CBND + Dix Range, 08Sep2006, part 1 of 2

[randomscooter]

Part 1 of 2

JoeCedar and I signed in at the Ausable Club gate at 5:47am and headed up the road. Our goal for the day was to climb nine peaks, Colvin -> Blake -> Nippletop -> Dial -> Dix -> Hough -> South Dix -> East Dix -> Macomb, then exit to Elk Lake. Well before we reached Colvin I was already starting to worry a bit about Joe. On several occasions I noticed him making minor slips and stumbles. Nothing drastic, but the kind of things that might be telltale signs of bigger problems later in the day. On the way out from Colvin came the first biggie. I was just a few paces behind Joe when all of a sudden arms and legs were flying in all directions. As is so often the case it happened too quickly for me to reach the camcorder, and in a matter of a few seconds Joe had comfortably (luckily) landed on his back, head downhill, in the woods beside the trail. In those few seconds my concern escalated from mild to high, but Joe seemed to be totally unscathed by the incident and we continued on down the trail. Another dance move down at the junction with the Nippletop trail didn't ease my concern at all, so I took the lead and set a slower pace towards Nippletop.

Backing up a bit... we had been running a bit behind plan when we arrived on Colvin, so shortly after heading for Blake we dropped our packs and picked up the pace a bit to try and close the gap. We did indeed pick up several minutes, but I began worrying that even this relatively short push early in the day might come back and bite me later. And I had gone without water for a bit longer than I cared. So, although Joe's stumbling was on my mind as we started up Nippletop, I was also trying to nurse my own strength back to normal levels as we made the long 1500 ft climb from the junction up to the summit. Added onto these concerns, as we neared the N'top ridge Joe made mention of a minor pain in his left leg just below the knee. (He said it only hurt on the downhills, so I made a quick but failed attempt at devising an alternate route which would involve only uphills and flats.) Even at our slower pace we only lost a few minutes, and then only a few more minutes on the way over to Dial, and were only about 12 minutes off plan when we began the bushwhack from the N'top-Dial col over to the Dix trail.

A brief digression to talk about "plan". Okay, some folks might think it's a bit over the edge to carry a spreadsheet with intermediate times marked, especially down to the minute. But if you think about it this is a good idea, in fact the itinerary is a prudent and necessary tool when embarking on a very long hike. By monitoring our time with respect to plan we are able to determine whether we should continue on our hike or modify it. On this particular day this information helped us make an important decision. More on that later. Enough serious stuff, back to the trip report...

The bushwhack went "pretty much" as expected. The upper reaches of the ridge were thick and pokey, but opened up below about 3300' elevation. Still, compared to my last time through here in '03, the thickets seemed thicketier, the pokeys seemed pokeyer, the blowdown seemed blowdownyer, and the open woods seemed less so. Correspondingly, the pace seemed slower. But finally we reached the first of five stream crossings in the valley. In quick succession we reached the second, third, and fourth crossings, then were treated to a nice stroll through open birch forest before reaching the stream that runs alongside the Dix trail at around the 2900ft elevation. At this point, as Joe crossed the stream on the rocks, I was "treated" to an encore performance of the flailing arms and legs act. This time it lasted longer, seemingly in slow motion, while I helplessly watched Joe as he unsuccessfully tried to recover then wisely gave up at the last moment to plan his landing amongst the rocks. Amazingly, other than to the pride I'm sure, no injuries were incurred. The trail, only 30 ft away, was quickly reached and Joe tended to emptying debris from his boots while I tried to shore up my own faltering strength with some peanuts and water.

The trail from there up to the Dix Slides isn't steep, but I was feeling it. I had started losing my appetite, and the fuel I was getting down didn't seem to be helping...at least it certainly wasn't eliminating my deepening fatigue. When we reached the slide we sat and took a long break...food, rest, and water. I filtered 4 liters to Joe's 3. This would be enough to get us over the Dix Range. The pb&j sandwiches were still not going down well, but I forced another one, then we headed up the trail. Here is where my butt started getting seriously kicked. My pace was slow, ever so slow. Joe stayed behind, and every time I groaned to get over a particularly large step I heard, or imagined I heard, him chuckling behind me. I tried to refocus my mind to the challenge of accepting and dealing with the pain I was experiencing, and it helped. Sometimes on these long hikes there comes a point where one breaks through the pain threshold, not by backing off but by pushing ahead. I don't know if the brain shuts down the pain receptors or what, but I've reached it only a few times and it's a pretty fine place to be. I wish I could say I reached that state on this hike, but I never did. But at least I was ascending, and after a long haul up a steep and blowdown strewn trail we reached the Dix summit.

Between the bushwhack, the long break at the slide, and the slow ascent of Dix we had fallen drastically behind plan, 56 minutes in fact. Our schedule was backed up tight to darkness as it was, and now we were nearly an hour behind. And I was feeling pretty much totally spent. Joe on the other hand, seemed to be walking with a new found bounce in his step. Either that or he was faking it really well. I thought briefly of asking him if I could take a 10 minute nap, but then I thought better of it after recalling how I badgered him about lollygagging up on Gothics a week ago. I decided instead to float a trial balloon, suggesting to Joe that we could always just bail out down the Beckhorn trail. But Joe didn't seem to hear me, and by coincidence quickly followed my suggestion with one of his own - we could always just skip East Dix. I was spent, but not delirious, so in my mind I quickly translated Joe's suggestion - "skip East Dix" = "climb Hough, South Dix, and Macomb." But, lacking a ready rejoinder, off I went following Joe to the Beckhorn then down the Hough path. Less than 100 ft down the path I made a last feeble attempt at salvaging the situation, suggesting to Joe that it really wouldn't be too difficult still to reclimb the Beckhorn and go down the trail. But once again Joe's ears didn't seem to be attuned to the frequency of my voice and he quickly disappeared around the next bend in the path.

At the Dix-Hough col I informed Joe that he should just go ahead and wait for me at the summit. I told him I wanted to go a bit slower. I didn't want him to know my real reason...I was concerned that all his bouncing around and jumping over blowdowns might be a sign of delirium, and figured that waiting on the summit for me would give him some extra time to rest. When I reached the Hough summit, even further behind plan, Joe was sitting there looking fresh as ever, but I decided that he might be faking it so I sat down and washed down another disgusting pb&j sandwich with lots of water. It wasn't that I needed the food or water, of course not. I just wanted to make sure Joe had plenty of time to rest before we continued. As added encouragement and to help revive his spirits, I remarked "I came up here to climb nine mountains today, not eight." I didn't elaborate, but I secretly hoped that Joe would take that as a sign that I was taking a position against his plan of skipping East Dix.

The trip over to Pough then on to South Dix went without major incident. As before I hung back on the uphills to give Joe a chance to recover while he waited for me on the summits. He didn't seem to have caught on to my ploy, which was just as well. I still would need to use it on Macomb and, heaven forbid, East Dix. On the summit of South Dix the gods finally looked down kindly upon me. Joe turned to me and said, "I think it's probably best if we just skip East Dix and head for Macomb." I briefly considered laying the guilt trip on him for failing me at this late hour of the game, but decided he might actually call my bluff. I just couldn't risk it. "Okay Joe, I'm glad you had the courage to admit you don't have the stuff today. We'll head out. Afterall this IS a team effort." So, now you know how we suddenly went from being 1h22m behind plan to just 7 minutes behind. Excel to the rescue!

(continued)

[randomscooter]

Heading down to the South Dix-Macomb col we met two guys coming up with full - no, enormous - packs. My knees almost gave out at the sight, but luckily my poles were well-planted and I don't think anyone even noticed the brief stagger. After exchanging hellos we finished the descent to the col and turned our eyes upward. The climb up Macomb from the col isn't steep, but in my condition I wasn't looking forward to it. Joe went on ahead and I focused on the moment. On occasion I would look up and catch a glimpse of Joe up ahead. He was actually stopping at intervals during the ascent! Could it be that Joe had finally recovered from the state of delirium that earlier had had him racing up all the ascents? It briefly occurred to me that maybe he was afraid he'd have to climb down farther if I didn't show up at the summit, but I quickly dismissed that as absurd. He would have just left me behind and continued out. After all, I'd have done no less for him. That's how teams work.

When I reached the Macomb summit Joe was tapping his pole on the ground, apparently just to make sure the bedrock was sound. Surprisingly, on the South Dix to Macomb leg we had actually picked up 3 minutes to plan, and were now only 4 minutes behind our "adjusted" itinerary. Joe made a comment about how nice it would be to descend the slide, but even in my state I could remember the treachery of that loose rubble. Sure enough the slide was a nightmare. Joe almost stumbled again, and I yelled out "No damn it, don't DO that!!!" Of course secretly I was happy that he was at least showing some genuine sign of fatigue, but I really didn't want him to fall. It might've been hard to explain leaving him up there all night alone. Finally we reached the off ramp onto the new herd path. I'd heard so much about it. I have to admit my expectations had grown to the point of absurdity. But I quickly enough learned that it wasn't covered in wood chips, I did have to step over an occasional tree root, and there were even a couple of spots where I had to climb perhaps 3 feet before resuming the descent. Still, it was soft and pleasant, and seemed all the better every time I looked down over that steep enbankment and remembered the hell down there that we used to travel.

Shortly after 7pm we reached the campsites. I tried unsuccessfully to scrounge some food off the guys camped beside the path. I was thinking hot dogs (they had a nice campfire going) but all they had with them (or so they claimed) were peanut butter and jelly sandwiches...argghhhhh!! After telling them thanks but I'd rather my emaciated corpse be found decaying in the woods along the trail somewhere, Joe and I hit the final leg of the day. Joe said something about 4 miles per hour, I said something about knowing where he lived (this is how well-oiled teams negotiate compromises), and we started out and maintained about a 3mph pace, getting to within 1/4 mile of the trailhead before the inky darkness of night totally erased all visible signs of the trail surface. Undeterred, we were delivered on the wings of angels the final five minutes to trail's end, day's end, adventure's end, the end.

[Mavs00]

Originally Posted by Randomscooter

Okay, some folks might think it's a bit over the edge to carry a spreadsheet with intermediate times marked, especially down to the minute.

NOOOOOOOOOO, Over the edge... Don't be silly, we all do stuff like that, don't we guys .

In fact, I'll often bring my laptop too. You never know when your gonna have to integrate your MS Spreadsheet into a Word .doc, or god forbid, a Access database. Actually, it's nice to bring along my Sat. phone too, in case I have to "log in" and consult google earth about the "lay of the land" ahead. I sometimes have to pull the gear out and moderate a few threads too, you know how it is.

Well, I gotta run, I'm on my way down Basin right now, and Bill Gates say's I'm due on Haystack in 14 minutes, 27 seconds..

Over, out.....................


{friggin' engineers }
----------------------------------------------

Actually, in all seriousness. I enjoyed reading your report, particularly the fact that both you and Joe struggled a bit on your little stroll. It's nice to know you guys are human. I can't wait to read about the next one.

[rdl]

In fact, I'll often bring my laptop too. You never know when your gonna have to integrate your MS Spreadsheet into a Word .doc, or god forbid, a Excel file.

But if you had OpenOffice rather than Word/Excel, you'd save about 30 seconds when launching and be even further ahead.

[mastergrasshopper]

Hey random I was feeling real sorry for you all day fri. while I was at work enjoying myself.I see that even w/o hiking with me you have picked up the bad habbit of begging for food.BYOF and you gotta get past those bpj's just reading about them makes me feel sick.Great TR and great trip.
Breaking through the pain barrier,I call it getting in the Zone.To get there the physical stuff has to be under control ie no hot spots on feet, body glide in place,enough water, no major cramps or pains.I was in the zone last week untill 1/3 way up haystack when I realized I had no food.I didn't get back in the zone untill I had eaten on top of Gothics and had one extra energy bar for "emergency".At the summit of gothics 5:25 I was 25 min behind time but made up 20 min rolling on down the range and running out wedgebrook once I was not worrying obout food.I was so in the zone I didn't even notice that I had my sock stolen on upperwolf jaws I thought it was when I fell on wedge brk. after lower.
Currious to see exact route over to Dix slides,I've always gone up or down gravestone brk. from dial bearden col.very open but adds miles and bigger elevation loss.I'm very interested in doing dix range,DNCB,pinnacle ridge elk lake loop and want best / fastest way up Dial.This loop was given as a persciption by the good DR. Neil in canada but has not been tested and FDA approved for use by Us citizens but seems to work well with pin pin so I want to try it.
Mastergrasshopper

[randomscooter]

Originally Posted by mastergrasshopper

Hey random I was feeling real sorry for you all day fri. while I was at work enjoying myself.I see that even w/o hiking with me you have picked up the bad habbit of begging for food.BYOF and you gotta get past those bpj's just reading about them makes me feel sick.Great TR and great trip.

Yeah, wish you coulda been there to suffer along with us. Misery loves company As for the pb&j, only one word comes to mind...yuck, yuck, yuck. Never again will I bring them on a long hike. But they worked so well last week, go figure? What do you eat? Probably something too damned healthy for me to stomach

Originally Posted by mastergrasshopper

Currious to see exact route over to Dix slides,I've always gone up or down gravestone brk. from dial bearden col.very open but adds miles and bigger elevation loss.I'm very interested in doing dix range,DNCB,pinnacle ridge elk lake loop and want best / fastest way up Dial.This loop was given as a persciption by the good DR. Neil in canada but has not been tested and FDA approved for use by Us citizens but seems to work well with pin pin so I want to try it.

Pinpin just asked me the same question a few weeks ago. I'll send an e-mail with the route info. I've never been up that way, I prefer doing this bushwhack downhill. Did it first in '00 and still haven't found one to match it. I've considered the Gravestone Brk route but thought it would be longer for the same reasons you stated. Probably would be good to time both ways though, just to be sure. The upper part of my route is quite thick and slow, but the total distance is considerably less than GrvBrk, and less elevation loss. Another thought - there may be a hybrid route.

[pete_hickey]

I really liked your style of telling this tale. I was rather worried about Joe, up until you started claiming that he was delirious. Good thing you're younger than he.

[randomscooter]

Originally Posted by pete_hickey

I really liked your style of telling this tale. I was rather worried about Joe, up until you started claiming that he was delirious. Good thing you're younger than he.

Perhaps I should've strategically inserted some smilies into the text. Or perhaps a big warning up top:
WARNING: The author has attempted to interject humor into this trip report. If you are unable to differentiate between the humor and the serious aspects of the report don't worry...you're not alone. And, for the record, no fatalities or other life threatening injuries occurred during this trip, although the author did incur one scratch that a passing hiker noticed and thought should be cleaned and dressed with neosporin and an antiseptic bandage. The author, however, felt that the mud dressing was adequate and continued grunting his way up the Dix trail. Besides, who carries neosporin, or bandages, or ...

You had to mention the age difference thing didn't you! For sure nobody would've figured that out from the trip report Besides, I don't consider Joe to be older than me, I think of us both as ageless

[Dick]

I am pleased to hear that JoeCedar is human. After hiking with him the other day, I had my doubts..

[JoeCedar]

Geez--I just get bored and start practicing some mud-dancing steps, and the guy thinks I'm one step from the grave!!! And this, coming from the guy I was worried about all day, that he had major engine trouble rather than just needing a tuneup. On Dix, I even tried to call for a helicopter rescue for him, but the phone wouldn't connect.

Seriously, I think Tom's message comes through: In a challenging hike like this, one must carefully make a plan, then assess the plan based on actual conditions/time, then adjust accordingly to assure a safe completion.


There's always another day to do the Dixes.

[randomscooter]

Originally Posted by JoeCedar

Geez--I just get bored and start practicing some mud-dancing steps, and the guy thinks I'm one step from the grave!!! And this, coming from the guy I was worried about all day, that he had major engine trouble rather than just needing a tuneup. On Dix, I even tried to call for a helicopter rescue for him, but the phone wouldn't connect.

Seriously, I think Tom's message comes through: In a challenging hike like this, one must carefully make a plan, then assess the plan based on actual conditions/time, then adjust accordingly to assure a safe completion.


There's always another day to do the Dixes.

Hey, you told me you were calling your wife!

[pete_hickey]

Originally Posted by randomscooter

Perhaps I should've strategically inserted some smilies into the text. Or perhaps a big warning up top:[

No no no! That was what made it so good. That you strung the reader along, feeling sorry for Joe. Smilies would have ruined the effect!

[MarkL]

I was once advised that when leading a hike, I should occasionally stop to "tie my bootlaces" in order to give the slow, tired hikers a chance to catch up without feeling self-conscious. I thought that was pretty smart. But Tom's method of dropping back and slowing down to force a deliriously hyperactive exhausted hiker to wait(rest) is orders of magnitude more brilliant!

[randomscooter]

Originally Posted by MarkL

I was once advised that when leading a hike, I should occasionally stop to "tie my bootlaces" in order to give the slow, tired hikers a chance to catch up without feeling self-conscious. I thought that was pretty smart. But Tom's method of dropping back and slowing down to force a deliriously hyperactive exhausted hiker to wait(rest) is orders of magnitude more brilliant!

mother necessity to the rescue...

[JoeCedar]

I guess this evaluation is in the eyes (and body) of the beholder.

Some would call a guy who can maintain the same ascent pace, after 20 miles, 9000 ft ascent and 12 hours, a robust climber. The young lagger just needs to get in better shape .