3-day barefoot hike in the Adirondacks July '16
By Tristan
By Tristan
At last my long awaited 2016 trip to the mountains was upon me. It seems I only get one chance a year to go hiking in the mountains, though I try for a second and maybe this year I may get a chance for another. This will be my first trip in recent years that I won't be solo... my mom and one of her hiking friends will be doing the hike with me. Mom had wanted to go with me on prior trips but it never worked out. She has a lot of experience but hasn't done any overnight or strenuous trips in many years, so she was a bit nervous about her capabilities. I tried to break my trip down into more manageable days, but in the end I think I made the overall trip much harder.
The plan was to hike the Dix Mountain range, which was 5 of the 46 high peaks of the Adirondacks. Many do this as a really long and tough day trip but with our questionable mountain hiking shape I broke the trip into two loops, plus the third day just to hike back out to the car. We had a long drive to get there, so no matter what we couldn't do the whole range and drive in the same day. So I made the plans which actually took a lot of deciding. There are about 3 different approaches to the range, and then a few trails from the crest back down into the valley. Two different camping spots in the valley as well, so a few different loop options.
GPS track of our hike.
We set out from the Elk Lake trailhead and setup basecamp near the Slide Brook Lean-to, about 2.4 miles in. It was an easy hike in so I didn't go quite as weight-weenie as I usually do. No peaks would be climbed with the full pack, in fact I brought along a second pack that was smaller for the ascents. After setting up tents and stashing most of our gear we headed out for the lower part of the range, Macomb, South Dix, and Grace Peak. That is the yellow loop above. The next day we did the red loop, including Dix Mountain and Hough Peak. Third day was pack up and head back to the car.
GPS records
Day 1: 10.9 miles 6:55 moving time 3721' ascent 3547' descent
Day 2: 9.4 miles 6:18 moving time 3541' ascent 3518' descent
Day 3: 2.4 miles 1:05 moving time 130' ascent 320' descent
Total Trip: 22.7 miles 14:18 moving time 7392' ascent 7385' descent
These won't be clean for long!
Approaching the slide on Macomb.
The first mountain was Macomb, which the trail went up a slide most of the way up the mountain. Unlike most slides this one was very loose. Dirt, gravel, boulders. I was a bit nervous about doing this one in bare feet, but my backup sandals would be an even worse idea so I went for it.
Looking back down Macomb's slide.
The feet held up fine! I'd say they felt tougher than my previous hikes. Of more concern was to avoid causing a rock avalanche! It was nearly impossible to avoid sending a few rocks sliding on down, look out below!
A little higher now, we could see Elk Lake where our day had started.
Get'n higher!
Short but near vertical scramble near the summit.
It seems to always be the steepest right near the summit. Mom struggled a bit but got up. Barefeet can be a bit of an advantage in some of these tight spots since your feet and toes can mold to the contours better and make footholds where boots might not be able to. Of course it also strains the foot a lot harder, but I didn't toughen 'em up for nothing.
Finally approaching our first peak of the day!
We took a nice long lunch break on Macomb.
Summit marker.
View from South Dix.
Took us only about an hour to hike along the ridge to South Dix where we didn't linger too long as we would have to come back this way on the return trip. Off to Grace Peak.
On Grace Peak.
Our last peak of the day. While Grace Peak was one of the shorter mountains around, barely qualifying for 46er status at 4006' it still had wonderful views in all directions from it's open rocky summit. In fact it was a clear enough day (although a bit hazy) that you could see across Lake Champlain and all the way to the Green Mountains of Vermont in the faint distance. It had taken a bit longer to get there than we hoped, so we headed back with haste. I really didn't want to try and descend that loose slide we came up on Macomb Mountain, so we opted to go down a different path though it added some distance to our day. Luckily we made it back to camp under the dimming light of sunset, as mom had not packed her headlamp in her daybag.
More to come, I'll continue another post later when I get the chance...