The Best Way to Hike Mount Colden in the Adirondacks, New York
There are a couple different ways to hike Mount Colden in the Adirondacks. If you are not familiar, the Adirondacks are located in upstate New York, mostly in the towns of Lake Placid, and Keene/Keene Valley. Mount Colden is also apart of the famous Adk 46er Challenge. Mount Colden via Avalanche Pass is the most popular way for people to hike this peak.
However, hiking Colden this way includes a 1,900ft elevation gain in 1.6 miles, which is A LOT, trust me. I have done A LOT of hiking and I’ve completed all the 46ers, Mount Colden might be shorter, but that one section is STEEP. Any elevation gain that is 1,000ft gain per mile, is STEEP, you will be huffing and puffing.
In my opinion, there are three main ways I will be discussing how to hike Mount Colden. They are via Avalanche Pass, Lake Arnold, and Trap Dike. In addition, you will learn, the Mount Colden hike time, Mount Colden camping, Mount Colden difficulty, and much more.
This post is all about Mount Colden.
Mount Colden:
Getting to the Adk Lodge/Mount Colden Parking
To get to the Adk Loj, you will start on Interstate 87 North or South, depending if you live north or south of Exit 30. You will stay on here until Exit 30, then take the exit and take a left (or a right if you’re coming southbound) onto to Route 73. In about 2.3 miles you will come to a funky intersection, that you want to stay left towards Whiteface and Keene Valley. For 13 miles continue straight. You will come to an intersection at the end of Keene, where you want to continue left, towards the High Peaks.
There will be a small sign for it, so be on the lookout for it. Again, you will continue straight for 11 miles, then take a left onto Adirondack Loj Road. You will stay on this road for 2.5 miles. Then come upon the Adirondack Lodge. There will be an attendant window, where you will have to pay $15 for parking. However, you can stay the night here, which is very reasonable priced. There are also plenty of places throughout the hiking area that you can overnight camp/backpack at.
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Mount Colden via Avalanche Pass
Okay, hiking Mount Colden, via Avalanche Pass, is a bit more strenuous of hike than via Lake Arnold. When you arrive at the Adirondack Lodge, you want to hike towards Marcy Dam. You will follow the trail for about a mile, don’t go on any trails that say old ski trail, continue straight. In about a mile you will come to an intersection, you want to follow the signs towards Marcy Dam.
In about 2.4 miles, you will come to the Marcy Dam. Once you’re here, you will start to follow signs for Avalanche Camps and Lake. You will come upon Avalanche Lake in about 2 miles or so. Once here, you can either go right and be on the Avalanche Pass Trail or you can go to your left and be on the Lake Arnold Trail. Either way, you will loop back on the other trail to get back down.
Okay, if you continue to your right, onto Avalanche Pass Trail, you will hike for about 1.8 miles. Then, the last 1.6 miles will begin your TRUE climb. Hiking Colden via Avalanche Pass, like I mentioned above is a TOUGH climb. In the 1.6 miles, you gain 1,900ft of elevation. This is A LOT! Anything from 1,000ft to more per MILE is A LOT, you are HUFFING and PUFFING.
Also, there are a couple rock scrambles at the top of Colden, as it is a rock face summit. Thus, if the rocks freak you out, I recommend hiking Mount Colden via Lake Arnold. However, if you want more of a challenge and love rock faces and rock climbing, then this way or via the Trap Dike might be for you.
Mount Colden Camping
Now, if you want to camp here, you totally can, there are multiple places where you can camp at the Adk lodge. You can actually stay at the lodge in a room right next to the parking area, or you can hike in a bit and camp at the different designated camping areas at the Avalanche Camps (what you hike past on your way to Mount Colden). You can camp at any of the signs that are yellow with a tent on them, or at one of the first come, first serve lean-tos.
Okay, back to hiking, to get back down from Colden, you will, continue pass the Mount Colden summit, and eventually come to Lake Arnold in about .8 of a mile. Then you will follow the signs back down to Avalanche Pass/Lake/Camps. You will be back to the Avalanche Camps in about 1.4 miles. After this, you will follow the signs back to the Marcy Dam, then from there, back to the Adk lodge.
However, if you don’t want to do the loop, you can always re-hike the way up as down. However, if you hike via the loop, it will save you some mileage and pain on your joints. Here is the AllTrails map if you want to follow the offline version while hiking Mount Colden (have to buy pro-version, if you wish to use this feature).
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Mount Colden via Lake Arnold
Okay, to hike Mount Colden via Lake Arnold, you are going to follow almost the same directions as via Avalanche Pass. Again, you will start at the Adk Lodge, then hike to Marcy Dam. After the dam, you will hike towards Avalanche Lake and Camps. From here, you will follow signs towards Lake Arnold or the Lake Arnold Trail. Then in about half a mile, you will come to another split, where you will see signs for Lake Arnold and Mount Colden to your right. You will take this right and take it for about .8 of a mile to the summit of Mount Colden.
The elevation gain here is about 900ft in about .8 of a mile. This is still quite a bit, but it’s HALF the distance of the Avalanche Pass climb. Here are directions explaining how to get to Lake Arnold. Here is a Mount Colden map from AllTrails (zoom in on the map, and ONLY FOLLOW the Lake Arnold Pass Trail NOT Avalanche Pass Trail). Now, to get back down, you will just re-trace your steps.
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Mount Colden via Trap Dike
Okay, now to hike Mount Colden via the Trap Dike, you will encounter a class 4 climb. There are 5 different class systems for climbing. A class 1 climb, is used to describe most hiking trails. Where a 2 will have some simple rock scrambles, a 3 will have many rock scrambles, where a rope will be helpful to carry. Now, a class 4 means, simple ROCK climbing and again, a rope is often used. In addition, a fall on a class 4 WILL BE fatal. To put this into perspective, there have been people who have unfortunately, died on the Trap Dike. So again, this is NOT something to think LIGHTLY of PLEASE KNOW YOUR LIMITS.
If you are not an avid hiker or have never rock climbed before, or don’t feel comfortable on rocks, DON’T hike Colden this way. Mount Colden via the Trap Dike is one class system away from being considered an “actual” rock climb. Class 5, is where rock climbing begins on a mountain. So, PLEASE KNOW your experience and ONLY attempt this if you have the PROPER experience, equipment, and knowledge.
All the being said, to get to the Trap Dike, you will again, start from the Adk Lodge and hike to the Marcy Dam. From the dam, you will hike towards Avalanche Lake and Camps, then follow the Avalanche Pass Trail. You will walk all the way to the end of Avalanche Lake, cross it, then you will see the Trap Dike (it is hard to miss). It is a straight up wall, however, you will have to climb up MANY rocks and waterfalls before you get to the actual rock wall.
For about half a mile like I said, you will be hiking straight up rocks and waterfalls. This is where many people get stuck, literally on the waterfall. So again, please have prior rock climbing and rock scrambling experience before you attempt this. After the rocks and waterfalls, for about .4-.5 of a mile, you will hike up straight rock. When hiking up this straight rock, there are NO trees to hold onto, literally it’s just a straight up huge rock slab.
That being said, the rock is pretty grippy but you have to time it right. It is best to hike the trap dike after about 3-4 days of no rain. Now, good or bad news depending on how you look at it, to get back down, you will hike pass the Mount Colden summit, towards Lake Arnold. Again, you will loop this hike to Lake Arnold, then back to the Avalanche Lake and Camps. Then to the Marcy Dam, then back down to the parking lot.
In total, Mount Colden is about a 12-13 mile hike with about a 3,000ft elevation gain anyway you go. In addition, it is rated as a difficult hike, which I can attest to. I would allow yourself at least 6-8 hours to hike this trail. Especially, so you can have enough breaks and enjoy yourself at the summit for a little bit. I hope this article was helpful for you and you learned some new information. Thank you so much for reading and get out there!
This post was all about hiking Mount Colden via Avalanche Pass, Lake Arnold, and Trap Dike. In addition, you learned about, the Mount Colden hike time, Mount Colden camping, Mount Colden difficulty, and more.
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