Bruised, Beaten, and Battered by the Dix Range, TR

“The now infamous Dix Range has once again lived up to its reputation. The weather gods threw just about all it could at use. From dense fog, horizontal rain, half inch sized hail, swollen rivers and streams, and hip deep boot sucking mud proved to be just too much for us. These were the worst conditions I’ve faced on this range yet.
The history of lumberzac and the Dix Range
It looks like I’m going to have to get my revenge at some later date.”

“Ok, that was a big fat lie. I’m sorry to say but Pepsi and MarkO missed out on nearly perfect conditions. The only thing that would have been better would have been if the temperatures were a bit cooler.”

“Part 1
I arrived at the trailhead just before dark and was greeted by Pennsy. Lthiker had stopped there earlier, but went into town to get something to eat. I hadn’t been there 5 minutes when he rolled in. The two of them left to spot a car at St Huberts while I got some of my gear ready for the next day. When they got back I started the fire without any help what so ever ;-). Thanks Pennsy for getting the fire ready to light before I got there. We sat around the fire and enjoyed a few refreshing beverages until probably a bit too late that night as we wanted to get an early start.

I woke up the next morning to the sun shining and thought for sure we had over slept. I told Pennsy and Lthiker to get up. As it turned out my internal alarm clock was set an hour early. Pennsy and Lt were not pleased. We packed up our gear and made our way up the herd path along the North Fork of the Boquet River. The river look to be pretty close to its regular summer time level, maybe still a little high, but not high enough to make the water crossings difficult. Mud was at a minimum and with the exception of two spots seemed to be drying up nicely. Soon we were crossing the South Fork and paid close attention to the herd path. This time we followed the correct tributary and didn’t have to climb over a 3000’ ridge. We pumped water when we got to the base of the slide. Nothing like adding 8.5 pounds to your pack just before you’re going to climb over 1400’ in a mile on open rock. It was a good thing I decided to carry 4L of water, because we found no signs of water above the first pitch of the slide until we descended the range. The views, oh those wonderful views, just kept getting better and better as we ascended the slide. About halfway up, I collapsed my hiking poles so I could more effectively use my hands for the remaining climb to the top. The scramble was fun, but tiring and we took a fairly long break at the top as we soaked in the views.

After our break we made our way over to South Dix. The herd paths seemed a lot more grown in than it was 2 years ago, but was easy to follow. We did encounter some blowdowns, but nothing major. Just off the summit of South Dix I was surprised by a great vista to the southwest, then again the last time we were there the fog was so thick you could barely see 20 feet ahead of you. Lt decided to take a rest at South Dix as Pennsy and I dropped our packs and made an out and back to Macomb Mountain. It was a good thing we did because while the descent off of South Dix was all on open rock, the climb up Macomb was forested and had quite a few blowdowns that would have been difficult to negotiate with full packs on. Soon, after many failed attempts, I finally was able to set my eyes on the summit of Macomb.

We made our way back up South Dix, put back on our packs, and made our way over Pough and Hough. The Beck Horn on Dix towered above us from the summit of Hough. We descended into the col, and had about an 800’ climb to the summit ridge. The going was tough, as this section of herd path seemed thicker than the rest. My arms and legs felt like they were on fire from the constant attacks by the carnivorous spruce that reside on the mountain slopes. The summit ridge was a welcome site as it meant we would finally get to hike on a marked trail. There were only three others on the summit when we arrived even though we still had a lot of daylight left. Felling satisfied with the views we hiked the very, very long 2.6 miles to the lean-to. Most of the 2500’ descent was in the first mile and there were several sections of blowdown we had to maneuver through.

We were very surprised to find the lean-to and the tent sites around it vacant. We gathered some wood and sat around a small fire as we ate dinner and discussed a finally very successful Dix Range traverse.
Distance – about 14 miles
Gain – 5574’
Loss – 4528’

Part 2
We slept in some the next morning as we only had a 5.25 mile hike out. The 2 miles to the junction with the Noonmark Trail was easy flat hike, but seemed to drag out longer than expected. From there it was only a mile to the top of the 3556’ high Noonmark Mountain, but we still had to climb a little over 1200’. The trail pitched steeply up right from the start, but leveled off shortly after before getting steep once again. It was like this the entire way up. The little mountain was really kicking my butt, and the hot sun and lack of wind wasn’t helping much. Lt, said he thinks the mountain has a Napoleon complex. The summit offered fantastic 360* views. We were completely surrounded by the big boys, Mount Marcy, the Great Range, Colvin, Dial and Nippletop, Giant and Rocky Peak Ridge, and of course the Dix Range. I don’t know why I hadn’t done this mountain sooner. We then descended to St Huberts and drove to the Noonmark Diner for a post hike meal.
Distance – about 5.25 miles
Gain – 1306’
Loss – 2411’

Total Distance – 19.25 miles
Total Gain – 6880’
Total Loss – 6939’

Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/552104839FkVIVO”

“This thread just sounds dirty. ;-)”

“Aw crap!!
You guys actually got your revenge?

Yeah, well I went to Bearmagnet's wedding on Saturday!”

“Yup, revenge was finally served, but we all had to make a blood sacrifice to the mountain gods.”

“SOUNDS GREAT.....wow sounds like you guys had a blast.”

““This thread just sounds dirty. ;-)”
StoveStomper
12:47:11 PM
7/10/06

LOL
I knew this thread wouldn't go more than 10 posts without someone posting something like that.”

“Thanks for sharing, zac.

In the second pick, it looks like Bruce Almighty is wearing a pink bandana? Awww, he's so pretty.”

“That does look pink!

Anything to cover the dome, I guess.”

“i can't view the pics from here - but glad to read you had a great trip and good weather.

Much out of character for my current environs, it drizzled and rained on me ALL weekend, but I got in a good climb nonetheless!

Your gain and loss was about 1,000 foot more than mine, but mine was over only 10 miles. So, I'd say relatively equal.

Cheers!”

“Tara - it must be the light or Zac's camera. I would never wear a pink bandana. I'll take the comp though. I think I'm pretty too. ;o)

Zac - your pics came out super and nice trip report. Revenge is so sweet, ain't it? Of course the mountains went down swinging and forced us to earn that revenge. When I went into the gym tonight, the first comment I heard was "what did you do, fall into a meat grinder?"

"Little" Noonmark Mountain packs a freakin wallop at only 3500 feet, but the views from the top are as nice as anywhere in the Dacks. And of course, Noonmark Diner packs a very nice wallop of a post hike meal.

And congrats to Lthiker for losing 20lbs and is getting closer to actually being Lt(light)hiker. You look like a new man. (don't get a big head though, you are still a dork)

Hopefully, I'll get my pics up sometime this week.”

“Yeah, the color setting was a little messed up on my camera when I took that picture, but here is the picture with the color corrected.


”

“Oh, that's not pink at all. It's fuschia.
Pretty Pennsy.”

“Damn you Zac! If I wasn't so excited because Tara is constantly making passes at me, you'd be in a heap of trubble.”

“Thanks for a great trip. Man my thighs are still burning!
What can I say the Views were awesome!!! The trails were steep and rough. The Spruce made my legs feel like they were being attacked by 10,000 rabid cats.”

“Holey Cats!!

That dude looks like something from a Technicolor movie!

Was his hair blue?

Oh wait, no hair.”

“great report and pics”

“Nice pictures. How did you do the profiles?”

“Just get the subject to turn 90 degrees.”

““Holey Cats!!

That dude looks like something from a Technicolor movie!
MarkO
7:20:12 AM
7/11/06

Just call me Ted Turner.

“Nice pictures. How did you do the profiles?”
Twinkle Toes
11:38:04 AM
7/11/06

The profiles were done in National Geographic Topo, with some Photoshopping of peak names”

“Is that a free bit of software?”

“It's about (or it was) $100 for the software, which has all of the topo maps for the entire Northeast. You need to trace out a route to get the profiles.”

“You get the whole Northeast for 100? dang - i had to pay 100 for each STATE for CO and WY!”

“Cool, thanks for the info.”

“Yeah, but WY is probably bigger than the entire Northeast.”

“When is Pennsy going to post his pictures?”

“How TF should I know?”

“They're still in the camera. Heck, it's summer. I don't get home until dark but I'll get to em one of these days.”

“What you can't work on the computer after dark?”

“Who's Pennsy?”

“I don't know who's Pennsy he is, he ain't mine!”

“yeah, just who is that guy? He ain't mine either.

Okee dokee, for the 3 people who will actually look at these things:

Here's my dang pics.”

“Okay Pennsy, I tried looking at your photos, but dang webshots kept hanging up.”

“were you calling collect?”

“Pennsy, you were supposed to us the other picture instead of the one you used for the first.”

“Nice pics, Bruce.


(the bandana still looks pink to me, tho)”

“What can I say Zac. I looked too pretty in the first one to let it slide, especially in my off color bandana, right Tara?”

“Okay, I got to photo #30 before websnots tanked again. I particularly like photo #21. Your pink bandana is quite fetching.”

“totally awesome pics there Pennsy! Dang, I should've been there!”

“Pennski, did you roll rocks down on those boneheads while they were climbing The Slide??

That would have been cool!!”

“I looked at the pictures I hope that doesn’t put it over the three person limit. Great pics by the way, but I’ll refrain from using the term pretty, thank you.”

“He does look good in pink.”

“"Pennski, did you roll rocks down on those boneheads while they were climbing The Slide??"

MarkO, I thought about it. However, Zac was our beloved trip leader and Lt and I would have gotten lost for sure. It's not like I led the group off the mountain before in the dark, sideways rain, wind and fog. Oh wait, I did. ;o)

and Lt had the water filter so I had to keep him alive.

Come on Conk, I know you wanna say it.”

“Yeah, I suppose Zac might come in handy in The Adirondacks now and then.”

“Yeah, if it weren't for me, you'd never get lost and what fun is that?”

“Got compass??”

“Hot pics!”

““Got compass??”
MarkO
8:14:32 AM
7/18/06

Compasses are for wusses. ;-)
jk”