ebbinghaus
Member
I had posted a query last week on the Q&A forum asking about the bushwhack from Tabletop #1 over TT#2, TT#3, and TT#4 to Phelps. Apparently no one had done that recently and most thought you would be nuts to try. Not nuts, just prepared and determined.
Here is my trip report from Saturday's hike: October 9, 2004.
Note that I list the "minutes per mile" from one point to another. Those of you who note that it took me 5-hrs to go from TT#1 to Phelps may think I am a bit slow. To calibrate yourselves you should check my time from the Loj parking lot to Marcy Dam and compare it with yours. Also note that my min/mile time coming back from Marcy Dam was bang-on with my time for going to Marcy Dam. This is a tough bushwhack. Do NOT try it unless you really, really enjoyed doing Cliff and MacNaughton, know how to use a compass, have a 7.5" map, GPS, and very good weather.
***************************
04:00 AM Left home in Latham, NY
06:20 Loj Trailhead parked car
06:35 began walking
Warm day (60+) and fairly dry. Sun was rising in the east when I left the parking lot. The sky was streaked with orange clouds. Beautiful. Had to use my headlamp once I got into the trees. Though by the time I was at the junction of the trail to Wright I had turned it off and packed it in my bag.
07:15 Marcy Dam 2.2 miles (18 min/mile)
07:25 at Marcy Dam "sign-in"
07:47 Passed turnoff to Phelps (22 min/mile)
08:15 At trail to TT#1 -- At the intersection of Ski trail; where Van H heads right and UP (31 min/mile)
Trail to Tabletop summit (TT#1) was dry and in good shape. Not much of a "trailless" peak
08:55--Summit of TT#1 Summited after 2-hr 20-min walk in from the parking lot -- seems like pretty good time (47 min/mile from VanH trail to summit)
Was windy at the top. I put on my "armor". Gaiters up to my knees. Knee pads for some sport that I have never played, but were really heavy-duty. A pull-over jacket that was about 20-yrs old (so okay to get torn up). New gloves with leather palms. Clear, wrap-around sunglasses for eye protection. Hat. Collasped my hiking poles and secured them to my daypack as I knew from experience that they would only encumber me once I got into the thick stuff!
09:10 -- I took off from TT#1 by heading down hill from the "Tabletop" summit sign via a well trod, but very short, trail. Trail petered out after about 50-ft. There I took my bearings and headed 74-deg MN -- actually was able to find a faint trail and follow that for a little while.
Climbed down and/or around several cliffs. Nothing of real challenge. At this point the bushwhack was less difficult than Cliff and certainly less difficult than MacNaughton
Going up to TT#2 was more challenging. At one point I found a snapped off "basket" and point to a walking stick. I looked around for more signs, half expecting to find the bones of a hiker. Fortunately I found nothing. Actually this was the last sign of people, trail, or artifact, that I would see until I summitted the shoulder of Phelps hours later.
10:30 Blowdown at or near summit of TT#2. Took GPS reading from there -- Garmin said that the summit was 56 ft north from where I was standing. That estimate was based on the waypoint I had put into Garmin for TT#2 based on my National Geographic TOPO! software -- N 44° 08.613; W073° 54.443.
I wandered around and found a high rock. Climbed on that and declared it to be the top of TT#2. (180 min/mile)
Began following my new compass bearing of 24° MN to TT#3
11:00 -- Top of TT#2 was thicker and harder to plough through than anything up to now. Around 11am I took a break. By then I was most of the way down TT#2 on the down side of a small wall. I could see TT#3 from there and it was bang-on my 24° MN reading.
11:50 -- Pretty close to the top of TT#3. My "armor" had been working fine except for the chink between the arms of my jacket and the beginning of my gloves. That 2 inch part of my body was being whipped by branches and fur tree and at this point was very red and very sore. I took off the leather gloves and put on my OR Gortex overmitts with the long gauntlets. This was a great relief!!
The going at this point was very tough. Most of the problem was due to medium height sprue with thousands of dead branches interlocked at person level. Going a few feet in any direction was difficult and required a combination of skill at finding the least dense "next 3-ft" and shear muscle to plough on thru. I was getting constantly turned around and had to continually look at my compass. Took to trying to locate tall trees along my bearing that were about 50-ft away and trying to hike towards them. Hard to do.
12:02 -- TT#3 (204 min/mile from TT#2) I thought I had passed the high point of TT#3. Though was not sure. Set my compass on the new bearing of 330 MN for TT#4
Bearing from TT#3 to TT#4 is 330° MN
12:30 -- Going downhill was very hard to do. Took a break at 12:30 and realized that there was a shoulder to TT#3 to the north of me. Taking out my topo map I realized that TT#3 had a broad flat summit that went north quite a ways. My bearing of 330 MN assumed that I started at the extreme northern part of the TT3 plateau. Guess I was getting tried. Took a new bearing of due MN and headed on that.
After much work I found myself again on the top of TT#3, but this time further north and west.
13:05 Col between TT#3 and TT#4
13:12 Passed through a blowdown near the top. Checked my GPS (6 satellites). Said I was 311 ft from top. N 44° 09.246 W073° 54.664; GPS also confirmed that my bearing of 330 MN was still correct.
13:20 TT#4 From blowdown to top was easy! Blowdown was ancient and not too bad to climb/crawl through. (120 min/mile)
13:30 -- I had declared victory over TT#4 too soon. Bullied my way through the spruce to the edge of the top. Could see bare rocks along TT#4 and could see that the TT#4 plateau stretched out farther than I had thought. I never did find those bare rocks though I did see them against once I summitted the shoulder of Phelps.
13:45 Took another GPM reading; N 44° 09.380 4142 W073° 54.851. Declared myself half-way between TT#4 and Phelps. At elevation 4142.
14:25 --- Shoulder of Phelps (183 min/mile from TT#4) Tough to get to, but I finally did it. On the ledge on the shoulder of Phelps with a good view of Phelps (were lots of people on top!). Could also see the ledge on TT#4 -- I never did find that. GPS told me that I was 495 ft from Phelps. As the crow flies I suppose.
Climbed down ledge-- easy to do. Found my first herd path since leaving TT#1. Followed this to ledge on Phelps. Easy!!
14:50 Phelps!! (66 min/mile from shoulder)
15:05 left Phelps
15:50 Intersection with Van (47 min/mile)
16:10 Marcy Dam (22 min/mile)
16:50 Back to parking lot (18 min/mile)
Here is my trip report from Saturday's hike: October 9, 2004.
Note that I list the "minutes per mile" from one point to another. Those of you who note that it took me 5-hrs to go from TT#1 to Phelps may think I am a bit slow. To calibrate yourselves you should check my time from the Loj parking lot to Marcy Dam and compare it with yours. Also note that my min/mile time coming back from Marcy Dam was bang-on with my time for going to Marcy Dam. This is a tough bushwhack. Do NOT try it unless you really, really enjoyed doing Cliff and MacNaughton, know how to use a compass, have a 7.5" map, GPS, and very good weather.
***************************
04:00 AM Left home in Latham, NY
06:20 Loj Trailhead parked car
06:35 began walking
Warm day (60+) and fairly dry. Sun was rising in the east when I left the parking lot. The sky was streaked with orange clouds. Beautiful. Had to use my headlamp once I got into the trees. Though by the time I was at the junction of the trail to Wright I had turned it off and packed it in my bag.
07:15 Marcy Dam 2.2 miles (18 min/mile)
07:25 at Marcy Dam "sign-in"
07:47 Passed turnoff to Phelps (22 min/mile)
08:15 At trail to TT#1 -- At the intersection of Ski trail; where Van H heads right and UP (31 min/mile)
Trail to Tabletop summit (TT#1) was dry and in good shape. Not much of a "trailless" peak
08:55--Summit of TT#1 Summited after 2-hr 20-min walk in from the parking lot -- seems like pretty good time (47 min/mile from VanH trail to summit)
Was windy at the top. I put on my "armor". Gaiters up to my knees. Knee pads for some sport that I have never played, but were really heavy-duty. A pull-over jacket that was about 20-yrs old (so okay to get torn up). New gloves with leather palms. Clear, wrap-around sunglasses for eye protection. Hat. Collasped my hiking poles and secured them to my daypack as I knew from experience that they would only encumber me once I got into the thick stuff!
09:10 -- I took off from TT#1 by heading down hill from the "Tabletop" summit sign via a well trod, but very short, trail. Trail petered out after about 50-ft. There I took my bearings and headed 74-deg MN -- actually was able to find a faint trail and follow that for a little while.
Climbed down and/or around several cliffs. Nothing of real challenge. At this point the bushwhack was less difficult than Cliff and certainly less difficult than MacNaughton
Going up to TT#2 was more challenging. At one point I found a snapped off "basket" and point to a walking stick. I looked around for more signs, half expecting to find the bones of a hiker. Fortunately I found nothing. Actually this was the last sign of people, trail, or artifact, that I would see until I summitted the shoulder of Phelps hours later.
10:30 Blowdown at or near summit of TT#2. Took GPS reading from there -- Garmin said that the summit was 56 ft north from where I was standing. That estimate was based on the waypoint I had put into Garmin for TT#2 based on my National Geographic TOPO! software -- N 44° 08.613; W073° 54.443.
I wandered around and found a high rock. Climbed on that and declared it to be the top of TT#2. (180 min/mile)
Began following my new compass bearing of 24° MN to TT#3
11:00 -- Top of TT#2 was thicker and harder to plough through than anything up to now. Around 11am I took a break. By then I was most of the way down TT#2 on the down side of a small wall. I could see TT#3 from there and it was bang-on my 24° MN reading.
11:50 -- Pretty close to the top of TT#3. My "armor" had been working fine except for the chink between the arms of my jacket and the beginning of my gloves. That 2 inch part of my body was being whipped by branches and fur tree and at this point was very red and very sore. I took off the leather gloves and put on my OR Gortex overmitts with the long gauntlets. This was a great relief!!
The going at this point was very tough. Most of the problem was due to medium height sprue with thousands of dead branches interlocked at person level. Going a few feet in any direction was difficult and required a combination of skill at finding the least dense "next 3-ft" and shear muscle to plough on thru. I was getting constantly turned around and had to continually look at my compass. Took to trying to locate tall trees along my bearing that were about 50-ft away and trying to hike towards them. Hard to do.
12:02 -- TT#3 (204 min/mile from TT#2) I thought I had passed the high point of TT#3. Though was not sure. Set my compass on the new bearing of 330 MN for TT#4
Bearing from TT#3 to TT#4 is 330° MN
12:30 -- Going downhill was very hard to do. Took a break at 12:30 and realized that there was a shoulder to TT#3 to the north of me. Taking out my topo map I realized that TT#3 had a broad flat summit that went north quite a ways. My bearing of 330 MN assumed that I started at the extreme northern part of the TT3 plateau. Guess I was getting tried. Took a new bearing of due MN and headed on that.
After much work I found myself again on the top of TT#3, but this time further north and west.
13:05 Col between TT#3 and TT#4
13:12 Passed through a blowdown near the top. Checked my GPS (6 satellites). Said I was 311 ft from top. N 44° 09.246 W073° 54.664; GPS also confirmed that my bearing of 330 MN was still correct.
13:20 TT#4 From blowdown to top was easy! Blowdown was ancient and not too bad to climb/crawl through. (120 min/mile)
13:30 -- I had declared victory over TT#4 too soon. Bullied my way through the spruce to the edge of the top. Could see bare rocks along TT#4 and could see that the TT#4 plateau stretched out farther than I had thought. I never did find those bare rocks though I did see them against once I summitted the shoulder of Phelps.
13:45 Took another GPM reading; N 44° 09.380 4142 W073° 54.851. Declared myself half-way between TT#4 and Phelps. At elevation 4142.
14:25 --- Shoulder of Phelps (183 min/mile from TT#4) Tough to get to, but I finally did it. On the ledge on the shoulder of Phelps with a good view of Phelps (were lots of people on top!). Could also see the ledge on TT#4 -- I never did find that. GPS told me that I was 495 ft from Phelps. As the crow flies I suppose.
Climbed down ledge-- easy to do. Found my first herd path since leaving TT#1. Followed this to ledge on Phelps. Easy!!
14:50 Phelps!! (66 min/mile from shoulder)
15:05 left Phelps
15:50 Intersection with Van (47 min/mile)
16:10 Marcy Dam (22 min/mile)
16:50 Back to parking lot (18 min/mile)
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