Macomb, South Dix, Grace, Hough

Our latest venture into the High Peaks brought us to the Elk Lake trailhead, a place that we had never been. We were excited to get into the Dix Range and our intention was to hike the four lower mountains in the range, excluding Dix itself.

We started at sunrise from Elk Lake and headed up the trail. There was a chance of rain forecast for the afternoon, so we wanted an early start. We turned onto the Macomb herd path after an hour and were absolutely impressed at the state of the trail. We were cruising along until we came to the slide, which was unlike any other Adirondack slide that we have ever seen. The boulders are sitting on sand and our forward progress was brought to snail pace as we scrambled up to the peak. We only had one close call where a boulder came loose and rolled right by Lisa....oops.

The views on the way up were spectacular but steadily getting more hazy. The clouds that we were hoping would wait until the afternoon were starting to roll in. We eyed Allen as one of the most prominent peaks in the distance and looked over Elk Lake as a great lake to explore by kayak or canoe.  Plus we've been tipped off that the dining hall serves a pretty tasty meal.

Macomb Peak gave us a nice view while we snacked on trail mix. The haze was beginning to roll in to the further peaks, so we made our way down.

It was an easy descent and ascent to South Dix, which had some nice views on the rocky trail but had a wooded summit. We snapped a couple shots to prove that we were there and kept marching on towards newly-named Grace Peak.

Another easy mile to Grace where we had views of the Champlain Valley and Schroon Lake areas. It was also a great view back to the Dix Range with Dix's famous Beckhorn prominent in the distance. In my humble opinion, Grace Peak gave us the best view of the day. We ate our lunch at the summit before heading back to South Dix.

When we arrived at South Dix, we turned north just past the summit and headed toward Hough (pronounced "huff") Peak. We had to cross a lower peak on the way which has been named Pough...get it?

Hough is aptly named, being as steep as it is, but a fantastic vantage point nonetheless. I wanted to wait until the cloud rolled off of Dix, but the mist kept blowing up from the valley and blocking that summit. We started to descend.

The Lillian Brook herd path, which we used to make a loop, is also in nice shape. With actual soil under our boots for most of the descent, our knees didn't suffer nearly as much as other peaks. We made our way out on the path, tired and ready for michigans!

On the drive home, we looked back at Dix from Addison, Vermont and there was still a significant cloud blocking the view of the peak. It was a good thing we didn't wait!