TABLETOP MTN ADK 46er (The "Beardcicle" Hike)

I picked up my friend Mike (SavageStorm) in Saratoga and we headed up to South Meadows Rd for a hike to Tabletop Mtn in the Adirondack High Peaks. We enjoyed some roadside views of the High Peaks in the early morning from Rt 73 near Keene...

 There was a few inches of fresh snow on Adirondack Loj Rd when we drove in to the end of South Meadows Rd. The road is closed for mud season so we brought bikes to get to the trailhead about 1 mile down. It was a chilly bike ride for sure...

We signed in and headed for Marcy Dam following fresh coyote prints along the truck road into Marcy Dam...

At Marcy Dam we saw some footprints coming from the Loj, but there was nobody following the VanHovenberg Trail today, one of the busiest trails in the Adirondacks, we had it all to ourselves, didn't see another person all day, not even footprints! We crossed the stream and headed up the trail past the Tabletop Herdpath junction to Indian Falls. We enjoyed the great views of the Macintyre Range and had lunch here...

It was here that Mike noticed my prize-winning "Beardcicle" and we had to photograph it...

We went back down to the Tabletop Herdpath and took the easy to follow trail towards the peak. As we got higher the icy "snow-spine" (an icy ridge created by hikers compacting snow all winter) was narrow and difficult to balance on in spots, Mike did a split at one point!...

We made it to the summit and warmed ourselves at the viewpoint. There were nice views to the south of Mt. Marcy and other peaks...

As we headed back down from the summit we had a few more views to enjoy...

Mike and I had a couple slips on the steep/icy terrain on the way down, but came out ok. We took the ski trail down and it saved some time. The sun had melted away quite a bit of the snow as we headed down to Marcy Dam along Phelps Brook...

We stopped just past Marcy Dam at the DEC Interior Outpost because I had hiked past it before but never saw it before, nobody home though...

We hiked back to our bikes and were back to the car pretty quickly. A nice day for a hike in the High Peaks!