Rock cairn marking the beginning of the Slide Brook herd path, and leaves already falling

Mark begins his ascent of the landslide

At 10:00 a.m., we reached the summit of Macomb Mountain. Although woods surrounded three sides, the views of Elk Lake, down in the valley, were excellent. We chatted with people from a couple of other groups for a bit, took some photos, rested, and started off towards South Dix after about 20 minutes. The descent from Macomb was gradual and easy, as we dropped about 600’. Ascending South Dix wasn’t very challenging either and includes nice open, exposed expanses of bare rock, with views back at Macomb behind us. The summit of South Dix was in the woods, and was noted with a marker posted high on a tree that had initials carved into it. There’s a plan in the works to rename this peak to Carson, but it hasn’t yet happened. We arrived here at about 11:15 a.m. A couple was on the peak, and the young woman pointed us towards a stub trail ahead on the right that provided views to the southeast. She also took a group photo of us there. This was my halfway peak—I’d now climbed to the summit of 23 of the 46 High Peaks! I’d reached my goal (at least my goal up to that point).

Mark and David atop Macomb, with Elk Lake down below

Now, it was starting to get hot. Luckily, that meant only about 80 degrees for us, as it was in the low 90s at home. We followed the very easy, gradual climb to the recently re-named Grace Peak. (Side note: Although the accompanying map still shows this peak labeled East Dix, it was renamed in 2014 to honor Grace Hudowalski, who’d died 10 years earlier. She was the first female 46er, and is a legend among the 46ers organization). The descent of South Dix felt a bit steeper than the ascent, but neither were tough by Adirondack standards. It was basically along a ridge line (but in the woods), although we did joke about the “false col” we’d encountered. It took about an hour to get to Grace from South Dix. I was hot and starving. Mark seemed to be getting beat up and scratched by all the branches along these narrow trails.

At 12:10 p.m., we hit the summit of Grace. Wow! What a summit! Outstanding views in three directions, but especially to the east, looking out over the Champlain Valley, towards the Green Mountains. There were a couple of other groups on this peak with us. One foursome, “Team Mark”, was finishing the 46 High Peaks that one couple’s son Mark had remaining when he died of congenital heart failure at age 29. Although a sad story, it was also triumphant, as their two friends were celebrating their just-accomplished completion of all 46. Great place to do it! We rested here a while, baked in the hot sun on this exposed summit, had lunch, and took it all in. Mark took of his shoes and socks to rest his feet, which astonished the rest of us. We insisted that he’d never get his shoes back on, or would cause blisters. He seemed happy with his decision, and after about 30 minutes, we headed back to South Dix.

Re-ascending South Dix wasn’t too bad, but we all agreed we didn’t want to go back up Macomb and down the landslide, which seemed like it could be quite difficult. Ben was especially grateful to take an alternate route, and follow the path at the small cairn to the west of the South Dix summit. We got back there at 1:35 p.m., then descended to a col, and hiked up a small peak. Many call this shallow peak “Pough” as a play on words, since it’s next to Hough (pronounced “Huff”), so phonetically the pair are “Huff and Puff”. This had nice views to the west at a couple of spots, then east as we descended to the col with Hough Peak. We got to the col at 2:15 p.m., where we found a camp clearing. This is where we did some assessing. We knew we’d descend via the Lillian Brook Trail (which we were told was recently cleaned up—a good thing, since my guidebook warned against it). We weren’t sure where that trail came in, but another group confirmed that we’d just passed it (and Alex provided them with some much-needed water). Alex and I were eager to climb Hough since it was just a bit more than a half-mile detour round-trip. Ben wanted to descend. David leaned towards descending, and Mark leaned towards climbing Hough. So, we planned to have some guys wait at this clearing while others went up Hough. That quickly morphed into a plan where we’d all go up Hough, with Alex and I making a quick run at it, while the rest ascended more slowly. Alex and I would then meet the others on the descent, and report back if it was worth it or not.

Alex and I took off, and it was steep going up this peak. There was a neat wall of stone with horizontal layering, and we had to squeeze our way up and through it. I found this tough. As we hit a false summit, we were surprised to hear Ben call out! He’d decided to make the quick attempt too, and joined us. After a couple of false summits, we finally hit the real one at 2:50 p.m., only 20 minutes after we’d left the clearing. There were great views again here—especially of the ridge that carries the Dix Range Trail, leading to the pointed Beckhorn, which blocks out the slightly higher summit of Dix Mountain just behind it. A group of four French Canadians passed by and took our photo. We rested a few minutes and turned to leave, ready to tell Mark and David that it was steep and they may want to pass. To our surprise, one minute into our descent, we found them almost there. It turned out that Mark was ready to stop, and David gave him some “GU” energy gel with magical energy-recharging results! So, we all went back up, enjoyed the summit together in the crazy late-September heat, then headed down at 3:15 p.m.

Squeezing through the rocks on a steep ascent of Hough

Video from the summit of Hough Peak

David and Mark showed me an alternate path, bypassing the rock that we’d squeezed through (around the right side, on the descent), making this much easier. Back at the clearing, we found the cairn marking the trail heading east to Lillian Brook. Our running joke of the day was “hiking lies!” This included phrases like “Just a little more,” “It’s around the corner,” “There aren’t any bugs this time of year,” “This is the easy route,” “It’s maybe 10 more minutes,” and “It’s a ridge hike with views”. Well, the joke was on us. This “obvious trail” was great for a while, then we came to realize that somehow we’d lost it entirely. We backtracked a bit but couldn’t find the turnoff that we’d missed. Alex rightfully argued we should backtrack more, but instead we bushwacked through lowlands, trying to find the brook. Mark noticed some huge moose tracks in the mud and there was bear scat along the way. Our digital maps, GPS, compass, paper maps, and good sense finally brought us to the brook after about 30 minutes. Wandering the woods, we crossed the brook and… hallelujah! The trail was there on the other side!

Fresh moose print in the mud

From here down, the going was clear and easy (although leaf litter covered a lot). We hit the Dix Trail and headed south. By the time we crossed Slide Brook, I’d run out of water. With 2.3 miles to go, we made a beeline to finish up the hike, getting back to the car at 6:40 p.m., about 20 minutes before sunset. I downed a Gatorade, we got comfy footwear on, and drove back to the house. We arrived back at 7:40 p.m. to a great lasagna dinner that Jean had made for everyone. It was a great day, notching up four more High Peaks!