A Complete Guide on How to Hike Phelps Mountain of the Adks
Phelps mountain is located in Lake Placid, New York, specifically, at the Adk Lodge. The Adk lodge is about 2 and a half hours north of Albany and about 4-6 hours north of NYC. You can stay at the Adk lodge or camp there.
The Adirondack lodge is a BEAUTIFUL place for hiking. It has SO MANY different High Peaks you can tackle on while here, such as, Phelps and Tabletop mountain. If you are completing your 46ers, then I HIGHLY recommend pairing Phelps and Tabletop together (most people do this). They are both 46ers, and you will need to complete both of them anyways if you want to be a 46er. Now, if you don’t know what I’m talking about when I say 46er or you’re not interested, ONLY hike Phelps.
When I hiked these peaks it took about 7 and a half hours to complete and was a total of about 13 miles. While Tabletop was not one of my favorite peaks, Phelps WAS! In my opinion, it’s one of the most UNDERRATED High Peaks.
In this post, you will learn about how to get to Phelps mountain trailhead, hiking Phelps and Tabletop mountain, what to expect, directions, Phelps mountain view, and much more.
This post is all about Phelps mountain.
Phelps Mountain:
How to Get to Phelps Mountain Trailhead
To get to Phelps mountain trailhead, you will get on Interstate 87 North or South (depending on where you’re coming from). You will take exit 30 towards Lake Placid and Keene Valley. Once you take the exit, you will take a left at the stop sign (or right if coming southbound), onto route 73. In about 2.3 miles you will come upon an intersection where you want to stay left towards Lake Placid and Keene Valley. Then, you will continue on route 73 for 13 miles. In 13 miles, you will come across another intersection, where you again, want to stay to your left towards the high peaks, continuing on route 73.
After this, you again will stay on route 73 for 11 miles, then, you will turn left onto Adirondack Loj Road. You will take this road ALL the way down, until you see a window booth for the Adirondack Lodge. It will cost $15 for the day to park here or $7 if you are a member. You can stay here overnight or camp.
If the window attendee is not there, you will open the mailbox type thing, and there will be an envelope, that you will take. You will open the envelope and inside there will be an orange parking tag, you will leave your $15 enclosed in the envelope, then fill out the spaces on the front of the envelope. Once you have enclosed the money, you will drop the envelope into the drop-off box, next to the mailbox. Then, you can fill out the spaces on the orange tag and place the orange tag on your car mirror or dashboard.
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Now, if the window attendee is there, they will just take your cash and hand you an orange tag. Once, you have gotten your tag, you can drive up, and stay to your right, into one of the parking lots that have available spaces. To get a spot on the weekend during peak season (end of May to beginning of October) you will want to get to Phelps mountain parking lot no later than 6:30am. On a weekday, I would say no later than 7:30am. I know EARLY.
But Phelps mountain in New York and the Adk in general get crowded FAST. However, if you are hiking in the winter, there is MUCH less traffic. However, on a weekend I would still get to the lodge no later than 9am. Now, on a weekday, in winter, anytime of day SHOULD be fine, but to be safe, I would get there no later than 9:30am.
However, keep in mind there is MUCH LESS daylight, and I would still allow yourself at least 8 hours (to be safe) to hike both these peaks. This in mind, the sunrise is about 6:30-7am, and sunset is around 4:30-5pm, so if you want at least 8 hours of daylight, I would get to the Adk lodge to hike Phelps and Tabletop latest by 9:30am in the winter.
Hiking Phelps and Tabletop Mountain
Okay, once you have parked and gotten all your things and yourself ready to hike, you will head to your left, towards the first parking lot, where you will see a hiker registration area/book. You can sign-in, then start your hike. You will follow the hiking path, to Marcy Dam, which you will get to in about 2.6 miles. The Marcy Dam is BEAUTIFUL. I suggest stopping for a minute to take some pictures or just take the scenery in, because it’s really pretty.
After, Marcy Dam, you will follow signs to Mount Marcy and the Van Hoevenberg Trail. In about 1.5 miles you will see a cut-off for Phelps, to your left. However, if you are completing your 46ers, KEEP going to Tabletop first (straight), towards Mount Marcy. You will want to hike Tabletop Mountain first, because it’s farther out, then come back down to hike Phelps. However, if you aren’t completing your 46ers, then do take the left to Phelps mountain.
Okay, if you are going to Tabletop, you will continue on the Van Hoevenberg Trail towards Mount Marcy. In about 1.7 miles there will be a rock cairn to your left, which you will want to take. This rock cairn is your indicator that you’ve gotten to the trailhead or herd path for Tabletop mountain. It is right before Indian Falls. Also, a herd path is just a fancy way of saying a trail-less path (no trail markers). However, usually, the trails are so worn in, that you can make out the trail regardless.
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This herd path will be about .7 of a mile long and is called the Tabletop Mountain Trail. You will know you’ve reached the top of Tabletop, when you see the Tabletop Mt. sign. The view on Tabletop is okay. Unlike some other 46er High Peaks, Tabletop does have a view, but the INCREDIBLE view is on Phelps.
To get back to Phelps, you will take the same route back as you did up. You will walk back down to the cairn of rocks and to the Van Hoevenberg Trail. Once on the Van Hoevenberg trail, you will walk back down about 1.7. In about 1.7 miles, you will come across the Phelps Mountain Trail cutoff. It will be on your right this time, and you will take it. This trail (Phelps mountain Trail) you will see has a HIGH elevation gain within one mile.
Phelps Mountain Hike
The summit on Phelps is BEAUTIFUL. I think Phelps and Panther mountains are the MOST underrated High Peaks out of all the 46ers. You don’t hear much about Phelps, even though Phelps’s view is AMAZING. After the summit of Phelps, you will again, go back down the way you came up. After all of this, you will have hiked about 13 miles with an elevation gain of about 3,766ft.
Now, in the summer, if there’s still daylight, a nice way to relax is by swimming at either Heart Lake or Chapel Pond. Heart Lake is a very EASY walk (under a mile) from the Adk lodge parking lot. You will walk towards the window attendant booth and continue pass it until you see signs for Heart Lake, Mount Jo, and Street & Nye (to your left). It is BEAUTIFUL, and is a great place to swim and relax after a long hike.
Now, to get to Chapel pond, you will drive about 50 minutes back on route 73, right before (if coming back, right after, if coming too) Giant Mountain trailhead pull off/parking area on the road. Chapel Pond is a BEAUTIFUL place to swim and just look at in general. A lot of people rock climb here as well. You can also park in the Giant parking area if there are no spots at Chapel Pond.
Phelps Mountain Difficulty
Overall, hiking Phelps and Tabletop mountain is not super difficult, however, it is still rated as a HARD hike and is, BUT COMPARED to OTHER 46ers, it is not as difficult. However, compared to other Adirondack hikes in general, it IS MUCH MORE DIFFICULT.
On average, it does take 7 and a half hours to hike Tabletop and Phelps. However, if you are solely hiking Phelps, I would say it takes about 5 hours to complete. If you would also like to take a look or download the AllTrails map for offline (Pro version) use, you can do so here.
Otherwise, thank you so much for reading, and I hope this article was helpful for you in learning the Phelps mountain hike. The Adirondacks are truly something special that I hope remain as pristine and beautiful as they always have been.
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