Region
Highlights
- Algonquin Peak is the second highest mountain in New York and one of the 46 Adirondack High Peaks in Adirondack Park.
- The mountain's summit is an alpine zone above tree line with views of the surrounding high peaks in all directions.
- Lies in the MacIntyre Range and is accessible from the popular Adirondak Loj trailhead near Heart Lake.
- Algonquin is one of the most popular summits in the Adirondacks.
- While shorter than nearby Mount Marcy, it is steeper and requires almost as much vertical ascent in a considerably shorter distance.
- The usual route is via the Van Hoevenberg Trail to the MacIntyre Range Trail to the summit, during which the route gets progressively steeper and rockier.
- Often combined with ascents of neighboring 46ers Wright Peak and Iroquois Peak.
Routes
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64 summits • 8.9 mi • 3,503 ft gain • 17 hr 35 min
28 summits • 10.8 mi • 4,177 ft gain • 8 hr 32 min
9 summits • 8.4 mi • 5,589 ft gain • 5 hr 58 min
2 summits • 15.9 mi • 4,177 ft gain • 10 hr 37 min
1 summit • 10.4 mi • 3,577 ft gain • 8 hr 9 min
1 summit • 10.6 mi • 3,412 ft gain • 9 hr 58 min
1 summit • 13.5 mi • 5,092 ft gain • 6 hr 39 min
Latest summits
"Halloween themed hike with my hubby Dave. Full trip included Algonquin, Boundary, Iroquois, and Wright Peak. The morning was pretty socked in but we were lucky to get a view on each peak during our return trip :)" — pandyabear • Oct 26, 2019
"Today looked like a Presi day. So I decided to finally get my views on Algonquin and Iroquois that I missed out on the last time. Parked at the ADK Loj and went up Wright first. No wind on the summit. Then I made the steep ascent of Algonquin. Beautiful views. Then over to Iroquois. The 1.1 miles went by quickly here. I felt like I was far into the wilderness on this summit. Then I headed back. Made quick work going between Algonquin and Wright, including some butt sledding." — newenglandwarrior • Jan 5, 2019
"Second (and technically Third as we climbed over on the way back) time up here. Headed out to Iroquois to get #17/46. Algonquin is such a beautiful summit, I had no problem doing it again. We took our good friend Roger with us for his first 5,000er and along with Iroquois, his 5th and 6th High peaks." — UK-Ranger • Sep 7, 2018
"Was a great day for weather, Sunny with few clouds and about26c. Got a great parking spot at 8am @ the ADK Loj , Met a few friendly hikers along the way. Great long hike with the guys and seemed much longer coming back lol We did it" — ramjet1963 • Sep 7, 2018
"Leaving Beaver point camp site in morning, hiked up the pass to the Boundary peaks. This was on tough climb up, lots of boulders and hiking along side waterfalls, plus straight up fir 2 miles. The waterfalls were awesome though and made it more enjoy able!" — blackwolf_03278 • Jul 8, 2018
"Climbed up to the ridge from Lake Colden and made the traverse across the Macintyres. Summitting Boundary, Iroquois, Algonquin and Wright and taking in the gorgeous views all along the way. " — Right-On • Jun 16, 2018
"One of my most enjoyable hikes so far. Perfect conditions, hardly anyone around, no insects. Took my time and just enjoyed the journey. Reaching the top of Wright and spending some time at the summit out of the wind was lovely. Was very pleased to have enough energy to tackle Algonquin as well and this felt like a real achievement. Will have to head back up at some point to bag Iroquois! " — rhinteractive • May 8, 2018
"Très belle journée avec Mélanie. Nous avons fais un bon 22km avec Wright, Algonquin, Bouandry et Iroquois. Le retour c'est fait par Avanche Pass. Beaucoup de glace pour monter. Les crampons furent nécessaire. Très boueux en descendant. " — fsoucy76 • Nov 4, 2017
"I've had this one on my radar for a while and today was the day. There was a ton of rock scrambling, but the view was absolutely incredible and the day was perfect weatherwise. There were lots of people on the summit as well." — MarkEarle67 • Aug 14, 2017
"Hiked with Tom and my cousin Nick. We started out early from the Loj with a decent packed trail. By the time we got to the Wright ski trail junction we were met with 18-24 inches of fresh powder. We were forced to break trail all day. Luckily, Nick took the lead for a lot of the day and we summited without too many issues. It was windy and cold at the summit and we didn't spent a lot of time up there. We summited Wright after coming down before heading back to the car. " — Kim-Stilson • Feb 17, 2017
"Started out from the Loj at 6am and headed out with the goal of hiking Wright, Algonquin, and Iroquois. Trails were decent until we got to the junction of the Wright ski trail, nobody had been past that point since before the storms that dropped 18-24 inches of fresh powder. We headed up to Algonquin first and spent a lot more time than expected route finding and breaking trail. After summiting Algonquin in 20-30mph winds we decided to skip Iroquois and head back down and summit Wright before heading back to the car. Wright was really ice above treeline, but a short hike from the junction. We met a lot of people on the way down that we're happy to see that we had broken the trails out all day. While we didn't get Iroquois it was a great day out in the mountains." — LGH-Tom • Feb 17, 2017
"The weather looked beautiful so we decided to climb Big Al and hopefully get a view for one of our group who has climbed it 4 times with no views - unfortunately the forecast changes as the high peaks love to do and by the time we passed the Wright junction the storm came in so his second winter ascent of Big Al was the same as his first - low clouds, blowing snow and no views. But the butt sliding down the trail was excellent. We had the added fun of watching our friend try to skiup the mountain - added some extra time to the hike and a lot of good laughs! Nice short 7.5 mile RT hike with roughly 3000' of gain and ... on a clear day ... some incredible views." — deb-and-rob • Jan 1, 2017
"Got a 622am start time. Heading to the Macintyre Range today. Hiking by myself and the trails were empty. The peace and quiet and serenity is amazing! After what seemed like a crazy long climb I finally reached the summit of Algonquin at 934am. I was the only person there. Only stayed for a few minutes and took some pictures and headed over to Iroquois. I reached that summit after a short but strenuous hike at 1014am. It was warm with mild wind. Some clouds but still had visibility. Took some pictures and then headed back towards Algonquin. There was rain in the forecast and I could see it coming! Around 1050am it started raining so I didn't even stop at the summit of Algonquin again. I wanted to get off the rock faces before it got too wet and slippery.
I was debating climbing Wright with the weather but decided I had to since I was already there. I reached the summit of Wright at 1215pm and then got the hell out of there. The wind gusts were strong enough to blow me over and there was some hail mixed in with the rain.
Once I go back to the junction to Wright the rain had stopped. It was still a long, wet, slippery hike back down. I reached the parking lot at 204pm. I was surp..." — tscha1 • Jul 25, 2016
"Solo hike. My second of three peaks for the day, & my 13th 46er. After coming down off of Wright & hitting the junction, I knew Algonquin was about a half mile away. The longest half mile of my life! I really struggled with the elevation gain here. When I finally made it to the top, looking down at where I had just come from, Wright looked so tiny! This was my first mountain over 5000', & it was a great feeling. Again, the bald summit made for challenging travel with the ice, and as the temperature warmed up, the ice had water running underneath it and would break causing me to slide with it. I wound up eating almost everything I had in my pack while on the summit knowing that I had many miles ahead of me. Looking over at Boundary & Iroquois was tiring in itself. The cairns were really easy to follow, so I picked my way down the ice in that direction and continued on. " — kellieirene • Apr 13, 2016
"Après un lunch rapide, nous avons amorcé le retour jusqu'à l'intersection pour retourner au sommet d'Algonquin et amorcé notre descente finale vers le camping. Les jambes commencent à être fatiguées, la montée jusqu'au sommet a été plus éprouvante que je ne le croyais, particulièrement pour Antoine.
Après une autre courte pause, où nous avons encore partagé le sommet avec le même groupe de jeunes, la descente finale a commencée. Étant donné les deux jours de randonnée qui restait samedi et dimanche, nous n'avons pas hésité avant de continuer tout droit à l'embranchement vers Wright. Ce sera pour une autre fois. La descente s'est complétée sans grande histoire, nous étions de retour au Loj 8h45 après notre départ." — PL5 • Jul 3, 2015
""Accidentally" climbed Marshall via overgrown Cold Brook Pass, instead of Iroquois. Got soaked in Herbert Brook coming back down. Made ill-advised decision to summit Algonquin late in the day. Freezing. Sun went down. Legs cramped. Hiking partner fell ill (hyponatremia). Bad decisions. Unprepared. Inattentive. This was my single biggest hiking disaster, but full of lessons learned. Party of 2." — ndru-virus • Jun 11, 2015
"Started off at the Loj under mostly blue skies, 20 degrees and hit the trail ~8am. From here we headed to the Wright/Iroquois junction. The first part of the trail as nicely packed with only a few scramble sections (mostly iced covered) before beginning the climb to Al. The last time we were heading up Al was many years ago and the steep slab section seemed much nicer in snow shoes! We had nice views until just about tree line which is about when the clouds came in and the winds we heard all morning at the lower elevation really picked up. The climb up Al was extremely windy - we felt as if we were being sand blasted between AL and Boundary! We were on Al by noon and over to Iroquois by 1. We made quick work getting back Al in an attempt to save ourselves from the wind. The skies opened a bit as we descended Al which offered excellent views of Wright. We were on the summit of Wright by 2:30 or so and back down to parking by 4:30. Enjoyable hike with many people on the trails - overall ~10.8 miles and 8 hours of hiking time." — deb-and-rob • Jan 18, 2015
"beautiful clear day to take advantage of the 360 degree views offered by this high peak. unexpected ice near top of trail made it treacherous to come back down. very muddy. lots of people on top enjoying the fall sunshine. " — Hillary • Oct 12, 2014
"Since I’ve started hiking in the High Peaks, my dad always seemed to think I was just going on a nice, leisurely stroll through the woods that ended on a summit. Even though I tried to explain it to him, he didn’t quite understand the challenges the Adirondack trails have to offer. So, I told him I was going to bring him on one of my trips to show him what hiking a High Peak is really like. He was not too keen on coming on my trip last March, way too cold he said, so we settled on a fall hike. My brother, who wasn’t afraid of the cold and accompanied me on my March hike, also joined us on our quest to hike Algonquin this past weekend.
Thursday 9/18 my dad and my brother drove from Buffalo to pick me up in Rochester after work. From there we headed up to Lake Placid to spend the night at the Town House Lodge. We arrived right around 11pm, checked in, prepared our gear for the morning, and then went to bed with our alarms set for 6:30am.
Continue reading trip report here: http://ishouldgohiking.blogspot.com/2014/09/algonquin-091914.html" — cuterocky • Sep 19, 2014
"De retour à l'embranchement, nous avons entamé la dernière ligne droite jusqu'au sommet d'Algonquin. Lors de la montée, Antoine s'est tourné les chevilles plus d'une fois (souvenez-vous de notre équipement haute gamme) principalement dû à la fatigue des randonnées accumulées. Lors de la descente, il se tournera de multiples fois les chevilles et il a fini la journée en boitant considérablement, d'où le boiteux dans son surnom. Le renard a été décrété son totem animal (il est quand même très roux). Au final, nous étions d'accord pour dire que cette 2e journée représentait un défi plus grand que l'ascension de Marcy en prenant en compte la fatigue, les 2 sommets et les sections plus techniques du sentier sur les parois rocheuses. Le retour vers Montréal s'est fait dans le plus grand silence (ça dormait fort)…
" — PL5 • Jul 17, 2014
Photos
Awards
Challenges
About peakery awards
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First Ascent Award: Only 1 available per peak. Goes to the first peakery member to log a successful summit of a peak. Snag this award and the peak will forever bear your name.
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