Algonquin

Algonquin

Trip Report:  A Simply Magnificent Hike up Mighty Algonquin

SUMMARY:

After a long, and fun-filled summer, we finally made it out to the Adirondacks for a weekend of hiking! After hiking Mt. Jo to test the new boots and trail runners the day before, we were ready to hike Algonquin. It was an incredible day in so many ways. The weather was GREAT! The conditions were GREAT! ...And especially... I am so proud of Lizzard and Turbo!!! This is a very difficult hike, and they blasted through it, tackling only their second ADK High Peak! I'm looking forward with great anticipation to many many more hiking adventures with them in the future!

DETAILS:

We had hoped to stay at the Adirondack Loj for the weekend, but being Labor Day weekend, and since we made our reservations only a month ago, lodging at the was not available.  Instead, we stayed at the Lake Placid Comfort Inn.  Although not camping, it does have a nice pool, hot tub, and breakfast!  (Hotel camping?  I sometimes wonder if perhaps we're getting just a tad, um....)    We awoke at 6:30am, packed the car, ate breakfast, and were on the road before 7:30am.  We arrived at the ADK Loj parking lot about 7:45am.  That was important since the parking lot fills up early on busy weekends!

We spent the next hour getting dressed, filling water bottles, and talking with other hikers.  We signed in at the trail registry, and by 9:00am, we were off! 

The 4-mile trail to Algonquin's summit.
(Borrowed from CNY Hiking.)

Our approach to the summit was via the Van Hoevenberg trail for the first mile, and the MacIntyre Range trail for the remaining 2.8 miles.   We returned via the same route.  When eating lunch on the summit, we briefly discussed coming back via Avalanche Pass.  However, that plan would add two miles to the trip back to the Loj.  And the trip down the "back" side of Algonquin (the south side) is VERY steep.  We hiked up that trail in 1997with full backpacks from Lake Colden campsite.  We also decided, yet again, to not summit Iroquois.  This was my fourth time atop Algonquin, and each time Iroquois somehow slips away.  The mountains are not going anywhere...  Iroquois and Avalanche Pass will still be here when we are ready.  Algonquin Mountain is part of the MacIntyre Range.  

The MacIntyre Range is named in honor of Archibald McIntyre, and includes the summits of  Marshall, Iroquois, Boundary, Algonquin, Wright, and Whale's Tale. Archibald McIntyre is described by the ADK Guide to the Adirondacks as "the dominating figure" in the MacIntyre Iron Works at Tahawus.  According to legend, the range was the border between the Iroquois and Algonquin nations, with boundary mountain as the boundary between them, with Iroquois mountain being on the Iroquois side, and Algonquin Mountain being on the Algonquin side.  Interestingly, the man spelled his name as McIntyre, but the company and range are spelled MacIntyre.  I wonder what the story behind that is.

MacIntyre Range and Marcy Dam
trail junction

Like past ascents of Algonquin, we banged out the first mile of the Van Hoevenberg trail, taking only twenty minutes to arrive at the junction for the MacIntyre Range trail and Marcy Dam trail.  And just as countless hikers had in hikes before them, Lizzard and Turbo remarked about how easy the hike was, and how quickly we'll be done with the hike.  "Uh huh...  We'll see."  We stopped for a quick water break and found someone to take our pictures.  "Can we go now?  This trail is EAS-SY dad!"  Not feeling much stress from the trail yet, we started our second mile.

The trail remained pretty easy, but with an increasing number of rocks, roots, and steeper grades, until we reached the Whale's Tail ski trail at roughly 1.5 miles from the trail head.  From there, the trail started its slow and steady increase in difficulty.  More rocks, bigger rocks, and greater steeps were in store.  By the time we hit the two mile mark, "Can we stop for water?" was the question most heard.  "What happened to easy?" I smiled back.  Speaking of water...  This was a VERY DRY hike.  Normally, we'd pass numerous small brooks on this trail that we can reload on water via our MSR Miniworks pump.  However, everything was pretty much dry due to the prolonged 2012 summer drought.  A few muddy puddles of still water were all we saw.  I'm really glad we loaded up with water  at the High Peaks Information Center at the Loj.  (I personally carried 6 liters with me, which amounts to 6 kilos or >13 lbs!

Where's the water?  Here's a pic
of this same spot in 2001 with water
falling over it.

We arrived at the cascading waterfall at 10:30.  At 2.5 miles in, our pace had significantly slowed.  Again, nothing unusual here.  What was unusual was the lack of water in the waterfalls. 

Lizzard: "MORE ROCKS?!?"
"And it's STEEP!"

The lack of water on the hike was a common motif by now, but...  ...seeing the sight of a dry waterfall was pretty amazing to me.

From here, the trail gets noticeably rockier and steeper.  Lizzard and Turbo had fun bouldering, on all fours at times, throughout the trail.  There were a few flatter spots, and a few sections of steep, smooth bedrock, but the trail was mostly all boulders.  As is usual, the pictures don't do justice to the scene. 

Hmmmm.... What is Turbo eying?
The steep and rocky TRAIL ahead?
The GIRLS on that trail?
Or the SIGN warning of severe weather
potential beyond this point?

We finally arrived at the trail head for Wright Peak at 11:10am.  Overall, our pace was pretty good - we banged out 3 miles in two hours and ten minutes.  

Objects in picture
are STEEPER than they appear!

Another interesting thing we were discovering on the trail was that everyone we met seemed to be from Rochester, NY.  This was underscored by our meeting several hiking parties at the Wright trail head.  

 "Where are you from?"  

      "Pittsford."   

      "Canandaigua."  

      "Webster" 

      "Fairport."  

      "Honeyoye Falls."  

      "Rochester."  

Everyone who was resting at the junction was from the Rochester area!  This blew me away.  ...Not to mention the fact that we were trying to get away from home, but home followed us to the Adirondacks!

 

We rested there for about 15 minutes before departing for the last leg of our climb - a steep mile hike to the summit - at 11:25am.

The next half mile from the Wright Peak trail junction to the timber line was very steep, but much of the hiking was on smooth bedrock.  

About that bedrock...  Many people believe that the Adirondack Mountains are the eroded remnants of a mountain chain that was once bigger than the Himalayas.  Though the rock from the Adirondacks is among the oldest rock on earth, about a billion years old, the Adirondack High Peaks are part of the Canadian Shield, and are in fact, growing! 

Getting above tree line.
NOW we're FINALLY starting to see the steep stuff!

The rock we hike in the High Peaks formed a billion years ago, miles underground, and it is being forced up by the interaction of the Canadian Shield with the rest of North America. So, the Adirondack High Peaks are separate from the Appalachain chain. Cool, eh?

Think the last mile of the trail up Algonquin isn't steep?

The last half mile was largely above tree line, and provided a combination of steeps and climbs until we reached the summit. 

Getting CLOSE! Our first good views
are of Lake Placid in the distance.

 It was about this time that Teena "bonked" on the trail.  She hit a wall of fatigue, dehydration, or both.  I've been there.  It's not pretty.  The only thing you want to do is rest.  It's hard to maintain focus.  It's hard to stay awake.  In fighting the monster, we stopped often, eating small amounts of food and drinking .

We reached the summit a little after 12:30pm.  Lizzard and Turbo beat us there.  When we reached the summit, we found them sitting on a rock, surveying the surrounding area.  "Its' about time you got here!"  I must say, beyond their rather cocky attitude, I was really proud of them at that moment.

A nice shot of Wright Peak - the mountain
we almost climbed instead of Algonquin.

There were a bazillion people on the summit!  Nothing unusual for a beautiful Labor Day weekend.  But still...  It catches you off guard after a long morning of hiking.

The last, final steps!  If you look closely, Lizzard and Turbo are just about to summit! WAY TO GO BUCKAROOS!

We joined the cadre of hikers on the summit, snapping pictures, eating our lunch, and exploring the different views and formations.  I talked with a few people about heading over to Iroquois and back, but that trip would take about 1.5 hours.  And with the clock approaching 2pm, and days ending earlier, it would be difficult to get back to Heart Lake in time for a nice swim!  So...  One again...  I decided to leave Iroquois alone.  I'll get there some day!

The following videos are from the summit.  the first video is of our final ascent.  The second video is a 360 panorama from the summit.

We left the summit at 1:45pm.  Three hours later, we were right back at the junction for Marcy Dam, and we signed out at the trail register at 5:05pm.  From there, we headed over to the Adirondack Loj for over an hour of swimming in Heart Lake.  The water was brisk, but it felt great - almost like ice packs were being applied to everything that hurt.

We left the Loj, and arrived back at our hotel before 8pm.  Now...  The NICE thing about staying at a hotel for an ADK hike is...  The hot tub!!!  What the cold waters of Heart Lake didn't heal, the water and jets of the jacuzzi did.  Teena and I sat in the hot tub and talked with other guests for about an hour while the kids swam in the pool. 

We ended the day downing some killer burritos at Wyatt's, and washing them down with ice cream and milkshakes from Ben and Jerry's. 

What a GREAT hike and a GREAT day!  It doesn't get any better than this!

STATS SUMMARY:

Date of Summit: 09/1/2012

Team:  Mike, Teena, Liz, Nick

Location:  Adirondack High Peaks (44.143664, -73.986536) 

Summit Elevation:  5,114'

Vertical Ascent:  2,936'

Approach: ADK Loj parking lot

Trailhead to Summit: 3.8 miles

Time to summit:  3 hours and 42 minutes

Weather:  PERFECT!  Sunny, and mild, with temps in the 60s!!!

Trail Difficulty:  Difficult with steep terrain for the last mile of the hike to the summit.

THE REST OF THE PICTURES:

After ~4 hours of hiking, we reached the summit of Algonquin!  As you can see, it was an AMAZING day!

Charged up as ever... "Let's do Marcy!" Uh huh... Right.

The view from the summit of Algonquin (5,115') is AWESOME!

That's Mt. Marcy (5,344') behind Turbo, the tallest mountain in New York.

"I've got Marcy! I've got Marcy!"

Lizzard poses in front of Mt. Marcy (5,344'), the tallest mountain in New York.  The summit of Colden (4,714') is also in the background, in front of Marcy.

"I can reach the top of it too!"

Yep. Future Facebook profile pic fodder!

Time to start the long hike down, back to the Adirondack Loj.

Quite possibly the most peaceful place on Earth, Heart Lake.
We spent over an hour swimming in some rather brisk water. It felt GREAT! ...As if I had ice packs on everything that was sore!

We were up there!
Mt. Jo, the mountain we hiked the day before, is in the foreground. About 4 miles behind Jo, the tallest point in the picture, is the summit of Algonquin.
It's a cool perspective that tells a little about the difference between the two mountains.

We stayed at the Lake Placid Comfort Inn, and were greeted by a posse of friends when we got back.

After more swimming at the hotel, we ate some killer burritos and tacos at Wyatt's. Best freakin' burrito I ever ate. (Or maybe we were still uber hungry from the hike?)

And of course, what would a trip to Lake Placid be without a stop at Ben and Jerry's?