I was able to convince to buddy Rob to join me for a hike. Neither of us had ever started from the ADK Loj before, so I decided we would trek through Avalanche Pass and up to the col of Boundary Peak and Algonquin, over to Iroquois, to Algonquin and back out for an approximate 12.5 mile hike. I picked Rob up at 615 AM and we were on the trail at 9 (a tad later than I wanted). We signed in at the register and had a brief chat with the DEC rangers that were at the register. We overheard them advise a group who wanted to hike Marcy with no food or water to reconsider. The initial 2.3 miles to the Marcy Dam were quick and painless.
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| Easy going on this trail |
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| Nice trail bridge |
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| Typical stream with blowdown |
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| More planks along the trail |
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| If only these steps were the whole way up... |
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| Rob posing on a rock in a stream |
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| Lake behind Marcy Dam |
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| Marcy Dam |
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| More Marcy Dam... |
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| Stream bed along trail |
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| Saw lots of these little guys throughout the day |
We continued on past the dam to Avalanche Pass. The views from the base of Avalanche lake were very impressive. Large cliffs rose to either side of the pass. The trail skirted along the base of Northwestern side of the lake. This was my favorite part of the hike. The trail scrambled over boulders and along bridges and ladders bolted into the rock.
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| Avalanche Lake (trail runs along right side) |
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| Massive cliff |
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| Cliff on the other side |
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| Lots of ladders and boulders through here |
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| Lake looked so refreshing |
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| Bridge bolted into rock face |
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| Really wanted to jump |
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| More bridges |
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| Sweet rock slide |
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| View from the other end (still not sure which is nicer) |
After progressing through the pass, we came to the trail junction at Lake Colden. After signing it at this register, we took the right path. We soon came to the junction to ascend up our trail. Up until now, our pace was solid. We made good time over the first relatively flat 5.6 miles. The trail really cranked up in intensity over the next 1.7 miles (rise of ~2000 ft) to the col of Boundary and Algonquin. We took several breaks as many sections are very vertical and rugged.
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| Bridge over stream |
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| Trail junction (Blue not yellow here) |
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| Waterfall along trail |
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| Getting higher and higher |
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| Another waterfall |
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| Sign telling you that conditions can change rapidly ahead. Only proceed if you have proper gear |
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| Mount Colden behind us |
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| Typical trail section |
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| Trail beginning to get more rugged |
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| Stayed at this spot for a long rest. My new favorite spot in the world. |
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| Difficult section of path |
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| This doesnt even do the grade looking back justice |
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| Getting there |
After reaching the col, we hiked over Boundary to Iroquois. Boundary peak really gets no credit here, as it is too close to Algonquin to be considered its own peak, because the views from the top of Boundary are rather nice. The trek over to Iroquois was all open rock scrambles and alpine scrub shrub vegetation. We took a good solid lunch break on the top of Iroquois. The black flies and no-see-ums were out in full force. Rob and I re-DEET-ed up and they were less bothersome. While we saw plenty of people between Iroquois and Boundary, we had the peak to ourselves.
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| Algonquin from Boundary |
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| Great Range |
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| More Great Range (Colden in front, Marcy directly behind) |
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| Iroquois from Boundary |
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| Cairn marking Iroquois Summit |
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| Good view of Colden's slides |
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| Algonquin and Boundary from Iroquois |
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| Lake Colden |
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| Flowed Lands |
After our break, Rob and I really struggled the rest of the trip. Both of our legs were shot but we managed through it. We made the hike back down and up Boundary col and down and up to Algonquin in quick bursts with many breaks thrown in. The work was well worth it! The views were gorgeous and we had the entire peak to ourselves! I guess our slow pace to the top paid off. We enjoyed the summit for a brief time and then headed back down.
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| Sign saying stay off vegetated areas |
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| Algonquin survey point |
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| Rob, on Algonquin, with Colden and Marcy in the background |
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| Lake Placid |
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| Looking down at Wright |
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| Nice shot of Marcy |
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| Cliffs of Gothics |
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| Made it! |
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| looking good! |
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| Start the descent (Heart lake, our start/finish in the background) |
The trek down was a steep descent on a lot of open rock and dry stream beds. We were quite slow on the way out, as both of us were basically zombie walking to the end. We got back to the parking lot around 730 PM for a total trip of 10.5 miles.
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| Typical trail section looking back up |
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| Gotta refill H2O |
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| B-E-A utiful waterfall |
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