Tabletop Mt. (peak 19)

We decided to knock off Phelps Mountain and Tabletop Mountain and I invited my sister Lisa to come along. She, in turn, invited her friend Pam. Phelps is supposed to be one of the easiest hikes of the High Peaks, with nice views-- it's often described as a half-day hike. Tabletop has more obscured views from the peak and would make it a full-day trip, but we included it, to work toward our 46.

We left Glens Falls at 6am, but the trailhead is at the Adirondack Loj, so it was still after 8am when we got started. The first few miles make for a nice, easy hike– very scenic around Marcy Dam. The original bridge near the dam was washed out by Tropical Storm Irene, but a new one has been erected.

The morning was foggy, so when we got to the turnoff for Phelps, we decided to go on and do Tabletop first, since the views there weren't good anyway, and maybe the fog would have burned off by the time we got to Phelps. As we got close to the peak, we passed some people coming down who told us there was ice near the top– I thought they were kidding, but they weren't. Ice had formed in the tree branches and was falling down as it melted.

Our new companions weren't going at quite at the same pace that Ian and I were, and it was already after noon when we were all on Tabletop. When Ian and I got back down to the base, they seemed to be pretty far behind, so we took the very short side trip to the top of Indian Falls. It was well worth the time.

When Lisa and Pam caught up, we had to bring them to the falls too, and of course that took more time. As we started off again, we realized it was already mid-afternoon and, since Ian was starting his first day at a new job the next day, 5-1/2 hours away, we didn't want to be ending the hike at dinnertime, we decided to leave Phelps for another day.