Phelps Mountain
Phelps Mountain rises to 1,268 m in New York. Mount Marcy stands 1,629 m to the south, 3.0 miles off. The nearest named place is T R Mountain, a peak 1.1 miles away. High Peaks Scenic Byway (NYS Route 73) passes 4.4 miles off.
The story
Phelps Mountain is a mountain in the Adirondacks in the U.S. state of New York. It is the 32nd-highest of the Adirondack High Peaks, with an elevation of 4,161 feet (1,268 m). The mountain is located in the town of North Elba in Essex County. It is named after Orson Schofield Phelps, also known as Old Mountain Phelps, a 19th-century trail guide in the Adirondacks who cut several trails to the peaks and gave some of the peaks their current names. Surveyor Verplanck Colvin was the first to name a mountain after Phelps in 1870, but the name was originally assigned to a spur of Mount Marcy, and was reassigned to the current Phelps Mountain by 1886. The first recorded ascent of Phelps Mountain was made in June 1904 by Charles Wood, an employee of the J. & J. Rogers Company, which owned the mountain and used it for logging. The summit of Phelps can be accessed on a blazed trail. The shortest path to the summit begins on the Van Hoevenberg Trail at the Adirondak Loj, and continues past Marcy Dam. At 3.2 miles (5.1 km), the red-blazed trail to Phelps diverges to the left, and continues 1.2 miles (1.9 km) to the summit, for a total distance of 4.4 miles (7.1 km) and an ascent of 1,982 feet (604 m). The view from the summit is dominated by Mount Marcy. Phelps is the closest mountain to Marcy Dam and is considered a good alternative hike for hikers who cannot access Mount Marcy.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wikidata Q7181274, referenced by the OpenStreetMap record.
What the record says
- Elevation
- 1268 m
How to reach it
- 4.4 mi off the High Peaks Scenic Byway (NYS Route 73)
- 8.8 mi off the Olympic Trail
- 16.1 mi off the Roosevelt-Marcy Trail
- 21.1 mi off the Adirondack Trail
Overlooks nearby
Named places within 25 miles
- T R Mountain: 1.1 mi
- Table Top Mountain - Middle Peak: 1.2 mi
- Table Top Mountain: 1.2 mi
- Howard Mountain: 1.5 mi
- Whales Tail Mountain: 1.9 mi
- The Courthouse: 4.1 mi
- Lost Lookout: 5.3 mi
- Fish Hawk Cliffs: 5.8 mi
- Wallface: 5.8 mi
- Weeping Winds: 6.2 mi
- Indian Head Trailhead: 7.6 mi
- Mid's Park: 9.7 mi
- Kiwanis Teddy Bear Park: 9.8 mi
- Brewster Park: 9.8 mi
- East Branch Community Trails: 12.3 mi
- Indian Falls: 1.2 mi
- Indian Falls: 1.2 mi
- Bushnell Falls: 2.1 mi
- MacIntyre Falls: 2.9 mi
- Rocky Falls: 4.0 mi
- Strategic Air Command Memorial: 2.9 mi
- Mount Marcy First Ascent: 3.0 mi
- David Henderson Memorial: 4.9 mi
- Lower Ausable Lake Dam: 5.5 mi
- Canyon Bridge Memorial: 6.1 mi
- Cliffside Coaster: 4.3 mi
- Mountain Pass Lodge: 4.3 mi
- Lake Placid Bobsled Experience at Mt. Van Hoevenberg: 4.3 mi
- Airplane Wreckage: 4.3 mi
- John Brown Farm State Historic Site: 7.1 mi
- Johns Brook Primitive Area: 4.5 mi
- Heaven Hill Trails: 7.0 mi
- Henry's Woods: 8.0 mi
- Tahawas Primitive Area: 8.2 mi
- Bartlett Primitive Area: 11.8 mi
- Lake Placid Hall of Fame: 9.3 mi
- Lake Placid Olympic Museum: 9.3 mi
- Historic Saranac Lake / Laboratory Museum: 15.6 mi
- Robert Louis Stevenson Cottage: 15.6 mi
- Adirondack History Museum: 16.9 mi
- Lake Placid Public Beach: 9.3 mi
- Park beach: 23.7 mi
- Westport Beach: 24.3 mi
- Port Henry Village Beach: 24.3 mi
- Bulwagga Bay Beach: 24.6 mi
- Footbridge Park: 16.5 mi
- Witherbee Park and Bandstand: 24.3 mi
- Powerhouse Park: 24.4 mi
- Bulwagga Bay Pavillion: 24.5 mi
- Common Ground Garden: 16.9 mi
- Schroon Community Garden: 23.6 mi
- Tahawus: 9.8 mi
- Big Wooden Bear (8'): 14.4 mi
- High Peaks Welcome Center: 14.6 mi
Other summits around it
The highest named summits within 6.0 miles of Phelps Mountain. Elevation from each summit’s own record; bearing measured between the two coordinates.
| Summit | Bearing | Elevation | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Marcy | S 182° | 1,629 m | 3.0 mi |
| Algonquin Peak | WSW 254° | 1,555 m | 3.4 mi |
| Schofield Cobble | S 185° | 1,515 m | 3.2 mi |
| Mount Haystack | SSE 164° | 1,498 m | 3.7 mi |
| Mount Skylight | S 187° | 1,495 m | 4.0 mi |
| Iroquois Peak | WSW 250° | 1,472 m | 4.0 mi |
| Boundary Peak | WSW 252° | 1,471 m | 3.8 mi |
| Basin Mountain | SE 145° | 1,468 m | 3.0 mi |
When to go
Light through the year
| Date | Sunrise | Golden hour | Sunset |
|---|---|---|---|
| March equinox | 07:00 | 18:30 | 19:08 |
| June solstice | 05:13 | 19:59 | 20:43 |
| September equinox | 06:43 | 18:17 | 18:55 |
| December solstice | 07:29 | 15:33 | 16:21 |
Local time (America/New_York).
Climate normals
Months averaging 50–80 °F: May–Sep.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg °F | 15 | 18 | 26 | 39 | 51 | 60 | 64 | 63 | 56 | 44 | 32 | 21 |
| Precip in | 3.1 | 2.3 | 2.9 | 3.4 | 3.9 | 4.8 | 4.4 | 4.0 | 3.9 | 4.2 | 3.4 | 3.5 |
1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals, NOAA NCEI — Lake Placid 2 S, 11 mi away.
Where this comes from
Location and category confirmed against OpenStreetMap.
OpenStreetMapWikidata- USGS Geographic Names Information System feature 960289 — Phelps Mountain, Essex County, New York.
OpenStreetMap element node/357576773
Day trips start here
- Elizabethtown · 16 mi
- Westport · 24 mi
- Crown Point · 28 mi
Take the scenic way to Phelps Mountain.
Byway plans around your taste, verified places, real weather and opening hours — then opens every leg in Google Maps with one tap.