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Short Description - Dix Range Sans Dix July 21-22
We camped at Slide Brook. Hiked up Slide Brook trail and up the West Slide to Macomb. Continued on to South Dix, then East Dix and back to South Dix. Took trail from South Dix to Pough and then Hough. Retraced our steps back to the col between Hough and Pough and then took the Lillian Brook trail back. It was damp due to previous days rain and a bit buggy. Views were very good although we had to wait until clouds passed to get a good view from South Dix.
We are thankful to recent posters billandjudy (see 4/5ths ot the Dixes) as well as to Yvon (for the pictures on his website). Their reports/websites were very informative and made our trip easier to plan.
Details
We arrived at the Northway exit early Monday afternoon. Almost as soon as we got off the Northway it started to rain. Since we didn’t want to start our trip with a walk in the rain we drove on to Newcomb and had a late lunch at the local bar and grill. After driving around a bit more, the weather improved and we drove to the Elk Lake trailhead and hiked in to the Slide Brooke area. As would be expected, the trail in was somewhat wet due to the earlier rain both on the current day and the previous day. We set up camp, made dinner and relaxed for the evening.
On Tuesday we woke early, had breakfast and started up the Slide Brook herd path at approximately 7:30AM. The hike up to the Macomb Slide was very pleasant. The slide itself consisted mostly of loose rock and wet sand. The climb up the slide was fun and provided wonderful views of Elk Lake and the surrounding areas. We reached the summit of Macomb at 9:10AM. The view from the summit, while not from the same angle as from the slide was also quite nice.
We proceeded from Macomb to South Dix passing through the Macomb South Dix col. At the col we saw a carin (apparently marking the start of a trail back via Lillian Brook). We then started to climb again and in no time were on the outcropping of rocks on South Dix. The view from these rocks was really wonderful and provided a great view of Macomb. When we reached the summit the view was partially obstructed due to cloud cover. (however on the way back the view was much better). We had to look around to find the summit marker. It is near a tree with a yellow ribbon. We stayed on the summit of South Dix for about 20 minutes and then continued on the East Dix.
The hike from South Dix into the Col between South Dix and East Dix was longer than I expected. It seemed that we were going down much longer than I had initially anticipated and for a bit I was concerned that we were going down too far, however once we started to climb again it was obvious that we were going in the right direction. We arrived on the summit of East Dix at 11:30AM and found the views quite spectacular and possibly the best of the day. From the summit we could see what appeared to be the Northway, Lake Champlain, and the Green Mountains. In the future I would like to hike to this point along the Bouquet river from route 73. We had a light lunch and then left at approximately 12:10 and then retraced our way back to South Dix.
At 1:20 we arrived at the cairn just before the summit of South Dix marking the trail to Pough and Hough. We proceeded down the trail. The trail was a bit narrow at points but nothing difficult in terms of following it. Going up and down Pough was really easy. Once in the col between Pough and Hough we saw the camping spot described in other posts as well as the trail that we would take later going down via Lillian Brook.
The climb up Hough was a bit more difficult than the previous climbs. This was probably due to the fact that we were becoming tired from the earlier hiking and also due to the fact that the trail winds its way to the summit. This gives the impression (or hope) that the summit would be around each bend. We finally reached the summit at around 2:50PM. We stayed at the summit and had a second lunch. I ate one of those energy goo things. It was the first time that I have ever had one and I must say that it was not the tastiest thing I had all day. I brought two of these for the hike but no way was I ever going to eat two of these. We stuck around till about 3:20PM and then started down, reaching the col between Hough and Pough a short time later.
From the col we turned right and took the trail back down via Lillian Brook. From reading older trip reports I was always cautioned to use this trail only in an emergency, however recent posts seemed to give the trail a good review. All in all I found the Lillian Brook trail to be a very pleasant walk. It weaves back and forth across the brook and provided (at least on this day) some nice spots throw some water on my face and wet my cap. The trail leads out on the red trail below the Lillian Brook Leanto. We turned left and walked to our camping area near Slide Brook. We took a rest, finished packing up our stuff and then hiked out to the trailhead We arrived at the car at about 7PM ending a wonderful day in the Dixes.
We camped at Slide Brook. Hiked up Slide Brook trail and up the West Slide to Macomb. Continued on to South Dix, then East Dix and back to South Dix. Took trail from South Dix to Pough and then Hough. Retraced our steps back to the col between Hough and Pough and then took the Lillian Brook trail back. It was damp due to previous days rain and a bit buggy. Views were very good although we had to wait until clouds passed to get a good view from South Dix.
We are thankful to recent posters billandjudy (see 4/5ths ot the Dixes) as well as to Yvon (for the pictures on his website). Their reports/websites were very informative and made our trip easier to plan.
Details
We arrived at the Northway exit early Monday afternoon. Almost as soon as we got off the Northway it started to rain. Since we didn’t want to start our trip with a walk in the rain we drove on to Newcomb and had a late lunch at the local bar and grill. After driving around a bit more, the weather improved and we drove to the Elk Lake trailhead and hiked in to the Slide Brooke area. As would be expected, the trail in was somewhat wet due to the earlier rain both on the current day and the previous day. We set up camp, made dinner and relaxed for the evening.
On Tuesday we woke early, had breakfast and started up the Slide Brook herd path at approximately 7:30AM. The hike up to the Macomb Slide was very pleasant. The slide itself consisted mostly of loose rock and wet sand. The climb up the slide was fun and provided wonderful views of Elk Lake and the surrounding areas. We reached the summit of Macomb at 9:10AM. The view from the summit, while not from the same angle as from the slide was also quite nice.
We proceeded from Macomb to South Dix passing through the Macomb South Dix col. At the col we saw a carin (apparently marking the start of a trail back via Lillian Brook). We then started to climb again and in no time were on the outcropping of rocks on South Dix. The view from these rocks was really wonderful and provided a great view of Macomb. When we reached the summit the view was partially obstructed due to cloud cover. (however on the way back the view was much better). We had to look around to find the summit marker. It is near a tree with a yellow ribbon. We stayed on the summit of South Dix for about 20 minutes and then continued on the East Dix.
The hike from South Dix into the Col between South Dix and East Dix was longer than I expected. It seemed that we were going down much longer than I had initially anticipated and for a bit I was concerned that we were going down too far, however once we started to climb again it was obvious that we were going in the right direction. We arrived on the summit of East Dix at 11:30AM and found the views quite spectacular and possibly the best of the day. From the summit we could see what appeared to be the Northway, Lake Champlain, and the Green Mountains. In the future I would like to hike to this point along the Bouquet river from route 73. We had a light lunch and then left at approximately 12:10 and then retraced our way back to South Dix.
At 1:20 we arrived at the cairn just before the summit of South Dix marking the trail to Pough and Hough. We proceeded down the trail. The trail was a bit narrow at points but nothing difficult in terms of following it. Going up and down Pough was really easy. Once in the col between Pough and Hough we saw the camping spot described in other posts as well as the trail that we would take later going down via Lillian Brook.
The climb up Hough was a bit more difficult than the previous climbs. This was probably due to the fact that we were becoming tired from the earlier hiking and also due to the fact that the trail winds its way to the summit. This gives the impression (or hope) that the summit would be around each bend. We finally reached the summit at around 2:50PM. We stayed at the summit and had a second lunch. I ate one of those energy goo things. It was the first time that I have ever had one and I must say that it was not the tastiest thing I had all day. I brought two of these for the hike but no way was I ever going to eat two of these. We stuck around till about 3:20PM and then started down, reaching the col between Hough and Pough a short time later.
From the col we turned right and took the trail back down via Lillian Brook. From reading older trip reports I was always cautioned to use this trail only in an emergency, however recent posts seemed to give the trail a good review. All in all I found the Lillian Brook trail to be a very pleasant walk. It weaves back and forth across the brook and provided (at least on this day) some nice spots throw some water on my face and wet my cap. The trail leads out on the red trail below the Lillian Brook Leanto. We turned left and walked to our camping area near Slide Brook. We took a rest, finished packing up our stuff and then hiked out to the trailhead We arrived at the car at about 7PM ending a wonderful day in the Dixes.
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