ALGONQUIN PEAK

Mountain Name: Algonquin Peak

Elevation:

Feet: 5115
Meters: 1559

Rank:

Algonquin Peak is the 2nd tallest of the Adirondack 46 High Peaks.
Algonquin Peak is the 2nd tallest mountain in the Adirondacks.

Location:

Latitude: 44.143664 N
Longitude: 73.986536 W

Trail:

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History:

Namesake: Algonquin Peak was named after the Algonquin American Indians, an alliance of tribes native to Quebec, Ontario, and some parts of what is now the northeast United States. Another mountain in the ridge is named Iroquois Peak after the neighboring alliance of Native American tribes. A smaller summit in between the two, named Boundary Peak, was rumored to be a boundary between the two tribes although this is some controversy over that claim, especially seeing as how there is no recorded evidence of anyone having summitted these mountains prior to the late 1830s.

Algonquin Peak Timeline

1797: On June 7, 1797 Charles Broadhead, a surveyor, ascended the MacIntyre Mountains along the ridge between Boundary Peak and Algonquin Peak, descending off it into Indian Pass while drawing up the Totten and Crossfield Purchase lines. His surveying effort may be the first recorded man made activity on Algonquin Peak.

1837: On August 5, 1837. Ebenezer Emmons, William C. Redfield, David Henderson, James Hall, and the survey party that would make the first ascent days later, spotted Algonquin Peak from the summit of Mount Marcy and name it Mount McIntyre after Archibald McIntyre, the merchant and politician. The mountain range still bears the name, the MacIntyre Range.

1837: On August 8, 1837. Ebenezer Emmons, William C. Redfield, David Henderson, James Hall, Messrs. C.C. Ingham of New York, Messr. Miller of Princeton, Professor Torrey, Ebeneezer Emmons Jr., Harvey Holt, and John Cheney, and three other unknown guides made the first recorded ascent of Algonquin Peak.

1880: Verplanck Colvin renamed the mountain "Mount Algonquin", while renaming the southern peak in the range "Mount Iroquios" in order to honor the history of the two enemy Native American alliances. The summit in between the two, ascended by Charles Broadhead in 1797, Colvin named "Boundary Peak".

1880's: Verplanck Colvin and his guides blazed and cut out the first trail up Algonquin Peak from Lake Colden, running past the south side of Avalanche Mountain while surveying. Trail was recut by Ira Proctor, a popular Tahawus Club guide in 1901. This trail is still in use today.

1881: Henry Van Hoevenberg has a trail cut from his newly constructed Adirondack Loj to the summit of Algonquin Peak. The trail was cut by Pete McCrea and Will Trudeau. The trail is the shortest trail to the summit of the mountain and is still in use today.

1918: On August 28th, 1918, George Marshall, Bob Marshall, and Herbert Clark, the three men who were the first to climb all 46 High Peaks, made their ascent of Algonquin Peak. It was only their third high peak and would wind up being their third of four that summer, and the second of three they would do over a two day span.
- Marshall, Bob, George Marshall, and Phil Brown. Bob Marshall in the Adirondacks: Writings of a Pioneering Peak-bagger, Pond-hopper and Wilderness Preservationist. Lost Pond Press. 2006.

1955: In 1955, the USGS performed a survey using standard (English) units [i.e. feet], identifying Algonquin Peak as 5,114 feet tall making it the 2nd tallest mountain in the Adirondacks, alreadt a well known fact to the general public.

1978: In 1978, the USGS performed a survey using metric units [i.e. meters], identifying Algonquin Peak as 5,115 feet tall. It corrected the 1955 USGS standard unit survey measurement of Algonquin Peak by one foot upon conversion but, needless to say, did not change the height rank of the foot as the second tallest peak of the Adirondacks.