adk trip report

[Earth_First]

route:

macintyre range

loj > wright > algonquin > boundary > iroqouis > pass @ boundary to avalanche pass > marcy dam > loj

left rochester yesterday overnight at 1:30 a.m. and hit the loj at 6 making great time through the thick fog that envelops the entire high peaks region most mornings. comming through saranac lake it was a brisk 36 degrees and there was a heavy frost which made for a few great quick photos before hitting lake placid and the loj.

we geared up and registered and were on our way by 6:40 on our way towards wright peak. we made great time to wright, making the summit just before 8. wright has some great views of heart lake, colden, wallface and lake placid and a great vantage point for the ascent to algonquin. it's amazing that the olympic ski jump still registers in the landscape from such a distance. of all the peaks in the macintyres, at only .4 this definately was the most arduous of the day.

descending wright peak to the junction at algonquin we reentered the treeline and began which seemed (from wright) to be an ass-kicker. upon making the outcropping at the treeline in about 40 minutes, we were astonished to find that this climb wasn't nearly as difficult as we anticipated. from here, you really get a great alpine zone experience. ketchledge, billberry, sandwort are just a few of the extremely rare plant species that are truely a treat to see. we spent a good deal of much needed solice. knowing that the inevitable crowds were on their way, we headed out towards the nary a blip on the radar, boundary.

taking a quick five to rehydrate gave us a few to catch a few trail reports from folks headed back out. the news was not encouraging. nearly the entire herd through a narrow pass in the spruce was under water, or thick slog. making the summit just short of 12:30 at iroquois was fantastic. finally a full view of wallface and below, marshall. looking back towards algonquin, we knew that timing was everything this morning, and we couldn't have timed it any better. the summit of algonquin looked as though a tourbus had stopped and dumped a load of tourists off at the summit. knowing this, we did not want bottlenecking along the trail, ankle deep in muck while others passed.

at the junction to the pass we made, which i believe in retrospect a tremendous decision to exit. rather than doubleback over algonquin we decided that the descent from boundary to avalance pass would offer us a greater sense of wilderness. to this decision i offer this: holy shit! that descent was some topnotch high-impact, knee-busting enjoyment (sic). i'm not sure if i would rather climb this route or descend this route, but one thing is for sure, in the future it will be a route of last resort. took us a little over half the time it took us to get to this point to make this to the pass.

the pass through avalance lake was truely a breathtaking experience. the in your face views of sheer cliffs and the buick sized boulders, the inviting ice cold reflections of the birch trees was just a perfect change of scenery from our travels earlier in the day. the traverse through this area offers alot of scrambling, use of various ladders, planks and two 'hitch-up matildas' along the faces. once we made it through the pass, not only were our knees screaming bloody murder, but appetite was beginning to take hold.

we decided to take a quick 15 retrospective on our day and take water at marcy dam and watch the masses descend out from the phelps/tabletop area. all said and done it had taken us 10 hours to cover the terrain. my brother and i decided that we would leave colden as our last peak and made our inital plans for our next trip in ealry october. i need to become independently wealthy, 'cause i could do nothing but this for the rest of my days...

at any rate, if you made it this far...

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. sounds like a great day ---

you mentioned pictures ....................