Cold and Early Markus arrives ahead of schedule, at 4:45am. Usually we leave for our hikes at 5:00am. It is cold and blustery. [enlarge]

Heart Lake Parking Area Our plan for the day is a hike up a so-called "trailless" peak, called Tabletop Mountain. In reality there is a semi-maintained trail, which we hope to take to the top. Here Markus gets his boots ready for the day. [enlarge]

Warning Signs In the winter, it is strongly recommended to hikers to wear proper winter clothes and use proper judgement and gear. These warnings are well-founded. [enlarge]

Markus sets off... Here, Markus starts off from the parking lot. [enlarge]

Snowy trail. The trail from Heart Lake to Marcy Dam is in great shape, with a nice packed base and fluffy snow everywhere else. It is in especially good shape for cross-country skiiers (which we see many of, far more than hikers). [enlarge]

Watch out for Treebeard... Although Markus does have a beard, he does not look like a tree. However, treebeard may just be located by following the sign.... [enlarge]

Marcy Dam A couple of other hikers take a break at Marcy Dam. [enlarge]

Andrew at Marcy Dam Andrew (ie - me) takes a picture from Marcy Dam. I am trying out a new Gortex jacket for the first time. [enlarge]

Marcy Dam and the high peaks Although mostly shrouded and obscured by low clouds and flurries, the view from Marcy Dam is still a nice wintry scene. [enlarge]

Markus Well-prepared for our winter trek. [enlarge]

Andrew again Here I am doing... well, not doing much. Walking, I guess. [enlarge]

Andrew reading map Ok, now I'm doing something useful. Taken on the trail just after Marcy Dam. [enlarge]

Adirondack Lean-to break We have a lunch break at a lean-to just after Marcy Dam. This one is surprisingly spacious. [enlarge]

Sculpted and Frozen Brook Marcy brook stands silent, covered with strange hummocky snow shapes (presumably with boulders underneath). [enlarge]

Bridge over Marcy Brook Note how the depth of snow is really increasing at this point. [enlarge]

Avalanche Lean-To This is the lean-to at Avalance Junction. The weather is starting to brighten, with bits of blue sky.... [enlarge]

Winter Wonderland As we go higher, the snow is piled deeper on everything. The trees are simply coated with light, fluffy snow. Very pretty. [enlarge]

Cutover trail. This is the start of the cutover trail between the lake arnold trail and the van hoevenberg trail. [enlarge]

Snowshoe Tails Deeper, softer snow, which we start to encounter, requires more floatation, so Markus and I decide to put the extender pieces we have for our snowshoes. [enlarge]

Trailcut The snow is getting deep enough that even the packed trail is several feet below the surrounding snow level. [enlarge]

Almost buried sign Nearing Indian Falls, the snow is now almost deep enough to bury the trail signs. [enlarge]

Indian Falls Markus poses on top of the now-frozen Indian Falls. The Macintyre range is faintly visible (with Algonquin and Wright Peaks) in the background. [enlarge]

Andrew at Indian Falls This is me taking the previous shot of Markus. [enlarge]

More snow-draped beauty Section of Trail just above Indian Falls. [enlarge]

Tabletop Mountain We finally get a glimpse of tabletop. However, we are having a hard time finding the herd path to the summit. We search for quite a while. [enlarge]