
Wright Peak was one of those peaks I had been excited to hike for a while now. The views and summit just looked so beautiful and I could not wait to check it out.
For high peak #9/46, we drove up to Keene January 9th to hike Wright Peak. Wright Peak is a 7 mile hike that starts at the ADK Loj parking lot (reminder to all: parking here is $10 if you aren't a member of the ADK club). We started our hike right around 8:45 am. The beginning of this trail we have done before when we hiked Phelps and Tabletop, winding through the woods in some flat sections of trail - we zoom through this part of the hike!

After about a mile of hiking there is a trail split where you would turn towards Marcy Dam on the Phelps & Tabletop hike but on this hike we went towards the right on the Van Hoevenberg trail towards to the Macintyre range & Wright Peak!
I honestly think they should rename this hike "Mount Consistent" because that's exactly how I would describe this hike.

I didn't find it overly difficult, nothing technical, but just a consistent climb up to the summit. And the majority of the hike is spent in the trees so you don't even really see the progress you're making until you get closer to the summit.
After about 2.5 miles, you start to do your big climb to the summit. This part of the climb is still really not technical, but there's one section featuring a rock scramble - it's not difficult but it is frozen so be sure to have your traction devices. You'll see on your left hand side another trail - this is the ski trail so continue straight.

After you gain your last chunk of elevation there is one final trail split that you can continue straight to Algonquin or take a left up to Wright Peak.

You'll know you're at the final .1 mile of the hike up to the summit because it's a complete bald summit. You have to climb following the cairns in order to navigate your way - but it's pretty straight forward.

When we did this, it was remarkable the difference in weather as soon as we got to this point. 35 mph winds, 5 degrees with windchill, - so it's a sombering reminder to all: to please be sure to have the proper gear and clothing when exploring the alpine zone. It's so important to have enough clothing and gear because if you ever were to get stuck in a blizzard you need to be sure to have enough equipment to be able to spend the night.

We reached the summit and were probably up there about 1 minute (no exaggeration!) because it was so cold! But we then walked off the summit and sat behind a boulder so that we could have our lunch and relax for a bit.

The summit was just as I anticipated - amazing and offered panoramic views. It looks directly in front of Algonquin and we said over and over again - had we gotten there a bit earlier or if it had been a summer day, we totally would've banged this peak out as well,

We had a summit beer to celebrate our first official winter high peak and #9/46! We headed back down and zoomed down this peak. Back to the car in the early afternoon and headed home!
A beautiful, super fun day in the woods and a really fun hike!
9/46 of our ADK high peak journey!
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