Date: September 27, 2023
Location: Adirondack State Park, High Peaks Region, New York, USA
Total Trip Distance: 17.48 mi / 28 km Total Elevation Gain: 5,400 ft / 1,646 m
Trip Duration: 10.5 hours
Team: Solo
Field Notes: The Dix Range is an Adirondack classic. 5 summits, rough terrain, and a long day out. There wasn't any water up on the ridge, but plenty in the valley below. I could see this being hellish in the spring and/or after a rainy period. I started with Macomb first. The parking at Elk Lake only has spots for 20 cars and apparently fills up by 4 am in summer.
Rating: Class 1
The Dix Range is a trip I've wanted to do for quite awhile. I grew up in Albany, New York and the Adirondacks have been fundamental in developing my passion for the outdoors. Most of my early years in the hills were spent hiking in the Daks.
While I am home visiting family for a few weeks before I fly to New Zealand, my dad let me borrow his truck and I made my way north on a Tuesday. I had a solid weather forecast and fall was knocking on the door. I pulled into the trailhead at Elk Lake Lodge at 8 am and started up.
I wasn't feeling 100%. For the last three days I was battling a runny nose and low energy. The four day trip in the Pasayten was just a week ago and in that time I've traveled all the way back from Canada, to Seattle, to New York. I figured I needed to get the blood pumping and this day would surely do the trick.
I told myself I wanted to do this day in eight hours (haha) and set a strong all day pace. At just over two hours I was on top of Macomb and had knocked out a little over 2k of vert. I had a homemade breakfast burrito with bacon and eggs and kept moving towards South Dix. As I was going down to the col I remembered how heinous the terrain is in the Adirondacks.
Here is my perspective on Adirondack terrain: I've traveled all over the world for the last 10 years. If you look at my interactive map of trips I've been in Idaho, Wyoming, Canada, New Zealand, California, Tasmania, etc. To be fair, this isn't "everywhere", nor is that a goal, but I've been to quite a few places. In my opinion, nowhere in the world has rougher trails than the Adirondacks. I'm not talking about scrambling or mountaineering, just purely trails. It's bloody rough out here.
I quickly climbed up South Dix and kept moving towards Grace. There is a one mile stretch between the two peaks and in another twenty five minutes I stood on my third peak. At this point it had been three and a half hours and I had a realization...this was going to be a very long day!
I did a quick downward dog and got back into flow, if you could call it that. After retracing my steps back to South Dix I cut right and began the ridge to Hough and Dix. This was my favorite part of the day as the views are unique and open up along the ridge. Just below Hough I met another hiker (only the second the entire day) where I found out the peak is pronounced "Huff." I was now enlightened and scrambled to the top of my fourth peak of the day.
I enjoyed a quick snack and kept moving. Of course the trail dropped down another 400 feet and I began the final 1,000 foot climb to the top of Dix. I set a casual pace and went up. At the top of the Beck-horn the views were my favorite of the trip. I could see the entire Great Range, Giant, Rocky Peak Ridge, the Santanoni Range, the Southern Adirondacks, Whiteface, and many more. Holy cripe. And to have it all alone was a treat.
At this point it was 6.5 hours on the move. I knew that the way out was going to be a complete slog, so I took a solid rest and refueled. Ahead of me lay a 2,600 foot descent to the valley floor, followed by another 4 miles. This was going to suck, no doubt about it.
Fast forward and I was at the valley bottom. It sucked worse than I thought. I took another break as my legs were feeling pretty cooked at this point. I kept walking and ran into the beautiful Lillian Brook. Cold water! I got completely naked and submerged my legs and feet into the icy magic.
Feeling recharged I walked the final 4-ish miles back to the car, ending the day just on the stroke of 10.5 hours. This was the longest day I've had in the mountains in a long time. The thing about the Adirondacks is that for many of the peaks, there can be quite a long approach. Definitely a contrast to many of the trips I did in Canada this summer. All in all, a classic day out in the Daks.
Happy days...
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