Tabletop Mountain – Saturday, September 19, 2009
4,420 ft. | Ranked 19/46 in height | 9th peak climbed | 37 to go
Route: Van Hoevenberg trail from ADK Loj to Marcy Dam; continued along Phelps Brook trail toward Marcy to the spur herd path to Tabletop’s summit. Descent was via herd path to end of spur, back to the Marcy trail for a short ascent (~0.2 mi.) to Indian Falls. From there, we took the crossover trail toward Lake Arnold. Short of Lake Arnold, we turned toward the Avalanche Lake lean to’s, and continued from there back to Marcy Dam, and back to the Loj via Van Hoevenberg. Roughly 11 miles round trip.
Fall foliage report: Noticeably more color this week than last (at Rocky Peak Ridge), particularly along roads and lakes. Still a long way from peak, though.
Heart Lake
The day started cloudy and cool. We had the advantage of staying in the Loj’s campground cabin for the weekend, so we were able to hit the trail by 9am. Van Hoevenberg to Marcy Dam was dry and quick – we were surprised not to see more people on a Saturday morning with a nearly clear forecast.
Mt. Colden from Marcy Dam
Acer rubrum was out ahead of the curve in color
Hiking in to the spur trail was uneventful and quick. We passed the Phelps spur trail faster than I’d remembered it coming up, and then the Tabletop herd-spur. We passed a lot of people looking at the clearing skies, and commenting that they hadn’t planned to do Marcy, but were changing their plans since it was so clear. It underscored how lucky we’ve been with clear summits on the whole so far.
The spur trail was remarkably steep, wet, muddy, and narrow, with more dead fall than I’d expected for so late in the season. Very slow going. It was also very quiet. We saw exactly two other hikers the entire time up and down the spur trail. As we got over the tree line, stopping to look behind was worth it for the views. As we got very near the top, we found these odd looking little ice-fingers on the lichens alongside the trail.
Ice among the lichens. Much of the trail, especially near the top, was as wet as pictured at left.
I’d be lying if I said I was entirely able to resist the temptation to grab (and fling) a handful of ice bits…
Tabletop’s summit was more rewarding than our other trailless peak, Esther’s. The view of Mt. Marcy just past the summit marker was pretty good – and once again, we were lucky with clear weather up on the summit. It was a 9th peak for us; 1st and 2nd for our fellow hikers.
Mt. Marcy from Tabletop Mtn.
After a snack on the summit, we headed back down the herd path, and over to Indian Falls. Those views were great:
From there, it was largely just a nice, downhill walk through the Adirondack Park, toward Lake Arnold, then toward the Avalanche lean-to’s, and back to the dam.
We toyed with going to Avalance Pass just to see it, but decided against it. There will be plenty more hikes for that. We’d had a good day and didn’t want to jinx the fact that it looked like we’d be out very comfortably ahead of dusk. We signed out of the trail register back at the Loj just after 6pm (no lights needed this week!).
We stayed at the cabin again Saturday night, to finish out a nice weekend in the park with the family. Sunday we headed out – the annual adventure was a success!
