For the record, let's take a few sentences to describe the full view from Algonquin's summit today. First off, it was bright and clear, with excellent visibility and low haze. To the south and west, a solid or nearly solid undercast stretched to the horizon. A section free of clouds existed immediately to the north (perhaps as far as nearby Lake Placid) before the overcast closed in and extended away, again as far as the eye could see. To the east, the central High Peaks seemed relatively devoid of undercast, although a small tendril of it had worked its way into Avalanche Pass below us. The southern boundary of the High Peaks was a sort of high-altitude coastline, with a soft layer of white cloud acting as the sea, lapping against a high-altitude shore.
courtesy JInnes
Caroline's World-class View
One neat effect of today's undercast was the way in which it highlighted the Adirondack 46R peaks. With a roughly top altitude not far shy of 4000 feet, the undercast served to very clearly highlight any terrain that was higher than that, and therefore a 46R. Looking around, all of the nearby 46R peaks to the west were easily identified: Seward; Seymour, Donaldson, Emmons; Street and Nye, Santanoni and Panther. Being rigidly altitude-based, the undercast did not make an exception for Couchsachraga, which we could not see.
courtesy JInnes
courtesy JInnes
Andrew and Jenn, Algonquin
After a bevy of selfies, we circled around to the eastern side of the peak, where we found an excellent spot free from the chilly northwest breeze and squarely facing the warm mid-day sun. Here we had a most enjoyable above-cloud lunch. We could look straight down into the Flowed Lands area from our lunch spot, and it appeared that below the inversion layer, things were starting to break up. It also seemed like the airmass down there was hazier.
courtesy JInnes
The Adirondack High Peaks
Popcorn in the foreground
Even though we were sitting in a calm and sunny nook, the lack of activity was allowing us to cool off below comfortable levels. So, shortly before noon, we started to pack up and get ready for the next phase of our loop journey: the descent down to the south, down to the vicinity of Lake Colden.
courtesy JInnes
The first part of our descent was the best: walking along through alpine terrain, more than a thousand feet above the cloud deck (which, by the way, was showing remarkable persistance. It was now noon, and I had expected it to be mostly broken up, given the forecast).
Although fully facing the sun, the southern aspect of Algonquin's summit was still covered in a thin layer of frost and an occasional icy bit. Once again, our microspikes came to the rescue, gripping securely and preventing any slippage.
courtesy JInnes
We arrived at treeline shortly after noon. We took one long last look at the beautiful ocean stretching away into the distance, and then continued down. We would essentially be in the trees from here on, and my default assumption was that this was the last I was going to see of this very special weather situation on this trip.
