Marshall

June 6, 2026

Not sure why every weekend I plan to hike a mountain starts off with a foreboding weather forecast. I almost cancelled, but by Thursday evening the forecasted soggy misery was downgraded to less than 2.5mm of rain and chance of thundershowers. Since staying home looked no better, I declared the trip a go.

After shooing away a curious bear from my camp spot, spent a rainy night in the tent at Keene Farm, but awoke during a fortunate dry spell. Ate a quick breakfast and drove over to the Loj. New parking fees... twenty five US dollars! That is like a week's salary in worthless Canadian bills these days. Did a u-turn and measured out the distance to South Meadows road where I could park for free. 1.4 km. Stopped and contemplated my life and whether an added 2.8 km would kill me. Given my summer has been spent mostly focussed on rock climbing and not walking, I figured the extra 30 minutes might very well do me in on top of a 26 km hike. Drove back and reluctantly stuffed way too many green bills in the overflowing cash slot and parked beside the trailhead register.

As I suited up I had a pleasant chat with the trailhead steward, who checked on my navigation tools, water capacity, possesion of a headlamp, and willingness to turn around. Satisfied with my answers, she wished me a good hike. Made good time to Marcy Dam, and then turned upwards towards Avalanche Pass where I wanted to check out the new slide. Passed a sign warning me that the trail was closed due to "heavy blowdown". Continued anyway as I had it on good authority that the route was passable. Did not encounter any blowdown, but did encounter a big swath of landslide which was impressive. Flagging and a fairly well constructed trail made a route through the mess. A pile of lumber awaits further construction into a more permanent solution. The new slide actually looks like it would be a very nice route to climb... a mission for another day.

New Colden slide clearly visible from Marcy Dam

Discouraging sign

Must have been a big blow!

Looks like a fun new climb though

Just as I arrived at Avalanche Lake it started to rain. Since it was quite warm out, I did not bother with the jacket figuring I was due for a good wash anyway. Picked my way around the lake and ran into quite a few backpackers coming the other way. The rain politely stopped as I arrived at Lake Colden, and since I had never been up this section of the of Cold Brook Pass trail from here, I decided to explore this long-time closed route. The trail was easy to follow, but very grown in. I was damp upon starting, but downright sopping wet after pushing through the bushes for about 3 km to the old airplane wreck. Took a quick snack here and then continued along through the pass until I reached the herd path to Marshall.

Traversing Avalanche Lake in the rain

Met a few of these folk along the way

A visit to the old crash site

The herd path was much nicer than the overgrown former official trail. The wind picked up and I began to dry off. More importantly the trees dried off too, which meant I might have a chance of staying dry during the on-trail bushwack for my descent later. From the false summit Marshall looks a long way away, but I knew this was just an illusion due to the minature tree size at this elevation. Sure enough, in about another fifteen minutes I was at the summit sign. Explored a few spider trails to different lookouts, and settled on an east facing one with a lovely view of Colden, where I sat down for lunch.

Marshall from sub-Marshall

View from my lunch spot

Passed one fellow on my way down towards Cold Brook Pass, and upon reaching the pass turned north-west towards Indian Pass. The descent here seemed to go on forever, but fortunately the bushes were a little more tame on this side than they were coming up. The fact that they were now dry also helped lift my spirits. Found a lovely deep pool with a waterfall and I contemplated a swim, however on testing the water temperature, I found it to be quite close to that of liquid nitrogen. Remembering from science class what happens to bananas and rubber balls submerged in super-chilled liquids, I decided to play it safe and just took a photo and continued on my way.

Nice place for a swim on a warmer day

Reaching Indian Pass trail it started to drizzle a bit. I was hungry again, so decided that I would make for the leanto a couple km to the north for my next break. About half way there, the drizzle turned into a deluge. Struggled into my rain coat and then scampered the last bit and took shelter under the roof. Waited here for a good twenty minutes, snacking and hoping the rain would let up. It did not. Finally decided that it was time to go, so struck out into the pour. The rain stopped about 3 km from the end of the hike. By the time I reached Heart Lake the sun was shining and I was dry again. I was also foot sore and exhausted. Took a final rest on a sunny bench by the lake before crawling the last few hundred meters back to the parking area. Thought about the 1.4 km road walk I could have had ahead of me. Twenty five bucks be damned... money well spent!

Lovely place for a rest along the shore of Heart Lake

Hike time: 9.5 hours

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