The Adirondack High Peaks Region and Andrew's 46er Page -

Aug. 24, 2019 (Sat.)

South Dix, Grace Peak, Hough Peak, Dix Mountain

Elevations: 4060 feet, 4012 feet, 4400 feet, 4857 feet; Order of Height: 37, 42, 23, 6

Participants: Andrew Lavigne, Jennifer Innes, Alana Wilcox, Pu Chen

Alana was looking to up her 46R summit count, and the rest of us were looking for a longer, less-crowded, and scenic outing. The Dix range is always generally reliable in regards to all of these parameters, so we cooked up a horseshoe-shaped itinerary that started at the North Fork Boquet River herdpath on Route 73, headed up the slide of East Dix (Grace), then followed the ridgecrest all the way to Dix, encompassing four of the five peaks of the Dix Range.

We got a nice early start -- before 7 a.m. The day was cool and calm, half clouds and half sun. Some of the higher peaks still had cloud enveloping them. The herdpath walk was easy and beautiful, as it always is. Stream crossings were easy, as water levels were very low. East Dix slide has grown in yet a bit more, but the good stuff is still nice and wide open, including the fun scrambly bits at the top.

Encountered a very large number of hikers on the summit of East Dix. Surprising, really. The numbers of hikers continued to be quite high from that point on, along the entire length of the very pleasant herdpath along the ridgeline. South Dix, Pough, Hough, and then finally to Dix, enjoying all of the many interesting and scenic lookouts along the way. A quick visit to the Beckhorn and then the summit of Dix, where there was another large group. The Adirondacks are busy everywhere now, it seems.

After a beautiful sunny mid-afternoon break on one Dix Mountain's prime summit ledges, we began the long walk back to the Route 73 trailhead. The only really trying part was the steep stretch from 4100 to 3300 feet down Dix's north face. After that, it was an easy but somewhat tedious trudge back to Round Pond, and then to route 73. Almost exactly 12 hours to do almost 24 kilometres. A decent pace. A great hike.

Trip Reports, Image Galleries or Other References:
Image Gallery: August 2019 Dix Range Horseshoe Hike

Aug. 22, 2015 (Sat.)

Grace Peak

Elevation: 4012 feet; Order of Height: 42

Participants: Andrew Lavigne, Jennifer Innes, Pu Chen

A climb of the great slide on newly-minted Grace Peak.

The northwest slide on Grace is a wonderful gem of the Adirondacks - out-of-the-way, possibly via an attractive approach, offers a sporty scramble, and excellent summit views, especially for a 'low' 4000-footer.

We had planned to do this outing in July, but bad weather (and then vacation out west) deferred that to mid-August. We were only able to secure Pu for the day, so it was just a small team of three once again. It is tough these days to gather people into a big group!

Under mixed cloud and sun, we started off on the Boquet River approach route (the best and most convenient way to do this climb) on route 73. Low water levels and an easy, mostly flat path meant we zoomed up the approach valley to the high part of the South Branch of the Boquet river. Here, after the last of the good tentsites, the path finally became rougher and slower.

About an hour later, we'd followed the herdpath to the first of the open slab. The wetted out portion of the slabs were extremely slippery, requiring a lot of caution. Fortunately, the wet sections became less prevalent as we ascended, and by the time we got to the craggier part of the slide, it was mostly all good, dry grippy rock. We caught up to passed a large party, choosing some different climbing lines from before.

A relaxing rest at the slide's top rim, and then it was on to the summit, where I thought there may have been some sort of memorial to the dedication/renaming of East Dix to Grace Peak (but I couldn't find anything). Then, we continued on and took the slide bypass herdpath down, avoiding having to deal with the slippery wet slabs. After that, a no-nonsense brisk walk brought us back the way we came, arriving back at the trailhead just over seven hours after starting out.

Please refer to the link below for the full trip report with lots of pictures.

Trip Reports, Image Galleries or Other References:
Image Gallery: August 2015 Grace Peak Slide Climb

Oct. 23, 2010 (Sat.)

Macomb Mountain, South Dix, Grace Peak, Hough Peak

Elevations: 4405 feet, 4060 feet, 4012 feet, 4400 feet; Order of Height: 21, 37, 42, 23

Participants: Andrew Lavigne, Brian Connell, Harold Piel

Today was the day that my good friend Brian Connell (and friend Harold Piel) had chosen to complete their Adirondack 46, and Brian had invited me along on this momentous occasion. Both Brian and Harold had several peaks in the Dix Range yet to do, so we worked out an itinerary that covered the superset of them: Grace (formerly East Dix), South Dix (Carson), Macomb, and Hough. And, I convinced them to involve the lovely Boquet River valley in the approach.

We started off on a pleasant and crisp late fall day from the herdpath start on Route 73. The previous evening had seen a light dusting of snow fall, and we were slightly worried about one of our possible ascents -- up the Great Slide of Grace -- being too slick to climb. We waited until deciding for sure, however, until we got to its base. The alternative was a bushwhack up to the Hough-Dix col, a route that I'd done a few winters ago.

It was (as usual) a delightful but somewhat long walk up the Boquet Valley herdpath. A group of beavers have been very busy in the valley of the North Fork of the Boquet River, causing extensive flooding.

To my disappointment, Grace's slide turned out to be fully covered with a thin layer of snow. We still decided to ascend in that direction, picking our way up along the edge of it. However, in doing so, we stumbled upon a very good herdpath that leads up in the woods to the right of the slide. This led very nicely to a spot along the Grace-South Dix ridge herd path. From there it was a simple walk along a slightly snowy and icy herd path to Grace.

The rest of the peak summitting went pretty much as planned. There was no extensive snow or ice making life too difficult, and the views, temperature, and wind were all very acceptable for a hike at this time of year. Harold reached #46 on Macomb shortly after 2pm, and Brian's 46th was reached two hours later on Hough. I brought along a fresh 46R patch for them to triumphantly hold on the summits. Congrats, guys!

We bushwhacked down from the Hough-Dix col to the Boquet River valley, discovering that it is more suited as a deep-of-winter bushwhack route. Still, it's not a bad way to go, if required. Following that descent, a long walk out via headlamp rounded out the day.

Trip Reports, Image Galleries or Other References:
Image Gallery: October 2010 46R Completion Hike for Brian and Harold in the Dix Range

Mar. 11, 2007 (Sun.)

Grace Peak, South Dix, Macomb Mountain

Elevations: 4012 feet, 4060 feet, 4405 feet; Order of Height: 42, 37, 21

Participants: Andrew Lavigne, Jennifer Innes, Ewart Tempest, Bill, Linda, Mark, Clay

With the 2007 winter climbing season drawing to a close, we wanted to ramp up the climbing. Initially thinking of Allen, we switched to the Dixes when we heard of other groups going in (and as a result, having broken trails to follow).

After much planning and re-planning, we set out on Sunday, March 11, using the Boquet River approach. The ambitious plan was to summit all five dixes this way. We had seven in total, with several people from the adk forum joining us.

We were fortunate to have a track to follow for about 3/5ths of the way to the Grace Slide. From there, it was not-too-bad trailbreaking to the base of the Grace Slide. It was quite tough to climb the slide, and as a result we all reached the summit of Dix at around noon (we started at 5am from route 73).

From there we had a broken path to south Dix and Macomb, but not to Hough. We therefore skipped Hough and Dix, and did a traverse over Macomb, down its slide, and on to Elk Lake, where the daughter of two of the members in our group was waiting for us with a car. A great day, and three more winter peaks down!

See the image gallery link below for a more detailed writeup and the set of pictures.

Trip Reports, Image Galleries or Other References:
Image Gallery: March 2007 Grace-South Dix-Macomb Traverse

Nov. 25, 2006 (Sat.)

Grace Peak

Elevation: 4012 feet; Order of Height: 42

Participants: Andrew Lavigne, Jennifer Innes, Roland Hanel, Ewart Tempest

Warm, wet, then dry November weather made it possible to make another go at the Great Slide of Grace. There was much less snow (more or less none at all), although recent cold nights resulted in a pretty thick buildup of ice on the lower part of the slide. We brought crampons and made short work of that section, then enjoyed a very warm, clear November day while scrambling up the excellent rock up to the top of the slide, and the crest of Grace's summit ridge. Lower stream levels and late-day warming meant that on the way back we were able to follow the entire herdpath properly; consult graphical trackmap in the image gallery. for our exact route. This is a very fun slide climb!

See the image gallery link below for a more detailed writeup and the set of pictures.

Trip Reports, Image Galleries or Other References:
Image Gallery: November 2006 Grace Hike

Oct. 21, 2006 (Sat.)

Grace Peak [Failed to Summit]

Elevation: 4012 feet; Order of Height: 42

Participants: Andrew Lavigne, Jennifer Innes, Graham Ashford, Alana, Dave

This one turned out to be a recon hike for a future winter ascent of the dixes via the Boquet River valley. A bit of early fall snow made the slide itself a little too treacherous, so we opted instead to explore the snow-free Boquet valley, figuring out the lay of the land and the herdpaths. In this way, we could come back in the winter with a solid understanding of how to quickly and efficiently get to the base of the slide. (plus, it was a nice fall day, and the Boquet River valley is quite a pleasant walk in the woods).

See the image gallery link below for a more detailed writeup and the set of pictures.

Trip Reports, Image Galleries or Other References:
Image Gallery: October 2006 Grace Hike

Jul. 11, 2004 (Sun.)

Macomb Mountain, South Dix, Grace Peak, Hough Peak, Dix Mountain

Elevations: 4405 feet, 4060 feet, 4012 feet, 4400 feet, 4857 feet; Order of Height: 21, 37, 42, 23, 6

Participants: Andrew Lavigne, Markus Wandel, Ewart Tempest

Markus wanted to 'catch up' to me on his 46er count with a hope towards summitting our final 46er peak together. He hadn't yet done the Dixes, and from doing it before I knew it was a great hike, so I decided to do it again with him.

We went down on a Sunday that promised good weather - Ewart also came along, for the fun of it (as this would be his third time at least on each of these peaks), and worrying about being too slow, he went down in advance and started 2 hours before us. We had FRS radios for communications so that we could meet up at some point.

It was no problem finding the herdpath turnoff, right after Slide Brook. Unfortunately, the low clouds had not lifted, and we were soon ascending into cloud. The trail was followable but somewhat tortuous, winding around and up and down, sometimes through annoying blowdown. Eventually the trail descended into slide brook, which soon turned into a real slide - but this one is different, being full of gravel and scree. Very unusual for the Adirondacks, but very interesting.

We reached top of Macomb in fairly short order, due to the direct and steep nature of the slide. The views had opened up, with some interesting above-and-below cloud views. Pretty nice, all in all. We had established radio contact with Ewart, who was a couple of peaks ahead of us. We'd have to try to catch up!

The weather, although forecast to be clear, was actually mostly cloudy, although at altitudes that created some pretty dramatic effects. The hike over to South Dix from Macomb was pretty easy, really. The approach to South Dix is quite spectacular, with some nice open rock along the way. At the summit of South Dix, we met Ewart backtracking from Grace on his way to Hough, so we had a brief Pow-wow. We were then off to Grace ourselves, sometimes in the clouds, sometimes not. Grace's summit is quite excellent for a peak that is barely over 4000 feet. Open and lots of views everywhere.

Next on the agenda was a hike all the way back to South Dix, and then on towards Hough Peak, a pointy summit not far from Dix. The trail goes through a lot of elevation gain and loss on this section, so maybe that's why they called the peak 'Hough' (pronounced 'Huff', as in Huff and Puff, maybe?). The summit of Hough, although treed, has lots of really nice viewpoints and has a good steep pointy feeling. This is also where we get very good views of the pointy side of Dix and the Beckhorn (a subsummit of Dix).

We arrive at Dix's summit mid-afternoon. The weather, although not clear, has lifted considerably, and the interplay of dark clouds and patches of sun creates dramatic lighting effects. Dix is an excellent summit, well-positioned and with views of the immediate rugged surroundings as well as views of the more distant Great Range. A very very enjoyable day to be up there. And, this is where we catch up with Ewart! Finally we'll actually be able to hike together! We head down via the Beckhorn on a very nice bit of trail. Down below things get a bit muggy and buggy (overall the bug situation was quite good for the entire day), and so the last bit out on the trail was a bit of a slog. We stopped to purify a bit more water.... but basically trudged right out to the trailhead, finishing at a pretty reasonable 6:30pm.

Trip Reports, Image Galleries or Other References:
Image Gallery: July 2004 Dix Range Hike

Aug. 26, 2000 (Sat.)

Dix Mountain, Hough Peak, Grace Peak, South Dix, Macomb Mountain

Elevations: 4857 feet, 4400 feet, 4012 feet, 4060 feet, 4405 feet; Order of Height: 6, 23, 42, 37, 21

Participants: Andrew Lavigne, Lorraine Hughes, Peter Guidry, Trisha

This was a fairly ambitious day... actually, my most ambitious Adirondack outing (by peak count) ever: five 46er peaks in one go. Along for the ride were PG, Lorraine, and her manager, Trisha. As I recall, it was actually pretty nice day - warm and sunny. I had a bit of difficulty locating and following the herd path up towards Macomb mountain, but more or less it went up near slide brook. Higher up it opened up into a rubbly slide, which was nice, although I recall it was pretty hot out in the open. The summit of Macomb mountain was more-or-less treed in, without any super-good views. From there, we made our way along towards the three-way junction between the paths for Macomb, Grace/South Dix, and Hough Peak. South Dix had a summit register but no real views to speak of. Grace's summit was much better - it was totally open. An excellent summit for such a relatively low elevation. After retracing our steps back to the junction, we mad our way over steep ups and downs to brushy Hough peak; a few views from this summit, despite the brush, with the Beckhorn on Dix being especially prominent from here. Upon reaching the beckhorn, Lorraine decided she'd had enough and skipped the short detour to the summit of Dix. We returned and descended via the Beckhorn and hiked the long flats back to the Elk lake trailhead.

Trip Reports, Image Galleries or Other References:
Image Gallery : August 2000 Climb: Macomb, Hough, and the Dixes