August 10, 2002

Algonquin Muddle



Algonquin
5,114 feet  |  ranked 2/46 in height  |  6th peak climbed

I wanted to camp for this hike, so to get away from the crowds, Erwin and I backpacked an inadvisable course from South Meadow along the Mr. Van trail toward the Loj, intending to set up camp en route. Although clearly marked on my map, the trail was no longer posted; all signage had been removed. Perhaps foolishly, we took it anyway. We discovered that beavers had completely flooded and obliterated the trail in several places, and we ended up crashing through the bushes, blundering around looking for the trail, crossing streams and beaver dams, and wasting time getting all lacerated. We finally set up camp in a beautiful spot, and hiked Algonquin the next day, after spending some more time crashing through beaver sprawl. It is so amazingly beautiful up top.