Question about the Dix Range (NY)

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lumberzac

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Beware of the Lumberzac
I'm planning on doing a traverse of the entire range this May. The plan is to hike up East Dix via the Great Slide. Hike over to South Dix, then over to Macomb, back over South Dix, over Pough, then Hough, and finally to the summit of Dix. Take the Dix Trail down to the Bouquet valley and camp at or near the Bouquet River Lean-to. Are there any good bailout paths that lead into the Bouquet valley that I could take just in case I'm unable to finish the entire range?
 
To the best of my knowledge - once you are up on the ridges of the range - you are pretty well stuck there. When you are on South Dix - both Dix and Hough stand between you and the North Fork Lean-to. There are two bailouts down to the Slide Brook Lean-to. One decends from the col between Hough and South Dix and the other from the summit of Macomb.

peace,
Oysterhead
 
Lumber, I need this range for my 46 so if you are looking for company when you do this hike shoot me an email. I am a slightly faster than a by the book hiker. I was actually thinking about the weekend of April 23-26 since work has handed me a 4 day weekend. I am not sure about weather/trail conditions then.
 
Lumberzac the short answer is no.

Daxs, I would expect snow still to be present in those dates in April and it would be the heart of mudseason in the lower elevations.
 
Tom W wrote: "Lumberzac the short answer is no. "
I have something to add to Tom W's short answer.
There is a great bailout from the E.Dix-S.Dix col. It goes through a beautiful, open Birch forest, and angles over to the slide you would have just come up. But it's not likely that you'd be bailing so soon, and there's no path.
So the qualified short answer is...no.

MarkL
 
Well, Mark is correct, and I have taken that bail out myself, but only so as to avoid descending the great slide in winter.
 
Thanks for the information everyone. I didn’t think there were any bailouts to that side of the range, but I wanted to check to make sure.
 
Dix Trails and Bailouts

There are some good trail descriptions at www.adirondackjourney.com/dix_range.htm, including tales of brutal blowdown in the Lillian Brook vicinity.

When we did this 100 yrs ago we started and ended at the North Fork Lean-to, and had planned on going back over Dix. A monster thunderstorm drove us down off the ridge off Macomb (I think down Slide Brook, but it has been, as I said 100 years), so we came back up over Hunters Pass. Nice long day.

Have fun.

-David
 
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You have a fantastic trip planned. The Dix Range via the Great Slide is a spectacular way to do the range. Enjoy!

If you camp in the Bouquet Valley the first night - there is a nice campsite at the confluence of two tributaries of the South Fork of the Bouquet - you should easily have time to do the range. Even if you end up with time to kill that first day, the Bouquet Valley is a wild, desolate, and hauntingly beautiful place to just hang out. You could even bushwhack up the rightmost tributary near the campsite and check out some old slides on Dix. They may not be doable routes to the summit, but they may offer some good views of the valley. Hit the Great Slide the next day, take your time and enjoy yourself.
 
Dennis, the Lillian brook was one of the nicest herd paths around... pre-Floyd. Now it is one of the worst, and should be avoided at virtually any cost.

I second (or third?) the "bailout" from the Grace col down to the bottom of the slide. It's not a bailout for me because it is one of the nicest descents in the ADKS. Wide open and gentle from the col to the rivers below. I look forward to doing it again.

As for April and May, please keep track of how the spring rains go this year. The lion's share of trail and upper mountain erosion usually occurs during that stretch and most responsible hikers try to contain their spring fever and avoid high, northern, western, and naturally wet areas. The snow pack is very light this year so things could dry up quickly, but we should all start thinking "conservationistically" as spring comes rolling in. I have plans to be in the Dix Wilderness this spring, but my plans are to explore the smaller gems like Ausable #4, Spotted, and Wyman.
 
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