This report is a little delayed due to laziness on my part. This hike actually happened on Friday.
Towards the end of the week when trying to plan a hike Eric told me that he was fighting off a bit of illness and didn't feel 100%. He asked me to plan something moderate so somehow I chose these two peaks. The other factor was snow showers and the likelihood that we would not have much in the way of views.
We drove up on snow covered roads and found only a few cars parked at the trailhead. It looked like most were headed to Algonquin and that the last group to go to Tabletop had done so three days previous.
The trail to Marcy Dam was frozen boot prints mostly with a covering of light snow. The footing was awkward but not terrible. We used just boots and carried snowshoes and crampons. We didn't see anyone for most of the day. It's always nice to be the first one to track through snow even if it is only an inch or two. Soon after leaving the trail for the herd path we put on snowshoes mostly for traction and to keep the path in good condition. The walk to the top was uneventful. There were views only of the inside of a cloud and it was snowing lightly. After some lunch we headed down where we ran into one hiker coming up. Once back on the trail we went down little and then headed into the woods towards TR. The snow was crusty with a little powder on top. Again snowshoes helped with traction. Part way up we found the herd path which seems to be getting more and more defined since last time I was there. There are several cut branches and even some axe blazes. We followed the path to the top. Tabletop was the only thing visible through the falling snow. We stayed on the path down so there are/were two sets of tracks from the marked trail. We kept our snowshoes on until Marcy Dam where we again saw the other hiker from Tabletop. We saw two others on the way out that had been to Marcy and said it was icy and windy. The snow was falling quite steadily at Marcy Dam when we left. Another nice day in the woods.
Towards the end of the week when trying to plan a hike Eric told me that he was fighting off a bit of illness and didn't feel 100%. He asked me to plan something moderate so somehow I chose these two peaks. The other factor was snow showers and the likelihood that we would not have much in the way of views.
We drove up on snow covered roads and found only a few cars parked at the trailhead. It looked like most were headed to Algonquin and that the last group to go to Tabletop had done so three days previous.
The trail to Marcy Dam was frozen boot prints mostly with a covering of light snow. The footing was awkward but not terrible. We used just boots and carried snowshoes and crampons. We didn't see anyone for most of the day. It's always nice to be the first one to track through snow even if it is only an inch or two. Soon after leaving the trail for the herd path we put on snowshoes mostly for traction and to keep the path in good condition. The walk to the top was uneventful. There were views only of the inside of a cloud and it was snowing lightly. After some lunch we headed down where we ran into one hiker coming up. Once back on the trail we went down little and then headed into the woods towards TR. The snow was crusty with a little powder on top. Again snowshoes helped with traction. Part way up we found the herd path which seems to be getting more and more defined since last time I was there. There are several cut branches and even some axe blazes. We followed the path to the top. Tabletop was the only thing visible through the falling snow. We stayed on the path down so there are/were two sets of tracks from the marked trail. We kept our snowshoes on until Marcy Dam where we again saw the other hiker from Tabletop. We saw two others on the way out that had been to Marcy and said it was icy and windy. The snow was falling quite steadily at Marcy Dam when we left. Another nice day in the woods.
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