ADK Loj Parking Lot Gathered together and ready to go at the ADK Loj parking area. [enlarge]

Heart Lake and the Macintye Mountains This is the view of Algonquin and Wright Peaks just as the morning clouds are clearing away. [enlarge]

Snowshoeing across Heart Lake We decide to take a little scenic shortcut across the lake, rather than on the trail. [enlarge]

Algonquin and Wright Peaks Here's a zoomed-in view of Wright and Algonquin. This picture was taken from Heart Lake. [enlarge]

Heart Lake A shot towards the Phelps - Tabletop area; taken from Heart Lake. [enlarge]

First Rays of the Sun As we cross the lake, the first rays of sunshine break through the thinning clouds. [enlarge]

Costi and Andree Costi has stopped to take some pictures of some scenic snow lumps. [enlarge]

Scotts Clearing Lean-to We march for quite a ways before our first real rest stop, which is here, at the Scotts clearing Lean-to. Note the huge amount of snow on the roof. There is a _lot_ of snow at this point in the Adirondacks. [enlarge]

Costi and Andree [enlarge]

courtesy _markus

Andrew along the trail As the day progresses, the sky gets clearer and clearer. Also, it is not cold - the temperature hovers around freezing. [enlarge]

courtesy _markus

Andrew again... This is me in my typical hiking getup. [enlarge]

courtesy _markus

Ewart and co. The day has become completely clear, sunny, and, for winter, relatively warm. Here we are nearing Scotts Clearing. [enlarge]

Indian Pass from Scotts Clearing The view of Indian Pass from the Clearing is quite picturesque. You cannot see the bulk of the Wallface cliff from this angle. Wallface is the highest cliff in the Eastern US. [enlarge]

Mr. Wandel A pretty good shot of Markus. [enlarge]

Indian Brook All of the streams and brooks are covered in gently rounded mounds of fresh white snow. This is Indian Brook, which flows down from Indian Pass. [enlarge]

Rocky shoulder of Iroquois This is a shot taken while ascending the trail to Algonquin pass. It shows part of the rocky shoulder of Iroquois. [enlarge]

Unbroken Trail! The Iroquois pass trail had not seen traffic in quite a while, and was essentially unbroken. This is what it looked like. If you look closely, you can faintly see the outline of some snowshoe tracks (and also you can see the trail markers). [enlarge]

courtesy _markus

Glorious Day for Snowshoeing... Caroline and Kerry cross one of the many brooks on the way up to Alqonquin Pass. [enlarge]

Iroquois Peak Iroquois Peak dominates most of this hike. It is a very striking and prominent peak from this aspect, with a large, treeless alpine summit. Also of note is the little side summit, known as the Shepherd's Tooth. [enlarge]

Cliffs at Iroquois Pass Some pretty icicles were on display at Algonquin Pass. [enlarge]

The Shepherd's Tooth This is a closeup of the Shepherd's Tooth, a Sub-summit of Iroquois mountain, as seen from the start of the bushwacking portion up to Mount Marshall. [enlarge]

Airliner Overhead! Initially I believed that this was a 747-400... Now I'm perhaps inclined to think Airbus A340... [enlarge]

Mount Iroquois The views of Iroquois continue to get better. The day, thus far, has remained gloriously clear and calm. [enlarge]

Mts. Colden and Marcy The view to the east towards the high peaks is stunning. In this picture, Mount Colden (center) and Mount Marcy (right of Center) dominate the view. A big group of us were up Mount Colden not long ago in January. click here to read about that expedition. [enlarge]

Caroline Caroline practices her ice-ax technique, which, while bushwacking in the Adirondacks, usually means using it as a hook to pull yourself through the tangled brush. [enlarge]

courtesy _markus