Phelps is one of the more accessible High Peaks from the LOJ and offers pretty great views for it’s length and difficulty. Your turn-off comes a ways past Marcy Dam and is pretty hard to miss. The climb up to Marcy Dam is relatively easy but the cut off to Phelps is more difficult with higher elevation gain and plenty of scrambles.

As far as I can tell, this one spends a lot of time in low hanging clouds in the Spring and Summer. We’ve done it a few times and the only instance we got clear views was on an early snow covered Spring day. Double check to make sure it’s not going to be rainy or overcast, since you likely won’t see anything in those conditions. Solid Winter climb if you’re looking for some more do-able ones to start off.

• Parking at the LOJ is always a stiff competition, be early and get a good spot. 
• The peak here actually curves around a bit so there’s more to see than it may initially seem.
• That last mile can be tough but it’s worth the effort.