Hiking Algonquin Peak: New York’s Second Highest Peak!

In the Adirondack Mountains stands most of New York’s highest peaks, including their second highest peak, Algonquin Peak.  Algonquin Peak is a stunning mountain with a challenging hike.  This high peak offers a true 360 degree view of the surrounding high peaks in the Adirondacks.  

For many hikers, hiking the highest peak in each state is a goal of theirs.  And while Mount Marcy is New York’s highest peak, you shouldn’t sleep on New York’s second highest peak!

Algonquin Peak is required to become a 46er, but more than that, it’s an amazing hike for anyone fit enough to take on a challenge.  Let’s get into the details and get you on your way!

Important Links

• AllTrails Map – Download before the hike
• Algonquin Information
• Adirondack Mountain Club
• 46er website
• Big Slide Mountain – An Easier 46er 
• Adirondack Camping Website
• Camping in Macomb Reservation State Park

What is a 46er?

But real quick, let’s cover one quick thing, and if you already know, go ahead and skip this section!  But what even is a 46er?  In the Adirondacks, there are 46 peaks that are taller than 4000 feet, and Algonquin Peak is one of them.  

Some of the 46ers are extremely challenging and can require nearly 20 miles in a single day just to a summit.  Algonquin Peak isn’t that intense, but it’s a solid challenge in my opinion.  

For more information on the 46ers, check out this website for all the details.  Now, back to your upcoming hike!  

Fees

First thing to discuss, is there is a fee to park at the Adirondack Loj & Heart Lake Program Center where Algonquin Peak has its trailhead.  Bring Cash!  There isn’t a tenant to take a card.  The fee is as follows:

• Day Price (before 1pm): $18 
• Half-Day Price (after 1pm): $10
• Member Day Price (before 1pm): $10
• Member Half-Day Price (after 1pm): $5

The fee is a bit steep in my opinion, but if it helps preserve and maintain these beautiful mountains, then I’ll keep paying it.  This parking lot is first come first serve, so if you plan on parking here, it is highly recommended that you arrive before 7am on the weekends and before 9am on the weekdays.  

If you are planning to park here more than a few times, it will be beneficial for you to become a member of the Adirondack Mountain Club to save yourself some money with parking!

Location

Algonquin Peak is located in the High Peaks Wilderness area of the Adirondack Mountains.  Now, considering the Adirondacks is comprised of over 6 million acres, let’s get a little more specific.  

Getting here is a bit of a trip, but the Loj parking lot is 5 and a half hours from New York City, 5 and a half hours from Boston, MA and over 2 hours north of Albany, NY.  Basically, you will probably want to spend a night somewhere nearby either the night before or the night after.  But trust me, Algonquin Peak is worth it!

Parking

As we already know, there is a fee of either $10 or $18 to park at the trailhead.  This parking lot is called the Adirondak Loj & Heart Lake Program Center or in short, you can park here.  

You can also input this address 1002 Adirondack Loj Rd, Lake Placid, NY 12946 into your favorite maps app.  

A quick word of caution!  There is little to no cell service here or within the wilderness area.  I highly recommend downloading an offline map on Google as well as having your desired trail downloaded onto your phone.  Or better yet, have a paper map.  

Trail Stats

While hiking Algonquin Peak, we also added Iroquois Peak and Wright Peak to our day.  So while our stats were much longer for our day, if you were to just hike to the top of Algonquin Peak, your SmartWatch would probably be pretty close to these numbers.

• Distance: 8 miles
• Elevation Gain: ~3000 feet
• Difficulty: Hard

If you are an aspiring 46er who is looking to hike the High Peaks, I highly recommend adding at least Iroquois Peak to your day so that you don’t have to do Algonquin again.  Iroquois Peak is just a mile beyond Algonquin Peak and it’s fairly easy to add that to your day.  

I also recommend adding Wright Peak to the end of your hiking day.  Some say to start with Wright Peak, but if you start with Wright and tire out by the time you get to the summit of Algonquin, you might run out of steam and have to turn back before continuing to Iroquois.  Which means you will have to essentially repeat this entire hike.  

If you start by summiting Algonquin Peak, then summit Iroquois Peak and become too tired to get to Wright Peak on the way back, you can come back on a different day and just hike Wright, which is fairly easy.  

But I digress.  Let’s get into the overview of the trail!

The Trail Overview

After parking at the Adirondack Loj and paying your fee, you’ll start on the trailhead at the back of lot #1.  You’ll start by following the Van Hoevenberg Trail for 1 mile before coming to a 4 way intersection.  At this point, you’ll follow the Algonquin Trail the entire way to the Algonquin Peak summit.  

At a certain point, the trail gets above the tree line and you will follow several cairns until you reach the summit.  It will be windy at the summit, so pack lots of layers!  Once you’ve had your fill of the wind and the stunning views (on a clear day) you can either choose to head back to the parking lot, or continue onward towards Iroquois Peak.  

What to Expect

Algonquin Peak is not an easy hike and the challenge begins right around a mile and a half.  The trail gets steeper and steeper with rocks, mud and roots comprising the trail.  The views are amazing and worth every second of the pain in your knees as you descend the mountain.  

The Ascent

Starting at the back of Lot #1, the Van Hoevenberg Trail begins with just a slight incline.  It’s a fairly easy start.  Right around the 1 mile mark, you’ll come to a 4-way intersection.  You will stay straight and the trail will now be renamed the Algonquin Trail.  

The trail will steepen and every time you think it’s steep, it will get steeper.  You’ll be doing some serious rock scrambling at this point, so don’t be afraid to take a break if you need to.  

At 3.5 miles you’ll come to the split for Wright Peak (which you can do now, after you’ve summited Algonquin, or not at all).  Since you are heading to the summit of Algonquin, you’ll continue straight and somehow the trail becomes even steeper.  

But don’t let the steepness overwhelm you, because you’re almost to the edge of the treeline where you will be greeted with cairns to follow and some seriously beautiful views!

The Summit

Once you are above the treeline, it won’t be long until you are getting close to the summit of Algonquin Peak.  A few more rock scrambles and you’ve done it!

The windy and cool conditions might require an extra layer or two, but the 360 degree view is incredible!  Not only are you surrounded by the High Peaks Wilderness, you can also see the town of Lake Placid below you. 

At this point, make sure you are refueling with water and some snacks so you have the energy to make it back down the mountain.  

A Choice to Make

Once you have summited Algonquin Peak, you have a choice to make.  Do you want to continue onto Iroquois Peak?  Or do you want to head back to the parking lot?

We chose to continue onto Iroquois Peak, which you can read about here!  But had there been bad weather or had we been totally exhausted, we definitely could have turned around right about now.  

Listen to your body!  If you are feeling totally exhausted, remember that you still have a long way down.  Even if you have every intention of continuing on, listen to your body! 

The Descent

Whether you hiked onto Iroquois Peak or you have just had your fill of Algonquin Peak, it’s now time for you to head back to the parking lot.  

The descent from Algonquin Peak is a tough one, very tough on the knees.  And all of the places you had to navigate before, now require an extra moment to navigate down.  So be ready to take your time and hike at a safe pace.  

When you get to the split with Wright Peak, you can either add this extra mile to your day, or you can simply continue on your way.  

Once you pass this split with Wright, you aren’t out of the woods just yet, but the trail does begin to get easier and easier as you head down.  This was the longest part of the hike in my opinion.  The trail is completely tree covered and it feels like you’ll never reach the parking lot.  

But in the end, when you’re back at your car and ready to head home, you’ll feel such an incredible sense of accomplishment!  You just climbed New York’s second highest peak and hopefully got to see some amazing views while you were up there.  The struggle is worth it, trust me!

Our Hike

My husband and I hiked Algonquin Peak in August of 2024.  And this hike was both amazing and a killer!  No, I don’t mean it was impossibly hard…what I mean is the way up was an awesome challenge, but the way back was brutal.

If you are an experienced hiker, you know that oftentimes the hike up is fine, but the way back down can be brutal on your knees!  Just the repetitive navigation of the uneven ground and the rocks can become exhausting.  And our knees tend to take the brunt of it.  This made for a long and slow descent, but we would still do it again.  

Anyway, besides the way back down, the hike up to the summit of Algonquin Peak was incredible!  Truly, I think this was our favorite hike of 2024.  

The views at the top were like nothing we had really seen on the east coast.  There aren’t many places where you are truly surrounded by wilderness as well as see all the wilderness and mountains around you.  Obviously, other states commonly offer these types of views (Colorado comes to mind), but this was truly something special to experience in upstate New York.  

After we had summited Algonquin, we continued onto Iroquois Peak and then finished with Wright Peak on the way back down.  But if we had only gotten to summit Algonquin Peak, that view would have been amazing enough. 

Conclusion

Algonquin Peak is New York’s second highest peak, but don’t sleep on it!  The challenge of this hike combined with the breath-taking views at the top are not to be missed.  

If you are looking for a challenging hike with out-of-this-world views, you won’t want to miss hiking Algonquin Peak.  Bring lots of water and snacks as this isn’t an easy hike, and don’t forget to pack layers for the ever-changing conditions.  

As always, feel free to reach out to averagewildexperience@gmail.com if you have any questions about this hike.

Happy Hiking!