Cliff House
08-23-2010, 09:48 PM
August 20, 2010 – Algonquin, Iroquois, Wright – sunny, mid 60’s to low 70’s
We left camp at 6:00 and with no stops we were at the Loj shortly before 8:00. My wife and I were at the register by 8:10 and taking the turn up to Algonquin by 8:30. The weather was cool and comfortable, so we moved along pretty steadily, arriving at the area near the “weather warning” sign and the large stone cobble around 9:45. (approx. 3.1) Ten minutes later we had arrived at the turn to Wright Peak, and another 30 minutes had us at the treeline of Algonquin at 10:25. We reached the summit at 10:45, had our 1st lunch and enjoyed some terrific views.
Since we were in a hurry to climb three peaks, we headed down the other side towards Iroquois around 11:00. The herd path is pretty easy to find -- right near the cairn by the treeline as described in the books. By 11:30 we had arrived at Boundary II and were on top of Iroquois by 11:45. The trail was very easy to follow, but the bogs were nasty even after the long dry spell we’ve had, and the branches along the trail are very tight – lots of scratches to show for our efforts. (After the rain of the past few days, I'm sure the bogs are a lot worse.)
After we had a snack, Mr. Ranger took our picture on the summit and we headed back to Algonquin by 12:00. We were worried about the return trip to Algonquin as it looked very steep and imposing from Iroquois, but we were back to the cairn at the intersection with the yellow trail by 12:30 and back on the summit by 12:40. There was some guy enjoying a cigarette on the top of Algonquin so we decided to press on to Wright without a break. (How come the "no fires" rule doesn't apply to cigs?)
Picking our way down took just as long as the climb up, so reached the trail to Wright at 1:20. The climb up was steeper than we anticipated from the descriptions, and we were starting to feel the effects of the previous climbs. Still it only took us 20 minutes and we reached the summit by 1:40. The quote of the day was overheard on the way up -- a guy passing us coming down from the summit is stomping on the alpine plants instead of walking on the trail goes to his wife, "I'm taking the safe way down -- I don't care about the plants." <sigh>
We had lunch #2 on the summit of Wright, snapped the requisite photos, then found the plaque honoring the airmen that had crashed there in the 60’s. (Look for a small cairn to the north side of the mountain on the right hand side of the trail as you start heading back down from the top of the summit.)
Fatigue was starting to set in, so picking our way back down the trail took a bit longer than we anticipated... or maybe it just seemed longer. We were on base of the trail to Wright by 2:40 and covered the .8 miles to the waterfall by 3:05. After a 5 minute break we continued on, covered the next 1.1 miles of rocky descent in 35 minutes, reaching the trail to Whale Tail at 3:45. Covering the final 1.5 miles to the register took until 4:25.
Back on the road around 5:00, called for a pizza when we reached Blue Mountain, and we were tossing back a beer and a slice shortly after 7:00 on the porch back at the camp. :D
Not a very leisurely day, but that makes 5, 6 and 7 for us. (No lectures on smelling the roses, please -- we've already agreed to slow down and do more single peak trips next year!) School meetings start for us next week, so it's time to gather up the maps and guidebooks and start planning for 2011 season.
Summary:
PA to summit Algonquin – 2 hours 35 minutes, plus 15 minutes rest on summit
Algonquin to Iroquois and back – 1 hour 40 minutes including rest on summit
Trail to Wright Summit and back – 1 hour 20 minutes including rest on summit
Descent from Algonquin to PA, not including side trip to Wright – 2 hours 25 minutes
We left camp at 6:00 and with no stops we were at the Loj shortly before 8:00. My wife and I were at the register by 8:10 and taking the turn up to Algonquin by 8:30. The weather was cool and comfortable, so we moved along pretty steadily, arriving at the area near the “weather warning” sign and the large stone cobble around 9:45. (approx. 3.1) Ten minutes later we had arrived at the turn to Wright Peak, and another 30 minutes had us at the treeline of Algonquin at 10:25. We reached the summit at 10:45, had our 1st lunch and enjoyed some terrific views.
Since we were in a hurry to climb three peaks, we headed down the other side towards Iroquois around 11:00. The herd path is pretty easy to find -- right near the cairn by the treeline as described in the books. By 11:30 we had arrived at Boundary II and were on top of Iroquois by 11:45. The trail was very easy to follow, but the bogs were nasty even after the long dry spell we’ve had, and the branches along the trail are very tight – lots of scratches to show for our efforts. (After the rain of the past few days, I'm sure the bogs are a lot worse.)
After we had a snack, Mr. Ranger took our picture on the summit and we headed back to Algonquin by 12:00. We were worried about the return trip to Algonquin as it looked very steep and imposing from Iroquois, but we were back to the cairn at the intersection with the yellow trail by 12:30 and back on the summit by 12:40. There was some guy enjoying a cigarette on the top of Algonquin so we decided to press on to Wright without a break. (How come the "no fires" rule doesn't apply to cigs?)
Picking our way down took just as long as the climb up, so reached the trail to Wright at 1:20. The climb up was steeper than we anticipated from the descriptions, and we were starting to feel the effects of the previous climbs. Still it only took us 20 minutes and we reached the summit by 1:40. The quote of the day was overheard on the way up -- a guy passing us coming down from the summit is stomping on the alpine plants instead of walking on the trail goes to his wife, "I'm taking the safe way down -- I don't care about the plants." <sigh>
We had lunch #2 on the summit of Wright, snapped the requisite photos, then found the plaque honoring the airmen that had crashed there in the 60’s. (Look for a small cairn to the north side of the mountain on the right hand side of the trail as you start heading back down from the top of the summit.)
Fatigue was starting to set in, so picking our way back down the trail took a bit longer than we anticipated... or maybe it just seemed longer. We were on base of the trail to Wright by 2:40 and covered the .8 miles to the waterfall by 3:05. After a 5 minute break we continued on, covered the next 1.1 miles of rocky descent in 35 minutes, reaching the trail to Whale Tail at 3:45. Covering the final 1.5 miles to the register took until 4:25.
Back on the road around 5:00, called for a pizza when we reached Blue Mountain, and we were tossing back a beer and a slice shortly after 7:00 on the porch back at the camp. :D
Not a very leisurely day, but that makes 5, 6 and 7 for us. (No lectures on smelling the roses, please -- we've already agreed to slow down and do more single peak trips next year!) School meetings start for us next week, so it's time to gather up the maps and guidebooks and start planning for 2011 season.
Summary:
PA to summit Algonquin – 2 hours 35 minutes, plus 15 minutes rest on summit
Algonquin to Iroquois and back – 1 hour 40 minutes including rest on summit
Trail to Wright Summit and back – 1 hour 20 minutes including rest on summit
Descent from Algonquin to PA, not including side trip to Wright – 2 hours 25 minutes