Phelps Mt. (23)

On our first hike of the 2015 season, we hit the half-way point of our 46-peak adventure, catching Phelps Mt., which we didn't manage to fit in when we hiked Tabletop last year.

Edging closer to actual camping, we reserved a lean-to in the campsite next to the Adirondack Loj. We managed to get to it about an hour before nightfall on Saturday. Made our first "freezer bag cooking" meals-- rice with chicken & vegetables for dinner and oatmeal for breakfast.

The first part of the hike was familiar from our hike to Tabletop and is a nice, mostly level and well-worn (since it also leads to Mt. Marcy) trail, about 3 miles long.

Ian barely noticeable in front of Marcy Dam.

When you take the spur to go up Phelps, the real climbing begins. It's only one mile, but it's mostly steep climbing.

We hung out at the peak for a while, resting and eating some lunch, along with a few other people. One of them was an older man who seemed to have done a lot of hiking; he could name all the mountains in view and talked about how eroded the trails had become.

We made it back to the car by early afternoon, about a six-hour round trip. Then a nice lunch at the ADK Café and the long drive home.