Lower Dix Range from Elk Lake to rte 73

[BorealChick]

Yesterday I hiked Macomb, South Dix and East Dix with a friend who had the great idea of parking one car at Elk Lake and another at rte 73 along the Bouqet and making a traverse straight through. The downside to this plan was getting the car at the end of the day, but it was well worth the extra driving for a route with no repeats and constant scenic views. The ascent up the lower range combined with a descent along the Bouqet made this one of my favorite hikes so far.

We left Elk lake at about 8:30 and made it to the summit of Macomb via the slide around 12:00. The herd path was well worn and easy to follow to the slide, and along the entire route across the range. This was my first side climb and it was very intimidating as we approached it, but once I was on the slide I realized it was fairly easy, though slow-going, and the amazing views from the slide were well worth the effort. Climbing Macomb was definitely the toughest part of the day, as the descent and short ascents up South Dix and Easy Dix was fairly simple and straightforward. We took our time on each summit and began our descent at about 3:15 to rte 73. On the summit of East Dix we met some hikers that had come up from rte 73 who had some trouble following the trail on the way up, so we were a little worried about making it back to the car without bushwacking (we had it marked with a GPS just in case it came to that). But we found the herdpath along the Bouqet really easy to follow, so perhaps it is easier to follow going down. The descent from East Dix was a well-worn path that started in the col between East and South Dix (marked with some logs across the path) that then paralleled a slide that could also be used for a descent, which afforded more good views. The path along the Bouqet had numerous waterfalls and beaver meadows, as well as some good swimming holes that we took advantage of. The path was scenic all the way back to the car, which was a nice change of pace from hikes where you have to backtrack along flat, sometimes boring terrain. The through hike was about 10 miles in length, not bad at all for 3 high peaks. We got back to route 73 at about 7:00, a long day but only because we took lots of time to take in the views. With clear skies and a strong wind to keep the bugs away it was a perfect day of hiking.

[Gregory Karl]

Welcome!

Good idea doing the point to point hike.

It is also fairly common for folks to descend the ridge after E Dix over the next several bumps (Spotted and E-town #4) before returning to the Boquet herd path; There is no trail on the ridge but it is not really needed since one is just following the high ground. There is an enormous amount of open rock up there and nonstop views.