First off, I'd like to thank everyone for all the help and advice I've received over the past few weeks while I was planning this trip! Pretty much everything I learned was put to good use on Monday!
The plan was to hike in to the Slide Brook lean-to on Sunday night, complete the Dix Range starting with Macomb on Monday, and hike out on Tuesday morning. Things went mostly according to plan! On Sunday evening, I set out with my hiking partner from the Elk Lake trailhead at about 3:30pm. Even with all of the rain, the trail to Slide Brook was in excellent shape. Dry and slightly uphill for the first mile, wet and slightly downhill for the last mile. Around 5 we arrived at the lean-to and found it occupied by two people. We chatted for a bit, asked if they'd mind having some company, and having received the go-ahead, dropped our bags and started to unpack and get ready for dinner. We couldn't have been any luckier with our company, as Steve and his son Jack were probably two of the funniest and nicest people we've ever met in the 'Dacks. Steve had completed the 46 twenty years ago and was having a second go around at it with his son. We talked, played some interesting games, and hit the hay around 9:30.
We woke at 5:15 and were on the trail by 5:45. A very visible, very easily identifiable cairn about 100 yards south from the lean-to marked the start of the trail to Macomb. We made great time along the herd path to the start of the slide. The trail was in surprisingly great condition, especially with all of the rain the area had received the past few weeks. The slide was incredible! I've read the reports and heard the advice, but I've purposely been avoiding looking at any pictures of it, just so I could be a bit surprised. I snapped a few quick pics of my own and we started the climb. About halfway up, Steve and Jack caught us and told me to stow the hiking poles and just use my hands to scramble. I did, and had a much easier go, but unfortunately, one of my poles must have come loose and fell somewhere between the halfway point and the top of the slide (I posted a description in the Lost and Found section if anyone reading this happens to find them!). I didn't notice until about 10 minutes past the top of the slide. I dropped my pack and miserably headed back down to the point where I thought I packed them. No luck. Bad news = no poles for the rest of the day. Good news = I got to climb the slide twice! After getting back to my pack, it was a quick 10 minutes to a cloud-covered, viewless summit. The wind was whipping, and I also realized that my Camelback was leaking. My entire back, my pants, and my pack were soaked with about 1/2 quart of water. After messing with the hose fitting, I managed to stop the leak and we continued on to South Dix.
The hike over was as advertised - easiest peak to peak traverse in the Adirondacks. Took us 30 minutes, tops. We were shielded from the wind on the summit and the sun came out long enough for us to sit, dry our stuff out, and enjoy a nice snack with a great view. Great trail conditions from Macomb all the way over to East Dix. On the way down to East, we passed our two lean-to companions heading back to the Hough junction and met up with two other great people doing the range as a day trip. Walt and Kathy went ahead of us and we met up with them briefly on East, where we had a little time to enjoy the view before heading back quickly to make up for the half hour we had lost on my lost pole expedition. When we got back to the South Dix summit, we met Walt and Kathy again, and it's a good thing we did! They showed us the right trail to take over to Hough. We had both thought the cairn on the Macomb side of the summit just before you start to scramble was the correct trail. Turns out this was a bail-out trail and we would have ended up back at the lean-to! The trail up and over Pough and Hough took way less time than I thought it would. Maybe an hour and 15 minutes, if that. After a quick bite on Hough and a nice conversation with our saviors, we headed off for Dix and our 5th summit of the day.
From Hough, Dix looks menacing. You just get the feeling that there's no way you'll ever make it from where you're standing to the summit. However, the hike over was relatively short, tons of fun, and filled with incredible views. I'm not sure if Dix was my favorite summit so far, but I'd definitely put it in the top 5 (I don't know how many would agree, but there was just something about the summit of Phelps that I'm not sure can be beat). We spent about half an hour on the summit, alone and graciously sunned and warm. The worst part of the day was the never-ending hike down from Dix via the Beckhorn trail and then past Lillian Brook back to our lean-to. We kept moving pretty much the entire way down from the summit and it took us exactly three hours. Instead of camping for another night, we packed up and headed out before the bad weather moved in. At 7:30, we were back in the car. At 10:30, I was back in my bed, having completed one of my favorite, and most well-planned trips on my quest for the 46. 33 down, 13 to go. Thanks for reading!
The plan was to hike in to the Slide Brook lean-to on Sunday night, complete the Dix Range starting with Macomb on Monday, and hike out on Tuesday morning. Things went mostly according to plan! On Sunday evening, I set out with my hiking partner from the Elk Lake trailhead at about 3:30pm. Even with all of the rain, the trail to Slide Brook was in excellent shape. Dry and slightly uphill for the first mile, wet and slightly downhill for the last mile. Around 5 we arrived at the lean-to and found it occupied by two people. We chatted for a bit, asked if they'd mind having some company, and having received the go-ahead, dropped our bags and started to unpack and get ready for dinner. We couldn't have been any luckier with our company, as Steve and his son Jack were probably two of the funniest and nicest people we've ever met in the 'Dacks. Steve had completed the 46 twenty years ago and was having a second go around at it with his son. We talked, played some interesting games, and hit the hay around 9:30.
We woke at 5:15 and were on the trail by 5:45. A very visible, very easily identifiable cairn about 100 yards south from the lean-to marked the start of the trail to Macomb. We made great time along the herd path to the start of the slide. The trail was in surprisingly great condition, especially with all of the rain the area had received the past few weeks. The slide was incredible! I've read the reports and heard the advice, but I've purposely been avoiding looking at any pictures of it, just so I could be a bit surprised. I snapped a few quick pics of my own and we started the climb. About halfway up, Steve and Jack caught us and told me to stow the hiking poles and just use my hands to scramble. I did, and had a much easier go, but unfortunately, one of my poles must have come loose and fell somewhere between the halfway point and the top of the slide (I posted a description in the Lost and Found section if anyone reading this happens to find them!). I didn't notice until about 10 minutes past the top of the slide. I dropped my pack and miserably headed back down to the point where I thought I packed them. No luck. Bad news = no poles for the rest of the day. Good news = I got to climb the slide twice! After getting back to my pack, it was a quick 10 minutes to a cloud-covered, viewless summit. The wind was whipping, and I also realized that my Camelback was leaking. My entire back, my pants, and my pack were soaked with about 1/2 quart of water. After messing with the hose fitting, I managed to stop the leak and we continued on to South Dix.
The hike over was as advertised - easiest peak to peak traverse in the Adirondacks. Took us 30 minutes, tops. We were shielded from the wind on the summit and the sun came out long enough for us to sit, dry our stuff out, and enjoy a nice snack with a great view. Great trail conditions from Macomb all the way over to East Dix. On the way down to East, we passed our two lean-to companions heading back to the Hough junction and met up with two other great people doing the range as a day trip. Walt and Kathy went ahead of us and we met up with them briefly on East, where we had a little time to enjoy the view before heading back quickly to make up for the half hour we had lost on my lost pole expedition. When we got back to the South Dix summit, we met Walt and Kathy again, and it's a good thing we did! They showed us the right trail to take over to Hough. We had both thought the cairn on the Macomb side of the summit just before you start to scramble was the correct trail. Turns out this was a bail-out trail and we would have ended up back at the lean-to! The trail up and over Pough and Hough took way less time than I thought it would. Maybe an hour and 15 minutes, if that. After a quick bite on Hough and a nice conversation with our saviors, we headed off for Dix and our 5th summit of the day.
From Hough, Dix looks menacing. You just get the feeling that there's no way you'll ever make it from where you're standing to the summit. However, the hike over was relatively short, tons of fun, and filled with incredible views. I'm not sure if Dix was my favorite summit so far, but I'd definitely put it in the top 5 (I don't know how many would agree, but there was just something about the summit of Phelps that I'm not sure can be beat). We spent about half an hour on the summit, alone and graciously sunned and warm. The worst part of the day was the never-ending hike down from Dix via the Beckhorn trail and then past Lillian Brook back to our lean-to. We kept moving pretty much the entire way down from the summit and it took us exactly three hours. Instead of camping for another night, we packed up and headed out before the bad weather moved in. At 7:30, we were back in the car. At 10:30, I was back in my bed, having completed one of my favorite, and most well-planned trips on my quest for the 46. 33 down, 13 to go. Thanks for reading!
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