4,161', 32nd Highest Elevation in the Adirondacks
September 8th, 2003
Looking
south towards Marcy Dam from Phelps.
Click on Photos to Enlarge
| Phelps Mountain is an easy 9 mile round-trip hike through Marcy Dam, along the Van Hoevenberg Trail from Adirondac Loj. My intention was to hike up Phelps and Table Top in the same trip (and what a glorius early Fall day it was!), but, trying to think out of the box, I took a chance on the supposed destination of a unmapped, bushwack trail on Phelp's north side, and not only never found a painless way east through the spruce jungle over to the ridge that seemed to head off invitingly towards Taple Top, but I ended up at the north base of Phelps, at the Klondike Brook Trail leanto. Cutting my losses, I headed back west along the Klondike brook trail, towards my car parked at Adirondac Loj. From Otter Chalet or Deep Woods Cabin, follow Route 86 past Whiteface, turning left onto River Drive, where the West Branch of the Ausable heads off towards the Olympic Ski Jumps. Turn left onto Route 73 towards Keene, and look for an open field on your right, framed by the High Peaks and the road to Adirondack Loj. From the Loj, trails lead out to Algonquin, Wright, Marcy, Haystack, and other High Peaks. |
