dam. Photo by Phil Brown.

Last weekend I encountered Mark Meschinelli and Dave Hough, two members of the notorious Ski to Die Club, on the trail to Mount Marcy. Back in the seventies and eighties, Mark, Dave, and their crew set a standard in boldness by tackling difficult terrain–slides, frozen brooks, glades, you name it–in the gear of the day, namely lightweight leather boots and skinny skis.

These guys still got it. After summiting, I skied down with them and took a short video of Mark making parallel turns on the ski trail below Indian Falls. If you didn’t know any better, you’d swear he’s on alpine or randonee skis, but he’s actually using a telemark setup, meaning his heels are free. A friend tells me that Mark was equally adept at making parallel turns on the old cross-country gear in the heyday of the Ski to Die Club.

The clip is only about twelve seconds long. Look for Mark to enter the frame from the top. The figure is quite small at first, but you can tell he’s making graceful turns.

Incidentally, Mark also is an expert rock climber. A resident of Plattsburgh, he often can be found on routes at Poke-o-Moonshine Mountain just off the Northway. Last spring, Mark led a friend and me up Catharsis, one of the classic Poke-o routes. Look for a story on this adventure in a future issue of the Explorer.

One last ski

Mount Marcy in late April. Photo by Phil Brown.

Winter ended early this year, thanks to a dearth of snowfalls in March. As a skier, I was hoping April would make amends. Instead, we had several unseasonably warm days when the temperature rose well into the 70s. Nevertheless, whenever I drove around Lake Placid I could see snow in the High Peaks and felt its allure. On April 25, one of those balmy days, I set out for Mount Marcy from Adirondak Loj, carrying my skis. The trail didn’t have a trace of snow when I started out, but by the time I reached the second bridge over Phelps Brook, some 3.5 miles from the Loj, snow was everywhere. I put on my skis, with nylon climbing skins on the bottoms, and kept them on until I reached the top. The last signpost, about a half-mile from the summit, was still nearly buried in snow. It was a spectacular day, clear and sunny, and yet I had the place to myself–a rare treat on the state’s highest mountain. I ate lunch, devoured the views, and headed down. I’ve had more enjoyable descents–the snow oscillated from sticky to boilerplate–but backcountry skiing isn’t all about the skiing. It’s about getting out there. I have little doubt that some diehards will be skiing in May.

The last signpost on Marcy, still mostly buried in snow.