1/24/16

Parking: Adk Loj
Group: Mom, Shawn, Emily, Murphy

Shawn was in the midst of prepping for the Bar Exam, but I tried to drag him to the mountains every time he started to get worn out and/or was studying more than 15 hours a day.

This time – it was a trip up Phelps!  With a floating idea of tying on Tabletop…(spoiler alert: it didn’t happen).

We pulled into the Loj around 7:30am and started hiking not long after.  It was a beautiful day and the sun was shining, and we made the trip to Marcy Dam easily and comfortably.

We signed in at the second trail register, and stayed left on the Blue trail.  The hike from there is a comfortable but gradual ascent.

I love winter hiking – I feel like I enjoy the regular old trail part even more than I normally do.  Plus, you warm up pretty quick so you’re not as cold as you think you will be.

It was Mom’s first winter hike, and she was glad to have purchased her new set of crampons!

The trail was completely iced over in some parts

The summit was AMAZING.  There are great views of Tabletop, Indian Falls, Mount Marcy, Algonquin, Lake Placid Valley…need I say more?

Summit time from Loj: 2.5 hours

Summit Snow Angel

 

We stayed on Phelps for over half an hour, and it was so sunny that we were able to eat lunch with our gloves off without getting cold.  After exploring around the summit, we started our descent back to the Loj.

In less than an hour and a half, we were already at the Dam.  Instead of taking the path around and across the bridge we just walked straight across the frozen pond.

It was still VERY sunny

Forty five minutes later, and we arrived back to the car!  Short and sweet winter hike 🙂

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Total trail time: 5 hours 30 minutes

• 2 hours from trail register to trail junction
• 30 minute climb up to the summit
• 1 hour & 20 minutes from summit to Marcy Dam
• 45 minutes from dam to register

Miles: 8
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