Rather than re-post everything and likely garble it in the process, here's a link to a photo album and verbose captions that tell the whole story on Picasa:
Mt Marcy 03-27-2011
Thanks to all here who encouraged and informed me:
Re: Mt. Marcy via Van Hoevenberg trail - 03/27/2011
I think about eight hours up and down. A lot more hours up than down though! The hardest part was getting out of bed the next morning (after my five hour drive home).