Are the Mountains Trying to Kill Us?

“Part 1:
Does anyone have a certain place that just doesn’t seem to like them? I know it sounds silly but I have a feeling that there are five mountains that sit in northern New York that want to send me to that big trail in the sky, because every time I try to hike up them, something goes wrong. How can a place I love so much only give me pain and bitterness in return? What did I ever do to these particular mountains that they try so hard to send me to an early grave. The five peaks that I speak of are the five major peaks that make up the Dix Range, East Dix, South Dix, Mount Macomb, Hough Peak, and Dix Mountain.

The story began in May of 2000. A few friends and myself decided to camp near Slide Brook for the weekend on the Elk Lake side of the Dix Range. The plan was to base camp near the lean-to there and day hike up to the summit of Dix Mountain on Saturday and then hike back down to camp. This was to be my first hike up one of the 46 Adirondack High Peaks, which are the 46 peaks in the Adirondacks that were originally measured to be over 4000’.

Friday night went well. The trail in was a little wet, but the going was fairly easy on the mostly flat trail. When we got to Slide Brook we discovered that the lean-to was occupied, which was no big deal as we had carried our tents in just in case. We back tracked a little and set up camp.
Saturday morning came and we awoke early, made breakfast and hit the trail. Almost 5 minutes past the lean-to, we began to witness the handy work of the pasts fall’s Hurricane Floyd. The blow downs at first weren’t too bad, but by the time we got about a half-mile from camp we were crawling over, under, and through piles of trees that were stacked 20+ feet into the air. Occasionally we would see a trail marker on a tree that was all the way on the bottom of the pile. It was at this point that we decided to turn around and head back to camp. From there we would follow Slide Brook to the top of Mount Macomb. The Range had other plans for us. We lost the trail almost immediately and our half-mile hike back to camp ended being a pure bushwhack through endless blow downs. Four hours we finally crossed the trail about a mile below camp and hiked back up to it bruised and bleeding.
last edited: 6/10/05 2:04:40 PM”

“Panther, Santanoni, Couchsascraga.

They're still trying to kill me. Panther ate my 2002 Jeep Wrangler TJ, remember?

Basstids!”

“When your hiking 40+ miles a day, every mountain feels like it's kicking your a$$. But thats my own fault, I know.”

“More than once while solo hiking it seemed I encountered situations that had some dark intellect behind them but I have always made it back, don't know about next time.”

“I usually expect something to go wrong. You've done so many trails that each time you gain a little more experience & better prepare for the problems. I don't set goals. If I feel like stopping a third into the hike, I'll stop. If I don't feel well or I'm not enjoying the hike I'll turn around. Most of the time, however, I'll over do it. I DO like to hike at night & don't like to hike in the heat of day. Early morning & late at night.”

“Part 2:
August of that same year we made a return trip. This time we went in from Round Pond on the other side of the range not wanting to get lost in the blowdowns of the previous spring. We set up camp near the Boquet River and went to sleep early in anticipation of the following days hike. The next morning we awake to blue skies. The first mile and a half went up a fairly gentle grade until we reach the base of the North Slides. The trail cut to the right along the bottom of the slide, but we decided to continue straight up the large gash on the side of the mountain where at some time the topsoil was ripped away exposing the bedrock. Before we know it we were on all fours as be climbed the smooth rock slab that that’s slope was anywhere between 30 and 40 degrees. As we neared the middle of the slide the rock turned wet in spots and we had to pay attention to where we were going or we would end up in a position were we could no longer go up and going down, due to the slope, was quite nerve wrecking. Towards the top of the slide was covered with rocks and gravel that slid under our feet as we climbed. Fortunately this section was short and we had reached the top of the slide. From there were had to fight the carnivorous dwarfed spruce to the top. The views were amazing while they lasted as we saw storm clouds moving in from the west. We then knew it was time to get down off of the bald summit. We took the trail down which seemed steeper (defiantly ruffer) than the slide. The trail took its toll on my knees, which ached with pain with every step. By the time we made it back to camp the storm clouds had disappeared almost as fast as they appeared. Barely a drop of rain fell. The next morning we broke down camp and hiked out.

More parts to come later”

“I intend to bring good luck for this hike.

Last Labor Day weekend our intrepid(or insipid) party bagged the Santanonnis.

Gremlin, I can bring some of my luck for a future assault on Couch.”

“Does anyone have a certain place that just doesn’t seem to like them?

Duh! ;)”

“The ladies' room. I keep getting kicked out. :-(”

“Part 3:
It was the end of a two day fishing trip in June of 2001, my cousin and myself were hiking out back to the car when we crossed the herd path to East Dix. Since it was early, we decided to drop out pack, put on daypacks, and take the 6+ mile side trip. The trail didn’t really start to gain any elevation until we reached the South Fork of the Boquet River. The path to the base of the Great Slide was a constant moderate grade. The last 850’ were up an almost unbroken rock slab to the top. The slide didn’t seem as difficult as the one we climbed the year before. Maybe it was because I knew what to expect. Once on top the views were awesome. We could see the rest of the Dix Range, Giant, Rocky Peak Ridge, as well as Mount Marcy, which still had some snow on its backside. Unfortunately we couldn’t spend much time on the summit as black clouds of thousands of black flies moved in to eat us alive. The bug repellant we put on earlier was long washed away from sweat on the climb up. We had to get going anyway. We signed the register in the summit canister (unfortunately all the canisters have been removed because they were not considered conforming structures) and made our way back down the way we came.”

“Part 4:
In May of 2004, I scheduled a Trail Talk trip that would traverse the entire Dix Range. The plan was to hike in on Friday and explore the Boquet valley and hike up and over all five peaks of the Dix Range.

I hopped in the car and made my way north. The sun was out and there were only a few dark clouds that threatened rain for the day. As I neared the High Peaks Rest Stop the coffee I drank that morning was calling me to stop. As it turned out I ran into Pennsy at the rest area. Once I was finished doing what I had to do, we made our way to Exit 30 and stopped at the pull off there, so I could by a couple hot dogs and Pennsy got some fresh water from a spring. I quickly ate my food and we were off again, this time to spot a car where we were to come out of the woods on Sunday. After dropping off the car we drove to the trailhead and started our hike. After about .5 miles we came to our first river crossing and we easily rock hopped to the other bank. From there the trail temporarily turned away from the river and cut into the woods. Being a herd path there was no trail maintained and we had to work our way around a few blow downs. Before long we made it to our first stop, a small water fall along the North Fork of the Bouquet River. We made our way down a steep embankment and walked out onto the stone slabs above the falls. We climbed down to the base and looked up between the two large rock masses that masked the falling water. There was a deep pool of water at the base and I was tempted to jump into it as it was getting hot in the sun. After a short while we headed back on the trail, which once again veered away from the river. It wasn’t long before the trail split. Once way heads to the South Fork and the base of the Great Slide on East Dix and the other continued to follow the North Fork. With plenty of daylight left in the day we followed the North Fork. This trail was more brushed in. After another .5 miles we came to a second larger falls. This falls consists of a large rock wall with a crack down the center where the water flows down into a large pool of water. We worked are way down to the base and rock hoped across the river and scaled the rock wall to the top. From there we followed the river for a short ways before once again returning to the trail. We continued to follow the trail and it once again joined the river. At a stretch of river were the water slowly moved across its gravelly bed we cut up a hill off the trail to bushwhack to some ledges. The first ledge is like a miniature slide as it was mostly just an open rock slab. At the top we were able to catch some partially obstructed views of the Dix Range. From the top of the first ledge we entered the forest and made our way to the second ledge. This ledge is much steeper than the first and is a step above a scramble. We looked up the 50’ rock wall and picked out a spot to climb up. We left our packs at the base and climbed about half way up to a small shelf. At this point Pennsy continued up while I climbed down, not feeling comfortable with the 6’ section just above the shelf. Once at the bottom I followed the base of the ledge and went up the back way and met up with Pennsy at the top. The climb was well worth the effort as we were treated with unobstructed views of the Dixes. While we were admiring the view, a pair of hawks appeared and were flying at eye level. We explored the top for a while and found a small outlook on the other side that gave us some views of Giant Mountain and Rocky Peak Ridge. From there we climbed back down to our packs, returned to the trail, and hiked back to the fork in the trail. This time we headed toward the South Fork of the Bouquet where we were to camp for the night. This trail showed the signs of more use than the other trail. We had to cross the North Fork and a small stream before we reached the South Fork. The trail then paralleled the South Fork until it reached a point were it crossed. It was at this spot that we had planned to make camp, but we were greeted with a “No Camping” disk. We took our packs off and searched for a place to camp before we found a large open site about .25 miles up the trail. We went and got our packs, returned to the site and set up camp. Once a fire was built we sat around and made dinner while we talked. A while after dinner we decided to hang our food and head down the trail to great Sherpa Man at the river crossing to show him where we were camped. Just as we got our rope thrown we heard Sherpa call out in his Little John voice, “What!” To which I responded, “OK!” He had arrived just before complete darkness with is dog Tahawus. He unpacked his pack and soon we sat around the fire. After a few hours we all went to sleep.

At around 5am I awoke to the sound of rain sprinkles hitting the tent. After about 5 minutes the sprinkles turned to buckets being dumped onto the tent. Sherpa and myself just laid there and by 6am we had a small river running through one side of the tent and a small lake on the other side. Both of us leaned toward the center of the tent with dog between us not wanting to touch the condensation covered walls. By 7 neither one of us could stand lying in the tent so we pulled our selves out. As it turned out it was dryer to stand out in the rain rather than lay inside the tent. Pennsy wasn’t fairing many betters under his tarp. We decided that if it didn’t stop raining by 9 we would have to hike out. An 800’ climb on open rock didn’t sound that appealing, and then there was the fact that we would be on the range with no way off until we had summated all 5 mountains. By 8:30 we had enough and started to hike out. The water level of the South Fork had risen about a foot in the short time and all of the crossings had turned to fords. The rain had let up some, but the brush along the trail thoroughly soaked us. Once we made it to the cars we drove up to Keene Valley and had brunch at the Noonmark Diner.”

“Part 5:
In October of 2004 yet another attempt was made to traverse the range. I arrived at the trailhead campsite around 7:30 Friday night and waited for the others. First LtHiker and his brother arrived. We built a small fire and around 11pm Pennsy drove up and joined us. We stayed up until 2am waiting for PhantomSoul and EarthNsky before deciding to go to bed knowing that we would have to get up early to hit the trail.

5am came way too soon, but we all knew we had to get an early start if we were going to make it to the lean-to at a reasonable time. When we got up we found one more car in the parking area; PhantomSoul and EarthNsky had gotten there at 2:30 (none of use even heard them pull in). We quickly packed up. I walked down to the road and found Hikerick waiting for us. I introduced myself and lead him up to meet the others. We finished packing and spotted two cars at the trailhead where we would be heading out on. Upon return we set out on the trail in the dark. The first few miles along the unmarked trail were fairly flat and progress went well. It was shortly after we passed the campsite from the spring trip bailout that things started to go wrong. We had hiked along the South Fork of the Boquet River for about .8 miles after the campsite before I realize that the scenery didn’t look right. We had followed the wrong tributary at the campsite. We decided to cut a bearing south over a 3000’ ridge to get back to the correct tributary. After about .7 miles of bushwhacking we finally found the herd path and were back on track. We followed the path to the base of the slide on East Dix (elevation 4012’) and began the steep climb to the top up an open rock slab.

By the time we made it to what we though was the summit, a fog had rolled in and it started to rain. It was already 1pm and we had to make a decision. We could continue and hike the rest of the range or we could descend East Dix the way we came up down a now wet slide. We decided to continue the range minus Macomb Mountain. We followed the herd path to the real summit. Here we were forced to search for the path. The fog hid the rock cairns off the summit. After searching the summit area we were finally able to find the correct path over to South Dix.

The decent and then accent up to South Dix (elevation 4060’) was fairly straightforward after leaving East Dix. We made it to the summit and passed only for a moment to observe the summit sign as the wind was starting to pick up and we were now trying to fight the clock before it got dark. We descended off or the summit and climbed up and over Pough (pronounced Puff) a sub-peak of South Dix. From here we descended into the col were we discovered a campsite and about 3 different herd paths in addition to the one we hiked over from. Here we had a hard time choosing the correct path. We took what we thought was the correct one. We followed this path for close to .2 miles before it just stopped. We had to backtrack and choose again. This time we got the right one and made the steep climb up to the summit of Hough Peak (elevation 4400’) (pronounced Huff). The wind was whipping on the summit and we were happy when we dropped back down into the trees and out of the cold wind. We then dropped over 400’ into the col between Hough and Dix. We then started to make the 800’+ climb up to the Beck Horn on Dix Mountain. We had to use both our feet and hands to make it up to the top. By the time we made it to the top the wind was blowing hard and the rain that was coming down stung as it struck our skin. We hiked across the summit ridge and past the summit (elevation 4857’). It was dark now and we were forced to put on our headlamps. The decent down off of Dix was treacherous. The trail dropped about 1600’ in just under a mile. On top of that a river of water that was rushing down the rocky trail. Progress was slow but we all made it down to the base of the mountain without serious injury. At around 10pm, 16 hours after we started, we were setting up camp, wet, cold and tired.

The next morning the weather was perfect. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. We hiked the easy 4.8 miles along marked trail. When we got back to the cars we made the traditional trip to the Noonmark Diner.”

“Part 6:
This weekend was supposed a return trip to the range that has so fare denied me the ability to climb all 5 peaks. As fate would have it, as weekend of thunder storms was scheduled all weekend long. Not wanting to become a human electric rod, I postponed the trip for two weeks. Will I finally be able to set foot on the summit of Mount Macomb that weekend? I guess only the Dix Range will know. I think this range wants me dead. lol”

“say it with me Zac... Macomb will fall! Macomb will fall!



with our luck, it will probably fall on top of us.”

“You're on, MarkO.”

“I was traveling on I-70 in Colorado on Thanksgiving day when this happeded. Lucky for me I was ahead of the slide. About 5 days prior I had traveled through the region in a snowstorm. On Thanksgiving day the sun was out and melting the snow and is probably what helped cause the slide.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/3950010/detail.html
last edited: 6/13/05 11:42:34 PM”

“For many years, I thought the rock band Yes in the song 'Roundabout' was saying:

' In and around the lake
Marmots come out of the sky
They stand there...'

After finding the lyrics, I see the word is mountains, not marmots.”

“Marmots.......Whistle Pigs”

“"Some day the mountains might git us, but the law never will....."”