Adirondack Park : Colden Lake and Avalanche Mountain Loop

15 miles - difficult

This hike is really two separate hikes which we were crazy enough to do in one day. We left at 9:15 and walked the first 2 miles to Marcy Dam with energy. The next two miles were also very easy. We followed a fast river to a bridge. After about a mile of forest walk, we arrived in Avalanche Pass. It looked like a big dump of broken trees. The cliffs on each side (Colden Mountain to the East and Avalanche Mountain to the west were very impressive. We arrived at Avalanche Lake a little before noon and decided to keep going to Colden Lake before having lunch. The hike along Avalanche Lake was difficult, but fun. We had to climb latters and rocks. Before arriving at Colden Lake, the path split in two and we had to decide whether or not we wanted to hike Algonquin Peak and loop back to the camp ground or not. We met another hiker and she told us it was very snowy so we kept on going to Colden Lake. We had lunch at one and with all the energy we decided that we could go the 9 or so more miles to loop around Colden Mountain instead of simply looping around Colden Lake and going back the same way we came. The walk around was not only longer than what we’d done so far, it was much more difficult. The first three miles were uphill, but the worst was still to come. With about six miles left, at 3:30, we arrived in a marshy area that was completely flooded. To make it across, we had to balance on floating logs that were not very well placed. For a few minutes we feared we would have to walk back the other way or wade through the marsh, but Guillaume was able to replace the logs so it was solid enough for us to get across. More surprises were on the way. The trail starting heading up and the higher we got, the snowier the trail got. We ended up having to go for a good 3 miles through snow, ice and rocks. When we finally arrived back where the path joined back our original root, I could not believe I still had more than four miles to walk. We did it, and we got back before dark at 6:45.