Hiking Algonquin, Iroquois and Wright Peaks

Another weekend down, more high peaks crossed off the list! Saturday was the perfect day for a hike–the weather was looking fantastic! I was waiting for the perfect day to tackle Algonquin, New York’s second highest mountain, along with Iroquois and Wright.

Jenna and I met at Exit 9 at 5am, got to the Loj around 7:15 and were off by 7:30. It was a quick mile to the junction to Marcy Dam, we went right to go to Wright and Algonquin.

The first few miles are very pleasant!

Then we started climbing steeply, but we had a really good pace!

Many sections of the trail are really rocky. Made it tough on on the feet.

Soon enough we hit the junction for Wright and Algonquin. We decided to hike Wright last on the way out, and headed up the steep “trail” to Algonquin. It was a rock scramble! We got the summit at 10:20, almost three hours after leaving the Loj.

 

Expansive views from the summit! There is Lake Placid.

Algonquin stands at 5115′ -so far its the highest I’ve climbed in the Adirondacks.

And its my 20th high peak!

A nice view of Mt Colden and its crazy slides.

 

The flowed lands and Lake Colden.

Looking over to Iroquois, our next stop!

We chatted with the summit steward on top of Algonquin. She told us to follow the cairns down Algonquin to Boundary Peak, the small nub between Algonquin and Iroquois, and then follow the trail right instead of left. The marked trail pointed left, we needed to go right to get to Iroquois.

Crossing the bog brides to Iroquois–this part was scratchy, the herd path was so narrow. Got up to Iroquois at 11:30am!

21/46.

Looking back at Algonquin. We’d have to go back up there to get back down to Wright. (It looks worse than it is–it was 1.1 miles between the two.)

Couldn’t ask for a better day to do this hike. We didn’t stay on top of either peak long–maybe 10-15 minutes max. We hung out on Algonquin again for a few, then headed back down. We decided we were definitely in to hike Wright since it was right there. Got to the top at 2:07PM.

22/46–one more to halfway.

The views up here were spectacular!

I wanted to see the B-47 plane crash site, but we couldn’t find it and didn’t want to wander around too much looking because we were getting pretty tired.

We started down and got back the Loj at around 5pm. What a day!

Algonquin, Iroquois and Wright Peaks – The McIntyre Range
Algonquin elevation 5115′
Iroquois elevation 4843′
Wright elevation 4587′
Total elevation gain  3,783′
Total Distance 11.4 mi RT from the ADK Loj
Total hike time including stops 9 hours, 21 minutes

Gear used Osprey Sirrus Day Pack, 3 L of water in Platypus Big Zip Bladder, EMS zip off hiking shorts, Under Armor tank, Keene Durand hiking boots, Kelty trekking poles

After my next high peak, I’ll be half way done with the 46!