HuiYeng
Active member
After several last minute emails and phone calls with Jay on Wednesday, I decided to head over to ADK for some serious peak bagging mission. The plan was to hike Colvin, Blake, Nippletop and Dial on Friday; 5 Dixes on Saturday. A short hike on Sunday and driving home in the afteroon.
Day 1: Colvin, Blake, Nippletop and Dial
We met up at the St Huberts parking lot just after 7 AM. Both Jay and I rather a long road walk at the beginning than at the end of a long hike. So the choice was to hike the 2.5 mi on the Lake road and headed up Mt Colvin first. This was the second time I hiked along this long road. The first time was with Jay and Al last year when we did Sawteeth to Lower Wolf Jaw in winter. I remembered I was tailing both of them and was seriously out of breath just to keep up with them on this level road walk. 1 year later in this warm summer day, I was doing slightly better. The hike up to the col between Colvin and Elk Pass was mild and gentle. We ran into 2 groups of hikers along the trail, one group passed us when we took short break at the col. From the col to the summit of Colvin was where all the climbing began. We hiked pass the group again and one of the guy told Jay to “breath heavily when you pass us” so that they won’t feel too bad about themselves. I can assure you I was huffing and puffing big time to keep up with him. I think it was along here where I sucked in a bug straight to my throat while gasping for air with my mouth. The bug would be my main source of protein for the rest of the day.
The views from the summit of Colvin was beautiful. We had great views of the Great Range and the Ausable Lake. As planned, Jay would stay at Colvin to enjoy the views while I hiked over to the viewless summit of Blake. Terri who I ran into last night had warned me about the mud situation on the way to Blake. And very soon I got my taste of the infamous ADK mud! They're thick yet juicy and buttery and arrgghhh... Anyway, after struggled through about 3 mud pools later, I made it down to the col and up to what I hope to be the summit of Blake. It was unmarked and as Terri had told me the summit was on a “big rock”. Made it back to Colvin and somewhere along there, I breathed in a bug through my nose. Yup, it was not only muddy but buggy too up there.
Back to Colvin, Jay was noticeably more tanned than when I left him
(kidding, it was very sunny and I was gone for almost 2 hours) We hiked back to the col up to the Elk Pass and made it to the summit of the awesome Nippletop. Looking back at Colvin and Blake. Behind them rise the Great Range, endless wave of mountains and shades of green woods, I confessed to Jay that I truly think ADK is more beautiful than the Whites. So beautiful that I wish I live closer.
We’re hoping to spend more time at the summit to enjoy the views but the bugs were too much to handle. The hike to Dial was not getting any easier. Couple of ups and downs later we arrived at the summit of Dial, the views from Dial was as impressive as from Nippletop, best of all it was less buggy. The rest of the hike back to the Lake road was… tiring, as my patience and energy ran low, the PUDs became FUDs. After the hiked up to the shoulder of Noonmark, the trail began to descend gradually all the way to the Lake Road. Despite having to hike all these bumps toward the end of the day, I still think I prefer to do this loop hike clockwise than clockwise, because the trail after Dial was relatively soft, it was easier on my aching knee.
Day 2: The BIG day! Macomb, South Dix, East Dix , Hough and Dix
Another early start for us, we left the Hostel in Keene Valley at around 6 AM. Drove pass a buffalo farm on our way to Elk Lake trail head and saw many buffalos out and about, that was pretty cool. The hike from the parking lot to the entrance of the herb path was an easy walk. The entrance of the herb path to the Macomb slide was marked by a small but obvious cairn. If you got to the Lean-To you’ve gone too far. The herb path was amazingly well maintained and even pruned. In no time we reached the slide and began the climb. Most part of the slide was loose rocks and scree. Lower part was bit sandier, and a big slab of boulder toward the top of the slide. Just a little bit of scrambling, not bad at all. From the top of the slide we entered the scrub and followed the beautiful herb path all the way to the summit of Macomb.
Just a quick short break later, we got back to the herb path and head right over to S. Dix. 30 min or so later we reached the col, where there was another herb path led down to Lillian Brook Lean-to. We took a right to continue to S. Dix. From the herb path we saw what I thought was the summit, but once we got there only to see another hump raised behind it. Oh well. Somewhere around here we came across a small cairn along the trail that marked the entrance of the herb path to Hough. The summit S. Dix was marked by a yellow disc nailed high on a skinny tree. We walked right pass it at first, without noticing. When the trail began to descend again then we walked back and Jay spotted the summit disc. Took some pictures and headed right over to E. Dix.
The herb path to E. Dix was slightly thicker than the herb paths that led us here so far, but still easy to follow. We ran into a member of ADKhighpeaks forum, Kenmore while on our way to E. Dix. He told us not to miss the outlook just a short walk through the scrub after the summit of E. Dix. The summit itself was impressive enough, we could see across Lake Champlain into Vermont, spotted Camel Humps etc. But once we made our way to the outlook…. WOW, now that’s just “wicked awesome” (trademarked by Mats) We’ve got a clear views of the rest of our journey: the ridge back to S. Dix, the descent from Pough and up Hough (there’s no coincidence with the names here) and down and up to Dix. Long day ahead to say the least.
So back to S.Dix turned right onto the herb path and began to puff and huff our way to Dix. We walked right pass Pough without even noticing. And then came across a campsite right next to the herb path. Another steep climbed later, we arrived at the summit of Hough Peak. Dix was still far away…
The herb path leads to Dix was thicker, I got a scratch on my knee from pushing through the brushes somewhere on my way to Dix. Made it to the Beckhorn and on an officially marked trail that lead to the summit of Dix. We chatted with a couple from Montreal who climbed up via the slide directly. It was windier here which mean less bug! We proudly surveyed the route we had travelled so far: the ridge from Macomb to E. Dix; the ridge from S. Dix to here were all layout in front of us like a report card. We did good!
The descent from the Beckhorn was very steep at the beginning. We dropped few hundred feet very quickly, so quick that I need to pop ears to adjust to the pressure. Soon we left the alpine zone, got to the junction of trail #119 on my map, crossed Lillian Brook and headed back to the parking lot just after 6PM. Great day, awesome hike!!!
Day 3: Hurricane
My right foot was in pain, I guessed I was over compensating my knee by twisting my foot outward too much? I told Jay if we gonna hike anything at all today, I wanted it to be Street and Nye… but who am I kidding. The truth was after breakfast at the diner, I just wanted to sit there to wait till noon for lunch. But we did Hurricane anyway and I sure was glad we did it. Another fabulous day for hiking and the summit of Hurricane was wide open, with almost 360 views.
GREAT weekend in ADK that’s for sure! Thanks Jay for keeping me company. You obviously used your slow hiking speed for this arching body to keep up, waited for me at the junctions, put up with my “are we there yet?” and “it looks so far away!” (and it was very FAR!!!)
Awesome mountains!
Pictures: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3.
Day 1: Colvin, Blake, Nippletop and Dial
We met up at the St Huberts parking lot just after 7 AM. Both Jay and I rather a long road walk at the beginning than at the end of a long hike. So the choice was to hike the 2.5 mi on the Lake road and headed up Mt Colvin first. This was the second time I hiked along this long road. The first time was with Jay and Al last year when we did Sawteeth to Lower Wolf Jaw in winter. I remembered I was tailing both of them and was seriously out of breath just to keep up with them on this level road walk. 1 year later in this warm summer day, I was doing slightly better. The hike up to the col between Colvin and Elk Pass was mild and gentle. We ran into 2 groups of hikers along the trail, one group passed us when we took short break at the col. From the col to the summit of Colvin was where all the climbing began. We hiked pass the group again and one of the guy told Jay to “breath heavily when you pass us” so that they won’t feel too bad about themselves. I can assure you I was huffing and puffing big time to keep up with him. I think it was along here where I sucked in a bug straight to my throat while gasping for air with my mouth. The bug would be my main source of protein for the rest of the day.
The views from the summit of Colvin was beautiful. We had great views of the Great Range and the Ausable Lake. As planned, Jay would stay at Colvin to enjoy the views while I hiked over to the viewless summit of Blake. Terri who I ran into last night had warned me about the mud situation on the way to Blake. And very soon I got my taste of the infamous ADK mud! They're thick yet juicy and buttery and arrgghhh... Anyway, after struggled through about 3 mud pools later, I made it down to the col and up to what I hope to be the summit of Blake. It was unmarked and as Terri had told me the summit was on a “big rock”. Made it back to Colvin and somewhere along there, I breathed in a bug through my nose. Yup, it was not only muddy but buggy too up there.
Back to Colvin, Jay was noticeably more tanned than when I left him
(kidding, it was very sunny and I was gone for almost 2 hours) We hiked back to the col up to the Elk Pass and made it to the summit of the awesome Nippletop. Looking back at Colvin and Blake. Behind them rise the Great Range, endless wave of mountains and shades of green woods, I confessed to Jay that I truly think ADK is more beautiful than the Whites. So beautiful that I wish I live closer. We’re hoping to spend more time at the summit to enjoy the views but the bugs were too much to handle. The hike to Dial was not getting any easier. Couple of ups and downs later we arrived at the summit of Dial, the views from Dial was as impressive as from Nippletop, best of all it was less buggy. The rest of the hike back to the Lake road was… tiring, as my patience and energy ran low, the PUDs became FUDs. After the hiked up to the shoulder of Noonmark, the trail began to descend gradually all the way to the Lake Road. Despite having to hike all these bumps toward the end of the day, I still think I prefer to do this loop hike clockwise than clockwise, because the trail after Dial was relatively soft, it was easier on my aching knee.
Day 2: The BIG day! Macomb, South Dix, East Dix , Hough and Dix
Another early start for us, we left the Hostel in Keene Valley at around 6 AM. Drove pass a buffalo farm on our way to Elk Lake trail head and saw many buffalos out and about, that was pretty cool. The hike from the parking lot to the entrance of the herb path was an easy walk. The entrance of the herb path to the Macomb slide was marked by a small but obvious cairn. If you got to the Lean-To you’ve gone too far. The herb path was amazingly well maintained and even pruned. In no time we reached the slide and began the climb. Most part of the slide was loose rocks and scree. Lower part was bit sandier, and a big slab of boulder toward the top of the slide. Just a little bit of scrambling, not bad at all. From the top of the slide we entered the scrub and followed the beautiful herb path all the way to the summit of Macomb.
Just a quick short break later, we got back to the herb path and head right over to S. Dix. 30 min or so later we reached the col, where there was another herb path led down to Lillian Brook Lean-to. We took a right to continue to S. Dix. From the herb path we saw what I thought was the summit, but once we got there only to see another hump raised behind it. Oh well. Somewhere around here we came across a small cairn along the trail that marked the entrance of the herb path to Hough. The summit S. Dix was marked by a yellow disc nailed high on a skinny tree. We walked right pass it at first, without noticing. When the trail began to descend again then we walked back and Jay spotted the summit disc. Took some pictures and headed right over to E. Dix.
The herb path to E. Dix was slightly thicker than the herb paths that led us here so far, but still easy to follow. We ran into a member of ADKhighpeaks forum, Kenmore while on our way to E. Dix. He told us not to miss the outlook just a short walk through the scrub after the summit of E. Dix. The summit itself was impressive enough, we could see across Lake Champlain into Vermont, spotted Camel Humps etc. But once we made our way to the outlook…. WOW, now that’s just “wicked awesome” (trademarked by Mats) We’ve got a clear views of the rest of our journey: the ridge back to S. Dix, the descent from Pough and up Hough (there’s no coincidence with the names here) and down and up to Dix. Long day ahead to say the least.
So back to S.Dix turned right onto the herb path and began to puff and huff our way to Dix. We walked right pass Pough without even noticing. And then came across a campsite right next to the herb path. Another steep climbed later, we arrived at the summit of Hough Peak. Dix was still far away…
The herb path leads to Dix was thicker, I got a scratch on my knee from pushing through the brushes somewhere on my way to Dix. Made it to the Beckhorn and on an officially marked trail that lead to the summit of Dix. We chatted with a couple from Montreal who climbed up via the slide directly. It was windier here which mean less bug! We proudly surveyed the route we had travelled so far: the ridge from Macomb to E. Dix; the ridge from S. Dix to here were all layout in front of us like a report card. We did good!
The descent from the Beckhorn was very steep at the beginning. We dropped few hundred feet very quickly, so quick that I need to pop ears to adjust to the pressure. Soon we left the alpine zone, got to the junction of trail #119 on my map, crossed Lillian Brook and headed back to the parking lot just after 6PM. Great day, awesome hike!!!
Day 3: Hurricane
My right foot was in pain, I guessed I was over compensating my knee by twisting my foot outward too much? I told Jay if we gonna hike anything at all today, I wanted it to be Street and Nye… but who am I kidding. The truth was after breakfast at the diner, I just wanted to sit there to wait till noon for lunch. But we did Hurricane anyway and I sure was glad we did it. Another fabulous day for hiking and the summit of Hurricane was wide open, with almost 360 views.
GREAT weekend in ADK that’s for sure! Thanks Jay for keeping me company. You obviously used your slow hiking speed for this arching body to keep up, waited for me at the junctions, put up with my “are we there yet?” and “it looks so far away!” (and it was very FAR!!!)
Awesome mountains!
Pictures: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3.
Last edited:
