Macomb's 1947 Slide> the Dix Range without Grace

Brian and I met at the Vespers ceremony before the 46er banquet when Jeanette and I received our certificates. Actually it was about 10-15 minutes before Vespers.Let it not be said that the Sobik family isn't punctual. I was on the fence as to whether I wanted to go. My mother expressed interest so we went while my dad and Jeanette rested in the hotel room. He had just returned from a hike with some interesting weather and was updating his spreadsheet. The room was  empty since we were still early so we ended up chatting with him. He knew me immediately from my postings on the high peaks forum and I was very familiar with his name and reputation for being an amazing dude. He said some truly kind things about my writing that made me feel really good. I think my mom felt super proud of me too. Going into Vespers on quite a high, I was deeply moved by the ceremony. The whole day and weekend (spent with Jeanette in my parents in the high peaks doing the things we love) had me buzzing. There may have been some wine involved as well.

That fall he contact me to go on a hike. The plans fell apart due to other commitments on both ends but I vowed to make sure we did get out there one day. After seeing my posts inquiring about the old way 46ers used to climb Macomb (up a different slide to the south of the one climbed today) he invited me once again and I jumped at the chance. He invited his buddy Suvrat along and I'm glad he did because the 3 of us had a great time on this hike.

We left the already full trail head a little after six. I met a couple about my age heading in to climb Haystack into Blake. I thought that sounded like a really cool route but a big day for sure. It was already much darker in the morning then its been all summer as the seasons are changing. We made some standard chit chat that made the initial 2.3 miles go by in a wink. At the start of the Macomb herd path, we got out all the various navigation aids and hatched a plan. We'd follow the modern herd path for 10-15 and as it peels away to a ridge high above Slide Brook, we'd drop into the drainage and start looking for the first major tributary entering from the south.

Dropping down the bank, I unearthed the first of several archaeological finds: a blaze orange match safe. After evaluating the banks, we decided to rock hop right up the creek. The going was somewhere in between hard and easy. It seemed like we had gone a bit too far though. Brian checked his GPS and confirmed. Rather than backtrack down the brook, we headed pretty much due south up and out of the drainage and immediately heard the correct one burbling away through some pines.

Typical Field Conditions

With some nice open spaces

We navigated around downed trees

 We followed this tributary until eventually we could see a break in the trees to our right. Figuring it was the slide base, we popped out to find deeply eroded creek bank. We got up on it to take a look around and got a good look at the slide track and rocky crag of the Macomb sub-summit, our destination. Views opened up over our shoulder to the Pinnacle Ridge and Allen. I found an old Reliance brand water bottle Brian said he'd had one of in the early 80's. A perfect artifact to date this old route. The eroded bank faded back into woods so we made our way back down to the stream and followed it until we reached another, very similar bank. More creek walking eventually led us to some preliminary slabs and some early views to Elk Lake.

We reached an eroded stream bank where we could see our goal

Brian for scale

Brian and Suvrat take in views to the southwest.

Rubble transitioned to a mix of slab and creek

The first pitches were blocky and gradual, a nice warm up for the coming climbing. Eventually the view opened up even wider and we found ourselves at the base of a size-able slab with a lot of water pouring down it. We could also see the rubble slide angling down from the sub-summit crag to our left. We worked around the base of the slab and made our way up onto the rubble. While the pitch is a little less steep than the modern Macomb approach, it's a lot messier and we had to work really hard not to smash boulders down on each other. Eventually Brian found a line on the left which had some exposed slab and was easier walking.

A sheet of water trickling down

Elk Lake comes into view, feeling much closer than it does on the standard slide route

I think this was Suvrat's favorite place on the hike

A splash of early fall color

Looking down the transition from rubble to rock

We worked our way up gradually, getting closer and closer to the cloud ceiling which at this point was clinging to the crag. There was bright red on the rocks as we got higher. We debated whether it was iron or lichen. Or the old red blazes marking the route. Or the ink pack from a bag of bank-robbed money.  The rubble gave way to rock again and an imposing rock face greeted us out from the swirling mist.

Iron oxide(?) on the upper reaches of the slide. 

Big smiles all day from Brian

When we got our first glimpse of the crag I joked that I was going to "Mudrat" right up it as it looked way too steep for my comfort. I thought we'd have to work around it As we got closer it looked less tricky than it first appeared. The quality of rock was good and there was a number of hand and footholds .Brian and I made our way up the middle of the face while Suvrat chose to stick to the steeper, but more protected tree line. We all eventually met up top in a protected area under a significant overhang. Suvrat realized he was one pole short! We found a nice line down to the base of the slab (turns out there was a number of ways we could have worked up this section), climbed back up his line and found the pole half way.

 From here we climbed steeply, sometimes on rock, sometimes in the trees until we broke out on the ridge line. A couple of spots felt very challenging for me, not so much because of the difficulty but more-so to do with the exposure. There was one spot where I had to move out of the protection of the trees and onto some rock with lots of exposure seemingly plummeting into a foggy abyss. A maybe slightly over-dramatic description. Call it poetic license. I  did my best to stay focused on my points of contact, what my next move was and to keep my heart rate down (Mudrat often mentions the heart rate thing in his trip reports. Thanks!). We all successfully made it up onto the ridge! At the ridge we noticed a bit of path leading right to get out onto the open rock of the sub-summit. We stepped out onto what I'm sure is an impressive view of the Macomb ridge and the rest of the range. I was too elated from the climb up to have any irritation about the lack of views. The summits were obscured in clouds and would remain so for the rest of the day.

The initial pitch

Foggy climbing

The wall

Trekking pole retrieval project

The sweet protection of the overhang

Staring into the abyss

The first stretch of ridge heading north was very thick with blow down. We zig-zigged our way north, with an occasional compass check to verify we were on track. The going got easier bit by bit until we started picking up patches of the old herd path. So cool to see! From that point on, it was the hunt for the lost herd path with the group at times fanned out along the ridge looking for it. Great fun and adventure. The woods were lovely with patches of fern and dangling moss.

Fragrant and lush

Ferns, moss, evergreen and lichen

Not sure what these mossy/ lichen-y dudes are called but I really dig them

Fragments of herd path

We eventually broke out onto the herd path about 75 ft from the summit. It felt odd to be able to walk unimpeded after carefully choosing each step for the past several hours. We took a few pictures, then a group of five Clarkson Freshman gave us one of my favorite summit experiences of all time. They were from their college's outing group. After the weekend, everyone in the club gets together and has a slideshow of their weekend adventure. Whoever has the best slide show gets their gas paid for! In order to amp up their slide show, these guys managed to hike up a Sesame Street-themed birthday cake in one piece to the top of Macomb. Everyone on the summit, including a group that arrived after them grabbed forks and dug in.

My first time eating sheet cake on a high peak

I feel like it fared pretty well considering the adventure it just had

Summit cake!

Still buzzing from cake high, we deliberated and decided to continue up the range. Now on trail, we were able to make good time to Carson. Afterwards I thought about an interesting phenomenon I've noticed during  hikes when the visibility is low. All day, I felt like I was constantly in little rooms. Sometimes the room would have a creek running through it, sometimes you'd be clinging to the side of a mountain in the room. You'd turn a corner and there'd be a bunch of people in the next room. Always enclosed though. Almost like a first person shooter type video game. At the intersection with the Lillian Brook col, we met around 7-8 ladies who Brian gave expert advice and directions to. I think they found him quite charming. It was a fun climb up the Carson rocks. After climbing the slide I think we all felt good about our climbing chops and chose to go directly up some rock we really didn't have to.Cavalier is the word Brian used.

The fun scramble of Carson

Brian and Suvrat enjoying the high

 It had gone from merely misty to rainy on Macomb and this was to be the conditions for the rest of the day. On Carson there was some debate about Grace. As I had climbed it a few weeks before, I lobbied to skip it and continue own. Despite needing it for his September round, Brian agreed. Once again, quite the gentleman. We doubled back and continued along the bumpy ridge to the base of Hough. At the intersection with the main branch of the Lillian Brook herd path, there was a small steak knife jammed into a tree stump. Brian didn't want to leave it up there so devised a plan to get it down the mountain without ripping his bag. He disassembled his treking pole and put the knife in the hollow center section! Watch out for Summithat on the trails now folks. He's carrying a concealed weapon.  Everyone still had energy and good spirits so we climbed Hough.

The wind-tortured Hough tree

ear to ear smile all day

We couldn't get any wetter so decided to continue on to Dix. This was my first time going from Hough to Dix and I really liked the trail. I think it'll be well worth another visit in better weather to get the views from the numerous overlooks. There were several fun scrambles and the feeling of being in a small room with an ever-changing floor wouldn't leave me. It allowed a closer focus on the immediate surroundings. The moss, lichen, weather-wracked trees and rocky ledges. We went up and over the Beckhorn and stood on the summit of Dix. The wind was whipping across so after a minute with the Colvin bolt, we headed back to the Beckhorn trail. It was quite an interesting jungle gym style descent with horizontal rain into the abyss.

About half way down either the hike had caught up with me or the cake power had run out. I was pretty tired. The trail seemed to drag on a bit but we eventually found level ground and the intersection. From here on out we took turns leading and made great time. I think everyone was ready to be out of the rain and in some dry clothes.Any time anyone up front found bad trail (up hill, muddy or rocky) there were scolded and sent to the back of the line.Things got much sillier in general in the late stages of the hike and eventually some Big Lebowski quotes got thrown around. The true mark of a successful hike. We made it out of the woods by around 6:10, making for a 12 hour day in with about as varied as an experience as you can have: on trail hiking, off trail hiking, slide-climbing, route finding, trail re-discovering and 4 high peaks summits.

Despite no visibility, constant drizzle and high winds, I've rarely had more fun on a hike. Company makes all the difference in the world.