adktyler
Active member
Yesterday five of us hiked all five peaks in the Dix Range in the Adirondacks. Among the hiking party was Adam (1ADAM12), Dean (Dean G.), Ryan, Kit, and myself. What a great and hilarious group of guys! Jokes flew back and forth as we began our hike along that road of all roads into the summer trailhead. We were also lucky to get the worst even of the day out of the way early on. One of our hikers (I won’t mention any names, but I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to take full credit for it), became suddenly burdened by his previous meal of Adirondack fries at the Long Lake Inn. He decided to share this burden with the rest of us, which not only smoldered the inside of our nasal cavities, but also created a fairly large hole in the ozone. I feel sorry for any vegetation within a 500 foot radius of that trailhead!
Hiking on along the trail was speedy and uneventful, and we made nice time in the morning darkness. By the time we hit the Lillian Brook lean-to, the sun had completely risen, as had the temperatures. We soon arrived at the Beckhorn /Hunters Pass intersection, where I came up with a grand (and utterly stupid) idea. I would go up Hunters Pass and the rest of the group would go up the Beckhorn and we would see who arrived at the top first. The other guys immediately became a bad influence on me and said to go for it.
So the decision was made, and I took off up the semi-broken trail. Well, the trail was hard-packed and had a great crust for awhile, but I soon began post-holing, even with my snowshoes on. I should have turned back sooner, but stubbornness drove me on. In about 40 minutes I was about ¼ of the way to the summit, and finally decided to turn back and just try and catch the rest of the group up the Beckhorn. I ran back down the trail (if you call lumbering awkwardly though the woods running), and arrived back at the intersection 20 minutes later. I was now an hour behind them, and had some catching up to do, since I didn’t want to leave them waiting for me somewhere up at higher elevations.
Within a miserably intense 45 minute climb I finally caught up with the tail end of the group, about 15 minutes from the Beckhorn. The sun was beaming down full force at this time, and our good friend Adam was hiking in just his underwear (a vision I hope to never see again, haha). We continued meandering to the summit of Dix, and before you knew it were united as a group once more enjoying the sun and breeze on the Beckhorn! One down, four to go. I heard rumors of a Manbearpig breaking trail ahead of us, so I was confident that we would have little trouble with the rest of the peaks.
The traverse from the Beckhorn to Hough was quite exciting. Adam lost his sled and two water bottles, and everybody else lost a little flesh and blood. However, we all gained our second wind, and that wind seemed to stick with us for the rest of the day! The sun was almost completely gone by the time we arrived at the summit of Hough, and the breeze did a great job keeping us cool. Excellent food was broken out, puns were spewed forth like fruit gushers, and the Whiz Brothers spent some time on the second peak of the day. Once on our way again, we met up with none other than Jim C and highonlife! Always a pleasure to see their smiling faces high up in the mountains. They actually continued on towards Dix (after hiking the other four), and grabbed Adam’s lost items. Thanks guys!!
Hiking up and over Pough was a pain in the butt as always, but we plugged along at a nice pace and soaked in the views whenever possible. Stories were shared often, and laughing abounded from every member of the hiking group. In what seemed like very little time at all we were standing on the summit of South Dix (Carson)! After some more friendly bantering and mockery was exchanged, we began the trip to East Dix (Grace). On the way, we run into the enigmatic Manbearpig (Marc H ;-) and witnessed his eccentric hiking garb (I love the color choices my friend!). He gave us some info on other hiking groups out there that day, and bid us farewell as he continued on for his last peak of the day.
After a quick down and up, we were situating on the summit of Grace with another hiker (I never did catch his name). It was fairly windy up there, so we didn’t tarry too long. However, we did get a nice picture of our entire group, and the camera lens didn’t even break in the process, lol (or as Adam would say, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA). The hike back up to Carson went well, and soon we were being bombarded with wind on the south face of that viewless peak. In the spirit of friendship, we laughed hysterically as everyone postholed towards the bottom of the exposed face, and each one kindly stated where the other should stick their snowshoe. Finally we were ascending our last substantial elevation gain of the day, and it felt goooooood!
In less than 40 minutes we were standing just past the summit of Macomb (the summit was MUCH too cold and windy for our experienced winter hiking crew). Adam’s now at 16W, Dean’s at 28W, and I’ve got less than 20 for my second winter round! Yahoo!! I believe that we were all quite tired at this point judging by the verbal and graphic expression of our leg’s condition; Dean asked we wanted any cheese with our wine, and all I could think was “mmmmm, cheese!” After layering down once again, we began the descent to the notorious slide. The minute we stepped foot on that open slope of real estate, the fun began. The snow was such that butt sliding was an excellent descending tool; however, there just the right amount of snow for numerous rocks to protrude and give everybody’s bottoms a good old whack. This, of course, was great entertainment for everybody else, until their turn to get close and personal with said rocks arrived.
Video of the slide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M-R-vqHQMQ
The best show was provided by Adam. I was standing well below him, thoughtfully laughing my butt of at his “graceful” technique, when he lost a little bit of control, headed down in the wrong direction, and slid right over an exposed rock face, getting a good six inches of air and slamming his rear end into pure, unadulterated rock! He of course let out a smooth string of expletives that I’m sure accurately explained how he felt about those rocks. For the remainder of the slide descent I encouraged him to hit more rocks, since I didn’t get that particular episode on film. He chose to disregard my requests, which was rather sad, albeit understanding. Thanks for the entertainment, Adam!
Video of the sliding: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90j8EvFjDHA
The last bit of excitement for the day came when we decided to follow the drainage out to the main trail, rather than the established herd path. The only reason for this was that once the butt sliding was over, we were too lazy to climb back up to the actual path. So, we contented ourselves with creating the biggest and wettest postholes known to man while following the Slide Brook out. I’m still thankful that no one killed Ryan and me who led through that new and exciting exit option! After a little while, though, we were back on the regular herd path and soon arrived at the main trail.
At this point I took off back to the car, eager to take off my wet outfit and sit down on something more comfortable than a log. It was also my task to warm up the car, arrange some gear, and get the massage therapists ready for their ensuing task (yea…I wish). In an hour I was back at the car, thankful to have gotten all five peaks in one day. After a little while, the rest of the group showed up, looking a little like a cross between a wounded puppy and a meth addict. Soon, however, we were all at McDonalds, laughing at stories from the day, and enjoying the final moments of each other’s company. I have to say, I don’t think I’ve ever hiked with a group of guys that gets along so well and can trash talk each other so perfectly. I want to extend my HUGE appreciation to their generosity towards me! You guys are the best, and it was my pleasure to hike with you!! Thanks SO much!
Here are some photos from the trip
Adam's: http://picasaweb.google.com/adkhiker09/DixWinter32010#
Tyler's: http://picasaweb.google.com/adktyler/DixRangeInADay#
Hiking on along the trail was speedy and uneventful, and we made nice time in the morning darkness. By the time we hit the Lillian Brook lean-to, the sun had completely risen, as had the temperatures. We soon arrived at the Beckhorn /Hunters Pass intersection, where I came up with a grand (and utterly stupid) idea. I would go up Hunters Pass and the rest of the group would go up the Beckhorn and we would see who arrived at the top first. The other guys immediately became a bad influence on me and said to go for it.
So the decision was made, and I took off up the semi-broken trail. Well, the trail was hard-packed and had a great crust for awhile, but I soon began post-holing, even with my snowshoes on. I should have turned back sooner, but stubbornness drove me on. In about 40 minutes I was about ¼ of the way to the summit, and finally decided to turn back and just try and catch the rest of the group up the Beckhorn. I ran back down the trail (if you call lumbering awkwardly though the woods running), and arrived back at the intersection 20 minutes later. I was now an hour behind them, and had some catching up to do, since I didn’t want to leave them waiting for me somewhere up at higher elevations.
Within a miserably intense 45 minute climb I finally caught up with the tail end of the group, about 15 minutes from the Beckhorn. The sun was beaming down full force at this time, and our good friend Adam was hiking in just his underwear (a vision I hope to never see again, haha). We continued meandering to the summit of Dix, and before you knew it were united as a group once more enjoying the sun and breeze on the Beckhorn! One down, four to go. I heard rumors of a Manbearpig breaking trail ahead of us, so I was confident that we would have little trouble with the rest of the peaks.
The traverse from the Beckhorn to Hough was quite exciting. Adam lost his sled and two water bottles, and everybody else lost a little flesh and blood. However, we all gained our second wind, and that wind seemed to stick with us for the rest of the day! The sun was almost completely gone by the time we arrived at the summit of Hough, and the breeze did a great job keeping us cool. Excellent food was broken out, puns were spewed forth like fruit gushers, and the Whiz Brothers spent some time on the second peak of the day. Once on our way again, we met up with none other than Jim C and highonlife! Always a pleasure to see their smiling faces high up in the mountains. They actually continued on towards Dix (after hiking the other four), and grabbed Adam’s lost items. Thanks guys!!
Hiking up and over Pough was a pain in the butt as always, but we plugged along at a nice pace and soaked in the views whenever possible. Stories were shared often, and laughing abounded from every member of the hiking group. In what seemed like very little time at all we were standing on the summit of South Dix (Carson)! After some more friendly bantering and mockery was exchanged, we began the trip to East Dix (Grace). On the way, we run into the enigmatic Manbearpig (Marc H ;-) and witnessed his eccentric hiking garb (I love the color choices my friend!). He gave us some info on other hiking groups out there that day, and bid us farewell as he continued on for his last peak of the day.
After a quick down and up, we were situating on the summit of Grace with another hiker (I never did catch his name). It was fairly windy up there, so we didn’t tarry too long. However, we did get a nice picture of our entire group, and the camera lens didn’t even break in the process, lol (or as Adam would say, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA). The hike back up to Carson went well, and soon we were being bombarded with wind on the south face of that viewless peak. In the spirit of friendship, we laughed hysterically as everyone postholed towards the bottom of the exposed face, and each one kindly stated where the other should stick their snowshoe. Finally we were ascending our last substantial elevation gain of the day, and it felt goooooood!
In less than 40 minutes we were standing just past the summit of Macomb (the summit was MUCH too cold and windy for our experienced winter hiking crew). Adam’s now at 16W, Dean’s at 28W, and I’ve got less than 20 for my second winter round! Yahoo!! I believe that we were all quite tired at this point judging by the verbal and graphic expression of our leg’s condition; Dean asked we wanted any cheese with our wine, and all I could think was “mmmmm, cheese!” After layering down once again, we began the descent to the notorious slide. The minute we stepped foot on that open slope of real estate, the fun began. The snow was such that butt sliding was an excellent descending tool; however, there just the right amount of snow for numerous rocks to protrude and give everybody’s bottoms a good old whack. This, of course, was great entertainment for everybody else, until their turn to get close and personal with said rocks arrived.
Video of the slide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M-R-vqHQMQ
The best show was provided by Adam. I was standing well below him, thoughtfully laughing my butt of at his “graceful” technique, when he lost a little bit of control, headed down in the wrong direction, and slid right over an exposed rock face, getting a good six inches of air and slamming his rear end into pure, unadulterated rock! He of course let out a smooth string of expletives that I’m sure accurately explained how he felt about those rocks. For the remainder of the slide descent I encouraged him to hit more rocks, since I didn’t get that particular episode on film. He chose to disregard my requests, which was rather sad, albeit understanding. Thanks for the entertainment, Adam!
Video of the sliding: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90j8EvFjDHA
The last bit of excitement for the day came when we decided to follow the drainage out to the main trail, rather than the established herd path. The only reason for this was that once the butt sliding was over, we were too lazy to climb back up to the actual path. So, we contented ourselves with creating the biggest and wettest postholes known to man while following the Slide Brook out. I’m still thankful that no one killed Ryan and me who led through that new and exciting exit option! After a little while, though, we were back on the regular herd path and soon arrived at the main trail.
At this point I took off back to the car, eager to take off my wet outfit and sit down on something more comfortable than a log. It was also my task to warm up the car, arrange some gear, and get the massage therapists ready for their ensuing task (yea…I wish). In an hour I was back at the car, thankful to have gotten all five peaks in one day. After a little while, the rest of the group showed up, looking a little like a cross between a wounded puppy and a meth addict. Soon, however, we were all at McDonalds, laughing at stories from the day, and enjoying the final moments of each other’s company. I have to say, I don’t think I’ve ever hiked with a group of guys that gets along so well and can trash talk each other so perfectly. I want to extend my HUGE appreciation to their generosity towards me! You guys are the best, and it was my pleasure to hike with you!! Thanks SO much!
Here are some photos from the trip
Adam's: http://picasaweb.google.com/adkhiker09/DixWinter32010#
Tyler's: http://picasaweb.google.com/adktyler/DixRangeInADay#
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