billandjudy
07-18-2007, 10:17 AM
Judy, David,Shiloh and I arrived at the Elk Lake TH about 1:30 Sunday afternoon. After gearing we took the short hike into the Slide Brook Leanto, which was unoccupied.(:tup: yeah). We took our time setting up camp, explored the area some, talked to few people that were heading out, and just relaxed. Snickers had said she would meet us sometime Sunday night after an already long weekend of Saturday in the Cats w/ Doodles and then Colvin/Blake w/ Mudhook on Sunday. We had dinner and made a fire. Darkness soon fell and we soon figured that after her long 2 days, we would probably not see her til Monday morning. Sure enough, at 7 AM sharp, Snickers arrived at the leanto. We were soon geared up and ready for the day's events--up Macomb's slide--then Carson and Grace. As these would be David and Siloh's first High Peaks, we had come prepared to accept whatever came. We were soon to realize that our concerns we uncalled for. Both David and Shiloh were off to the races. We climbed the slide (very cool) and Snickers summited first. She had turned back close to summit last winter because of time. Judy and the boys soon arrived and we all enjoyed the view from Macomb. The path to Carson was easy to follow and we were soon on top--taking in more views. After a quick snack we headed for Grace. We met Kenny (who had camped near us) on the way and were soon rewarded w/ some spectacular views from Grace. We hung out for quite a while, had lunch and Judy, Cindy and Shiloh snoozed. We headed back to Carson and over Pough to the campsite in the Hough/Pough col. We made the decision to head down the Lillian Brook Path instead of doing Hough. David and Shiloh were getting a bit tired and we wanted to make sure they would be ready for Dix and Hough the floowing day. Down we went. The LB path is quite nice after the first steeps are cleared--nice and soft, easy on the feet. Back to the leanto, cleaned up,ate,and were sacked out early.
Day2
We were all up early after a very cool night--had breakfast, and we packed up some and got our gear ready for the hike out later that day. We had decided to hike Dix via the Beckhorn trail, then do Hough from there. It was decision that we would regret later. The Beckhorn Trail was a steady steep climb--David and Shiloh both needed some boosts up some of the scrambles--We arrived at the first lookout and had some great views of Elk Lake and the valley below. More steep climbing ensued and we were soon at the Beckhorn (3hrs from the turnoff from the red trail). The Beckhorn is spectacular:D , that's all I'll say. David had a couple :eek: :eek: moments while climbing the rocks, and Shiloh needed some help, but all arrived safely. We enjoyed the view and walked over to Dix where we hung out for a while, sunning, taking pictures, and figuring out all the peaks we could see. We headed back to the Beckhorn to search for the herd path. We searched and searched but couldn't find it. We did find what we thought could have been the path, but if was the path, it looked a bit too gnarly for our group's young members. The decision was made to leave Hough for another day.(In hindsight I suppose we should have done it the before ) We headed for the Blue trail off Dix and headed down to Hunter's Pass. That is a steeeep trail:eek: --Lots of buttsliding down rock ledges and lots of help for Shilo and David. We made it eventually w/ aching knees and walked through the pass back to the leanto--It was along day, almost 10 hours--but with lots of sightseeing and 6 short legs, we felt we had all done a fair job.
We packed up and walked out the 2.4 miles to the cars--We were sad to end our little trip. Snickers as many of you know is a great hiking partner--we had soo much fun w/ her. Thanks for coming along--you made our trip better:D
David and Shiloh got peaks 1 thru 4--I got to 25 and Judy's at 22--A most excellant couple days.
Pics are up
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2660557690082736937IpMvob
Day2
We were all up early after a very cool night--had breakfast, and we packed up some and got our gear ready for the hike out later that day. We had decided to hike Dix via the Beckhorn trail, then do Hough from there. It was decision that we would regret later. The Beckhorn Trail was a steady steep climb--David and Shiloh both needed some boosts up some of the scrambles--We arrived at the first lookout and had some great views of Elk Lake and the valley below. More steep climbing ensued and we were soon at the Beckhorn (3hrs from the turnoff from the red trail). The Beckhorn is spectacular:D , that's all I'll say. David had a couple :eek: :eek: moments while climbing the rocks, and Shiloh needed some help, but all arrived safely. We enjoyed the view and walked over to Dix where we hung out for a while, sunning, taking pictures, and figuring out all the peaks we could see. We headed back to the Beckhorn to search for the herd path. We searched and searched but couldn't find it. We did find what we thought could have been the path, but if was the path, it looked a bit too gnarly for our group's young members. The decision was made to leave Hough for another day.(In hindsight I suppose we should have done it the before ) We headed for the Blue trail off Dix and headed down to Hunter's Pass. That is a steeeep trail:eek: --Lots of buttsliding down rock ledges and lots of help for Shilo and David. We made it eventually w/ aching knees and walked through the pass back to the leanto--It was along day, almost 10 hours--but with lots of sightseeing and 6 short legs, we felt we had all done a fair job.
We packed up and walked out the 2.4 miles to the cars--We were sad to end our little trip. Snickers as many of you know is a great hiking partner--we had soo much fun w/ her. Thanks for coming along--you made our trip better:D
David and Shiloh got peaks 1 thru 4--I got to 25 and Judy's at 22--A most excellant couple days.
Pics are up
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2660557690082736937IpMvob