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Just wondering if there's any good trails over a few Mountains. My friends and I do a winter backpacking trip every year, and were going North Again! I know there's a trail that goes from Gothics to Marcy I think. I forget what its called. If anyone has information or good ideas of a traverse to do, please let me know! I'm just thinking like a 3 day walk too...

One of my favorites in winter was a loop from Heart Lake over the MacIntyre Range down to Lake Colden. Camp at Colden for the night, then return via Avalanche Lake and Marcy Dam.

Depends though on your definition of a backpack. I wouldn't go anywhere above treeline in the 'Dacks in winter without at least instep crampons. You could likely encounter a lot of ice.

Florida Frank wrote:One of my favorites in winter was a loop from Heart Lake over the MacIntyre Range down to Lake Colden. Camp at Colden for the night, then return via Avalanche Lake and Marcy Dam.

Depends though on your definition of a backpack. I wouldn't go anywhere above treeline in the 'Dacks in winter without at least instep crampons. You could likely encounter a lot of ice.

Thanks for the information, I'll look into that. And I own some crampons and denali evo ascent snowshoes, so I really enjoy Ice!

Yeah there are so many trips that would be really fun. The quickest way to get from Gothics to Marcy is via Saddleback and Basin. There are some sections going down Saddleback that I imagine would be a bit tricky for me with a full winter pack, but then again if your are comfortable and prepared for ice it probably wouldn't be a big deal. I second the Macintrye Range traverse. I have never done it in winter but I really want to try it this winter. There are even more possibilities including the Dix Range, or Gothics, Armstrong and the Wolfjaws, or you could camp out near Lake Colden and bag the peaks you want. I don't have a winter sleeping bag and I have never overnighted in winter, but would like to try soon. Let us know how it goes and what gear you needed/didn't need!

It aint easy, but last winter I left the loj, went up Algonquin, then descended the back side. Note, a lot of books tell you not to do this because it is so steep. But we had a blast. Nobody else had been on the back side for atleast a few weeks, so we broke trail. In late January there was about 2 feet of fresh powder. Then we spent the night in a leanto down on Colden lake. Next morning, we hiked back to the loj via a frozen avalanche lake. Not any easy trip, but we had a blast.

Well, looks like we decided to do a Catskills trip this winter instead of the ADK. Its about 4 hours closer, and will suit out schedules better. We plan on doing the "Devils Path" witch takes us over 5 peaks. Should be fun!

If anyone has done this before, I would like to hear how it went, and maybe some tips for doing it in the winter.

Thanks again for all who responded earlier. I plan to do the one loop trail suggested above when I get off on my spring break in April.