Hikerdad
New member
We got going late from home on Sunday so it was 10:30 or so before we hit the Loj. No rain on the drive up until we left the Northway on Rt 73 then it started. Rain was a light but steady shower by time we reached the Loj. I considered bagging the hike but decided to just try Wrights (had hoped for Algonquin but we had to be back by about 4:00) so my daghter and I started out at about 10:30. We were getting pretty wet as the rain increased so we put on all our rain gear. As we climbed I groused that, once again I'd be on Wrights and Algonguin and no view (for the 3rd time). The trails were really good (very little mud, I thought at least). We ran into the ADK trail crew cleaning waterbars and chatted with them a bit (I thanked them for all their work and said that the trail and the rock steps were just great). On the way up we ran into the summit steward who had left Wrights due to the rain and wind and had come down below tree line to warm up. We also ran into a French Canadian man, woman and boy coming down who said that it was very windy at the summit. At about the sign warning about the weather I noticed that the rain was slowing and there was a small patch of blue sky. By the Wrights/Algonquin split the rain had stopped and we hoped for a break in the clouds. I tried to talk my daughter into trying Algonquin but she good naturedly mutinied on me and made me stick with the plan to do Wrights (I guess my days of pushing too far are gone with them...damn teenagers). We stopped for lunch and had a nice break. Some young men from Saranac Lake stopped and we chatted with them for a bit. We all left for the summit at about 12:30 and as soon as we hit the treeline the wind hit us. As we continued we stumbled and lurched along as the gusts hit us. It was the strongest wnd I had ever experienced (and I saw lots of blizzards blow off Lake Erie as a boy). It was impossible to stand still without being staggered by the wind. The guys from Saranac Lake were also stubling along. We all were having a great time laughing as we lurched along. My daughter (who's 17) had to crouch on all fours a couple time to avoid being knocked over. We hit the summit at about 1:00 and it was tremendous with the wind and the view (the clouds HAD opened). The scene to Colden was really impressive...the light was such that Colden was very dark and stood out from the other peaks...Very forboding and wild looking. We hunkered down just past the summit out of the wind and all laughed about the conditions. The wind had dried us all off completely. The boys were going to try Algonquin and Iroqouis (I said to be careful that conditions would probably be terrible). One of the boys had a wrapper of some kind snatched from him and we watched as it sailed off (we tried to catch it but couldn't). Then the wrapper came around again and again we missed it. Watched as it circled the summit area again (it had to go around 3-4 times). On the 3rd or 4th circle my daughter was able to snag it.
Here's a question to any weather experts out there...what would be a good estimate of the wind. Some things I noticed were: 1) it was impossible to stand without bracing yourself 2) it was very difficult to breath facing directly into the wind 3) gusts would stagger me (180 lbs) even when I was braced and almost knocked me over.
We started down about 1:40 and were at the loj by about 3:40. We had a nice chat with the summit steward for 15 minutes or so who was holding vigil at the waterfall. He said that it seemed that the wind was often worse on Wrights than on Algonquin and that he thought he was getting hypothermic while on the Wrights summit (and with that wind AND rain it must have been rough). As we descended we warned several people heading up (who were dressed lightly, not sure what they had in their packs though, about conditions up high). We ran into the trail crew again and I told them it was very windy up high when they said they were working up and over Algonquin and down to Lake Colden (One replied that they'd probably rope together up there...I laughed and walked on...I was born at night but not last night....)
All in all a great little hike and great expereicne and once again Wrights impressed me with it's wildness.
__________________
Pat Connors
Here's a question to any weather experts out there...what would be a good estimate of the wind. Some things I noticed were: 1) it was impossible to stand without bracing yourself 2) it was very difficult to breath facing directly into the wind 3) gusts would stagger me (180 lbs) even when I was braced and almost knocked me over.
We started down about 1:40 and were at the loj by about 3:40. We had a nice chat with the summit steward for 15 minutes or so who was holding vigil at the waterfall. He said that it seemed that the wind was often worse on Wrights than on Algonquin and that he thought he was getting hypothermic while on the Wrights summit (and with that wind AND rain it must have been rough). As we descended we warned several people heading up (who were dressed lightly, not sure what they had in their packs though, about conditions up high). We ran into the trail crew again and I told them it was very windy up high when they said they were working up and over Algonquin and down to Lake Colden (One replied that they'd probably rope together up there...I laughed and walked on...I was born at night but not last night....)
All in all a great little hike and great expereicne and once again Wrights impressed me with it's wildness.
__________________
Pat Connors
