Dix and Hough

August 30, 2014

Kat and I drove down to Elk Lake in the Dix Wilderness on a fine looking Saturday morning. We arrived around noon, and as expected the parking area was overflowing with several vehicles parked illegally on the road. No problem for us though. I dropped Kat and the packs off and drove back to Clear Lake, finally cycling back in the time it took Katja to make me a sandwich. We ate lunch in the parking lot and then started hiking in. After the first couple of km, we saw two people aproaching who turned out to be our friends Alain and Virginie who we had met last summer while climbing mountains out west. We stopped and chatted for a while and then continued on. There were a lot of people camped out at Slide Brook, but we pushed on until we reached the Lillian Brook lean-to. It took us a long time to find the tent site, but we finally did in the end. It was available, so we set up and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.

Trailhead transit.

Hiking along the DEC trail on a beautiful day.

The ferrocious wildlife of Lillian Brook... good thing we brought a bear barrel.

August 31, 2014

We awoke at 05:00, but as we started to stir, a rain storm chased us back deep into our sleeping bags for another hour. The rain stopped, so we got breakfast going and hit the trail at 07:00. Though it was no longer raining, the hot and humid air got us damp fairly quickly. We climbed, and climbed, and climbed some more. As we got higher, we entered the clouds, and the wet spruce boughs caused us to get thouroughly soaked. It also got windy and the temperature began to fall with the elevation. Several muddy scrambles brought us to the tree line and we put on jackets for the final push up the Beckhorn in the howling wind. The fog was thick enough that we could only see ahead to the next ledge or paint blaze, but after a short bit of 3rd class climbing, arrived on a cold and gray summit. We scooted over to Dix where the wind was slightly calmer and watched an orange salamander climbing the summit rock right up to the survey marker. This still was not a very hospitable place for the two humans, so we dove back into the woods, back over the Becky, and down the herd path along the ridge. Steep ledges and windy exposure was had, but eventually we dropped all the way to the Hough col, where conditions were perfect for a short lunch on a fallen tree. Hough was climbed easily, the summit being another cold, windy, and foggy hell-hole. A couple of quick selfies and we were out of there, dropping down to the Hough/Pough col and the old campsite. Finding the path down from here was a little tricky. We started following some flagging which was most definitely not a trail, finally abandonning that idea and bushwhacking a bit where we did stumble onto the trail. The descent went quickly, this stretch of the Lillian Brook path being much easier than the descent off of South Dix. We stopped again for a second lunch somewhere along here and finally came out onto the red trail. A short jaunt brought us back to camp by 14:00. We had not seen a single person all day. After a cup of soup we retired to the tent for the rest of the afternoon as it started to rain.

Lookout onto Dix Pond.

Muddy scrambles up the Beckhorn trail.

Foggy climbing on the Beckhorn.

We met Sally on the summit of Dix.

Kat and Sally on Dix summit.

Some mushrooms along the way to Hough.

Summit of Hough in the poughing wind.

Hiking back down on the lovely Lillian Brook trail.

Septempber 1, 2014

Got up at first light to a cloudy day, but at least it had stopped raining. By the time we had broken our fast and packed up camp, the sun was even starting to peak out. The hike back to the Elk Lake trailhead was fairly uneventful and we moved quickly along. Met several people coming in, most loaded up for camping. Arrived back in the lot at less than two hours on the go. I jumped on my bike and enjoyed a mostly downwhill, 3 km coast to Clear Lake, where I picked up the car and drove back to get Katharina. Had a second breakfast at the Long Lake Diner and then drove home.

Packed up and leaving Lillian Brook camp.

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