Mt Colden from Algonquin Peak

This spectacular and varied hike includes Indian Falls, Tabletop Mtn, and Mt Colden. It takes a day and starts and ends at the Heart Lake trailhead. Most hikers wanting to do Mt. Colden would not be including Indian Falls in their hike; it's not on a direct route from the trailhead to Colden, but as Colden alone would be a short day, we decided to hike first to Indian Falls which has terrific/stunning!!! views of Colden and the basin formed by Marcy, Colden, and the Tabletop ridge as its periphery.

All trails are in excellent condition. From Heart Lake follow the BLUE Van Hoevenberg Trail (ADK# 61, McM #133) to Marcy Dam. Continue on the Van Hoevenberg from Marcy Dam as far as Indian Falls (ADK #61, McM #147) and the start of the Tabletop Trail. Depending on your start time from Heart Lake, the falls is a very good place for lunch.

Depart Indian Falls for Mt. Colden by continuing on the Van Hoevenberg uphill a few yards from the falls to the yellow Crossover Trail (ADK #63, McM #148), which you follow to the BLUE Avalanche Camp Trail (ADK #73, McM #145). When you get to that junction, bare left (uphill) and you soon arrive at Lake Arnold and the start of the Mt. Colden ascent. Climb Colden from Lake Arnold on the yellow (ADK #74, McM #144) then retrace your steps to Lake Arnold and descend to Marcy Dam via the aforementioned Avalanche Camp Trail. Allow 10 hours to hike the full route from Heart Lake to Indian Falls (without the Tabletop side trip), to Mt Colden, and back to Adirondack Loj. This hike was last taken by me in the summer of 2001.

If you do not plan to visit Indian Falls, (perhaps because you have no thirst for beauty and are, instead, a stinkin' peak bagger) and you would prefer a direct route to Mt Colden from Heart Lake, you should head S once you cross Marcy Dam taking yellow (ADK #68, McM #140) which is marked. You will pass by Avalanche Camp and pick up the Avalanche Camp Trail (ADK # 73, McM #144) heading SE to Lake Arnold and the start of the Mt. Colden Trail.

Outstanding/Exceptional views. Open views around the horizon from Mt. Colden. Features outstanding views of the MacIntyre Range and Marcy. See the photos below. Also, Indian Falls offers fine views of Mt. Colden.

The most common and, certainly, the easiest trailhead for accessing Mt Colden is Heart Lake, also called Adirondack Loj. Go to the Heart Lake trailhead.

Water:

Water supplies are not a problem from Marcy Dam to Lake Arnold whether you travel via Indian Falls or via Avalanche Camp. Once you start the ascent of Mt Colden, however, you will encounter no further water until you return to Lake Arnold. As it is a long hike and a long day, we recommend a capacious hydration unit or a water filter/pump.

These free Maptech topographical maps are the most recent metric maps, as recent or more recent than those you can buy in a store. Print them and use them on your hike. We suggest that if you do use these, that you seal them in a plastic food bag for protection against moisture which will cause the ink to run and the paper to very quickly become one large spitball. Be sure to set your printer to "landscape" when printing maps.

Heart Lake to Indian Falls via the Van Hoevenberg Trail blue (ADK #61, McM #147)


1	A poor picture of the sign-in register in the parking lot at Heart Lake. For more info go to Heart Lake. The hike starts here following the extraordinarily well-groomed trail from here to Marcy Dam. This trail should not be interpreted as typical of the Adirondacks.	2	Marcy Dam is a major intersection en route from Heart Lake to the High Peaks. From Marcy Dam several trails depart toward a large number of summits and several more lakes.
3	Marcy Dam tends attracts a lot of black bears. In our opinion, this is not a good place to stop for the night, beautiful though it may be.	4	This is the dam itself. Note the garbage on the spillway. DEC constructed a wire cable that runs from one side of the dam to the other so that campers at the many lean-to's in this area can string up their bear bags. Unfortunately, the mama bears have taught their cubs to make their way out the cable to the bags and rip the bottoms out or otherwise empty them for mama below. Word to the wise: if you're going to camp here or at Lake Colden or Flowed Lands Bring a bear canister ! ( or risk a substantial probability of no hot meals while there!) made of ABS and available at outdoor stores or catalogs.. ADK has the lowest price if you're a member. They're more convenient and they are the ONLY bear-proof solution.
5	When you cross the dam at Marcy Dam you will see this sign. This is the continuation of the Van Hoevenberg Trail that you've just been on. It will take you to Indian Falls and the Crossover Trail. Follow the arrow to Marcy and Phelps. The Van Hoevenberg is the most popular route to Marcy and is the route taken by the tourists wearing tennis sneakers and cotton clothing. (Dare I say that wearing cotton is not quite the invitation to death that hikers have made it out to be? Pete Fish really started something.)	6	After the above sign, you will very quickly come to a fork in the trail and this sign. Now, Indian Falls appears. Take that direction and you will be continuing on the Van Hoevenberg Trail that got you here from Adirondack Loj.
7	The Van Hoevenberg Trail is a major artery and probably the most used route to Marcy. Most of the tourists do Marcy since it's the highest in NY and it's the only one they've heard of. You're apt to see people dressed totally inappropriately for an Adirondack hike. If you are a beginner, please read this first. The woods are dangerous.	8	DEC works extra hard on this trail to keep it usable. Overall, this is a good trail, particularly in view of the heavy use it receives. This photo is beyond the Phelps turn-off.

9	Indian Falls is one of the most scenic overlooks in the Adirondacks. The view opens to the NW. Algonquin Pk stands tall in the middle, with Wright Pk to the right. Iroquois Pk is the knobby looking peak to the left. Left of Iroquois and lower is Marshall. No camping is allowed at Indian Falls.	10	A slightly different angle from Indian Falls shows a bit of Mt Colden in the middle ground to the left.

11	Panorama of rocks and moss at Indian Falls.	12	Turning to my right about 120 degrees we see Tabletop, one of the so-called "untrailed" peaks. Like all the others pictured or mentioned here so far, Tabletop is one of the 46. Actually, we climbed Tabletop on this day before climbing Colden, but we've left Tabletop off this page so it can have its own page.
*The yellow Crossover Trail (ADK #63, McM #148) from Indian Falls to the BLUE Avalanche Camp Trail (ADK #73, McM #145)* to Lake Arnold**
13	The Crossover Trail is a gem! Don't miss it! From the rocky place at Indian Falls continue on the Van Hoevenberg Trail toward Marcy just a matter of feet until you see this sign. You'll turn here onto the Crossover Trail for Lake Arnold.	14	Is this beautiful, or what? The Crossover Trail offers a variety of woodland and occasional bog scenery without getting your feet wet. Very nice!

15	More Crossover Trail.	16	Let's try some stringers for a change of pace.

17	A short section of rock. Lots of moss along most of the trail.	18	As the Crossover Trail nears its end at the Avalanche Camp Trail, most of the last bit is on raised stringers.

19	The Avalanche Camp Trail (ACT) will transport us 0.5 miles to Lake Arnold. These signs mark the end of the Crossover Trail where it joins the ACT which goes to the right to Lake Arnold and to the left to Avalanche Camp where it joins into the trail that runs from Marcy Dam to Avalanche Lake. The ACT is really not such a bad trail, but it is very rocky and unimaginative. It appears to be a main channel for spring drainage so there is comparatively little soil on the trail in the section we will hike.	20	This photo of the Avalanche Camp Trail does it too much justice. There's actual dirt on this bit. Another 5 minutes and that will be history. It'll be a rock-hop. We ran into a group that was lost not far above these. They'd become mutinous. No map and no compass. We assured them they were close to some camping sites at Lake Arnold and pointed the way which seemed to relieve most of them. They didn't belong here.
Lake Arnold at the NE Base of Mt. Colden
21	Eureka! We have reached Lake Arnold.	22	Lake Arnold is certainly not the prettiest lake and it isn't a place you'd want to take a swim. Yet, we would have rested on its shores a bit longer if it hadn't been for an obnoxious threesome that we could hear coming 10 minutes before they arrived and who persisted in speaking in shrill voices, no doubt driving away every animal and bug within a half mile. One of them, a Brit, proclaimed himself an expert on every aspect of the Adirondacks. What a pain in the butt!
The Mt. Colden Ascent yellow
23	The trail up Colden starts out gradually at a gentle upward slope that curves around Lake Arnold as it climbs.	24	Path over bare rock such as this is not uncommon. Footing remains very good at all times. Unlike many ascents in the Adirondacks, Colden's is not a jumble of rocks of all sizes to be hopped over. The worst of these, as I recall, is the ascent to Times Square in the Santanoni Range via Panther Brook. Nasty!

25	An over-the-left-shoulder view of Tabletop as we ascend Colden. The hill just in front of Tabletop is where Indian Falls is located.	26	As noted in the "Difficulty" section near the top of this page, the trail up this side of Colden has numerous short climbs that are more interesting than difficult. Coming back down is more difficult.

27	This is the "false summit" of Colden, actually a nubble en route to the top. It offers some very good views toward the MacIntyre Range. Unlike the actual summit, this mini-summit is small enough to offer a 360 degree view without doing more than rotating your body. The actual summit has some conifers that block a full view without taking a walk. In this photo you are looking down into the gorge of Avalanche Lake. The slide is on a lower section of Mt. Colden. The formation with the gray-purple rock beyond the slide is Avalanche Mt. The lake is much lower in the geologic fault between the two. If you want to read up on the formation of the Adirondacks go to Adirondack Geology 101 and find out all about tectonic plates and the Grenville Orogeny and how it all happened way back before King Kong.	28	This is the view NNE. Wright Pk in the MacIntyre Range is at the left edge. Otherwise, the view is toward Lake Placid.

29	A beautiful shot of all the MacIntyres except Marshall. From right to left: Wright, Algonquin, Boundary, and Iroquois. This is from the false peak. You see a new slide on Colden bottom center.	30	Here is the further end of the MacIntyres looking west. Iroquois is the prominent pointy peak right of center. Just below its summit to the left, but affixed to Iroquois' side, you see Shepherd's Tooth. Marshall is the pointy peak left of the center of the photo, although the rounded hill between Marshall and Iroquois is also an outcropping of Marshall. In the far distance at the left is probably the Santanonis.

31	This is an unusual view of the summit of Colden where we're heading. It's taken from the false summit. Most views of Colden are at 90 degrees from this end-on view. Here it looks narrow, but from Algonquin, it appears as more of a loaf of bread. Here is that view. Click on the long, low thumbnail.)	Panorama #1 East View 32	We arrive at the summit of Colden sometime in the middle of the afternoon after having climbed Tabletop in the morning. Colden's true summit is a bit hard to find. There is a boulder there and it's located in a thicket approachable from the west. You'll find a little opening in the conifers that will let you in. Bare in mind that climbing up on this rock only puts you about 6 or 7 feet higher than you already were, but for the sticklers of you, it's perfection. Despite billowy clouds, the peaks themselves are clear and beautiful in all directions. Here you see the view to the east of the Great Range. Haystack is not visible, but right to left, you can see Basin, Saddleback, Gothics, Armstrong, and Upper and Lower Wolf Jaws.

Panorama #2 SE View 33	A great shot of Mt Marcy. The Van Hoevenberg Trail ascends Marcy from the left, passing in front of Little Marcy (the squat pyramidal hill on the skyline just left of Marcy) then up to Marcy's summit. Gray Pk is the flat peak just to the right of Marcy, a bit in front of her. Mt Skylight is at the edge of the photo, behind Gray. Feldspar Brook flows down between Gray and Skylight. The Opalescent River is born in the basin between Marcy and the ridge that is in the foreground.	Panorama #3 S View 34	The west slope of Marcy is on the skyline, then Gray, then Skylight, and then the tiny peak of Redfield pokes up about two thirds of the way across the photo to the right. It has a small cleft in its otherwise flat summit.

Panorama #4 W View 35	The MacIntyre Range from Wright Pk (right) to Shepherd's Tooth (left).	36	Alpine flora at the summit.

37	Avalanche Lake waaay down there.	38	Webmaster on Colden. Life is good!