North East Adventures 12-2-18
Adventure calls my name once again. This time it was bringing me to a specific peak I had not been to in quite some time. Algonquin peak located in the Adirondacks. The forecast was one that most people would not go out in. Late night and early morning forecasts were calling for rain ,sleet, and snow. I had gotten a very early start to the 3 hour drive. It was definitely a winter mix, luckily being so earlier there weren’t a lot of people out on the road. I got to Keene NY, and the roads and visibility wasn’t too bad. It wasn’t until I started going down the steep hills, I shifted into low gear which doesn’t happen to much. After that it was smooth sailing until I got to the Adirondack Loj road which was pretty rough. No plows had been out and it was sheer slush so my vehicle had a bit of trouble getting up the hill but I made it.
I arrived at the loj around 4:40am, paid my fee and set out to prepare my gear. Rather than the snow I was seeing on my drive up here, it was rainier with wind down this low. I proceeded to load my pack on and proceeded to sign in at the trail register. The plan was to overnight around Lake Colden after trans versing Algonquin peak. After signing in and putting on my snow shoes the wind picked up and proceeded to flail wave and wave of snow and heaps of snow off of surrounding trees on me and my pack. At times it felt like someone was throwing snow balls at me. The trail had apparently been packed out and broken by a strong group the week before. I soon found myself going up with my snow shoe televators engaged. I was starting to feel the weight of my backpack now that I was going up. The wind was starting to pick up as I made it past the junction for Wright peak. Still no signs of the weather clearing up. I was soon re breaking the fresh snow on the trail. I forgot how tiring it could be but I enjoyed the sounds of fresh snow being stepped on step and step. I was occasionally ducked under and maneuvering around frozen blow down and other obstacles. Sometimes I would clear it, other times I would get a pile of snow unloaded on me.
As I was approaching treeline I soon realized that the weather would not be clearing up and I would most likely be going into very poor visibility above treeline. I soon approached the sign warning entry to the apline zone. I looked up to the summit and saw nothing but a white mass. I got my compasss and map out and a took a bearing so I could backtrack if things got bad. I felt comfortable enough with my skills as I had been through way worse solo. Above treeline was sheer ice, whatever had been broken out had been covered up by fresh snow and frozen over. I started my way up to the summit using the cairns as markers to the top but, had my compass as a backup. The winds were starting to pick up and every once and awhile I would get knocked down by a gust of wind and end up kissing the snow. I pushed on as the wind started to intensify as I closed in on the summit. What would usually be a stunning 360 degree view was full with obscured visibility. It had taken me longer than I thought to get up here so with time being a concerning factor I decided to cut my overnight into a day hike. I thoroughly enjoy the poor visibility and white outs above treeline as it challenges you to stay calm and use navigational skills as well as make calls. I headed back using the compass bearing that I had taken before I headed up treeline. Heading back down was much more enjoyable. There was plenty of butt sliding and snow shoe sliding with a couple of falls.
As I was descending via Algonquin Trail I ran into a group of 4 hikers heading up to Algonquin, and we shared greetings and we were on our way. The rest of the way down was nice and peaceful until it started to down pour once again. I donned my shell and peacefully hiked in the rain while eating food until I made my way back to the Loj. I checked out of the trail register and made my way back to my car.
With winter just around the corner and already plenty of snow in the area I’m hoping to push myself harder and venture out in even colder temperatures. Stay tuned for the next blog. Thanks for reading
