Mount Marcy via Van Hoevenberg

Mount Marcy is the highest point in New York State at 5,344 feet and the third-highest peak in the eastern US — accessed most often via the 14.8-mile Van Hoevenberg Trail from the Adirondak Loj south of Lake Placid. The trail climbs 3,166 vertical feet through forest, then breaks above treeline into a 200-foot alpine summit zone covered in fragile dwarf vegetation that took the Cairns Initiative trail-hardening project to protect. New York DEC implemented a peak-season parking permit system at the Adirondak Loj trailhead in 2021 — the lot fills by 7am summer weekends and overflow parking moves to a remote shuttle lot at the South Meadows access. The 7-mile one-way distance, the lack of switchbacks, and the relentless 1,000-ft-per-mile final approach earn the very-strenuous rating despite the trail's smooth grading. Wilmington Notch Campground (DEC, 30-ft cap, dry only) is the closest in-park RV staging.