Dix Mountain

Dix Mountain is the sixth highest peak in the High Peaks Region of the Adirondack Park.
The slides on Dix give it a distinctive look.
While it stands somewhat south of the main High Peaks region and is more difficult to reach, the steep and challenging climb is popular with hikers not only due to its inclusion in the Adirondack 46ers challenge but for the open views of the region from its summit.
Dix is also the gateway to four other High Peaks in the Dix Range, all of them, unlike Dix itself, officially trail-less: Hough, Macomb, Carson Peak, and Grace Peak. One of the most difficult Adirondack peak challenges is to do all 5 in the same day; most hikers prefer to break the trips up into separate assaults.
Most popular route is to climb Dix from the south by taking the Elk Lake Trail toward Hunters Pass, where a spur leads up to Dix.
A less popular route is a lengthy northern ascent starting from the Ausable Club in St. Huberts.

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Routes

Via the Beckhorn

14 summits • 19.3 mi • 4,832 ft gain • 14 hr 3 min

Herdpath from Hough, trail over Beckhorn

8 summits • 15.3 mi • 5,022 ft gain • 12 hr 15 min

Hunters Pass/Dix Trails

6 summits • 15.0 mi • 3,167 ft gain • 24 hr 40 min

Dix Trail

2 summits • 14.1 mi • 4,028 ft gain • 10 hr 47 min

Dix Mountain 18.9 mi route

1 summit • 18.9 mi • 5,014 ft gain • 15 hr 50 min

Dix Mountain 24.4 mi route

1 summit • 24.4 mi • 6,917 ft gain • 31 hr 46 min

Latest summits

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"A beautiful Fall hike to the summit of Dix via the Round Pond trail. We chose the slide instead of the trail and enjoyed a warm, sunny climb. The last portion after the slide was twisty ans steep with fresh ice on the trail from the melting trees above. Beautiful hike." — deb-and-rob • Oct 5, 2019

"Wow,, Now that was a long day On the trail with buddy 46er Matt Peacock,, Hiking and climbing all 5 mountains that make up the Dix Range In the Adirondacks Park New York State. Epic day with okay views. Day was hot and humid on the trails but warm breezy on the summits which in return kept the bugs to a minimum,, Met up with about a dozen other friendly like minded hikers along the trail and one older gentlemen who was a little off course which I'm hoping we got him on the right track,, All and all, great day with perfect company doing what we love,, #34 #35 #36 #37 #38 towards my 46er journey " — ramjet1963 • Jul 19, 2019

"This was a fantastic weekend My wife Brigitte and I wanted to do the Dix Range. We were lucky to find parking on a sunday afternoon at the Elk Lake Lodge. Our first afternoon hike took us to our camp site at Lilian Brooke. The following monday morning we started at 7h00am. Our itineray was to start the ascension of Macomb via the slides. The ascent was difficult but the view was amazing. Upon arriving at the top we saw a few hikers. 2 of them (Jimmy and Don) did the next 2 summits with us: South-Dix and Grace. We really enjoyed their company and we had a similar pace which was great. After Grace we parted ways. They head back down as Brigitte and I continued to Hough peak. We had read it was going to be though and it was true. We arrive at its summit around 3h30pm. Looking at what we still had to hike to get to Dix was impressive. Around 5h30pm we arrived at the summit of Dix... We started our descent around 6h00pm after saying goodbye to this magnificient view. We choose to go down via Hunter's pass even though it was going to take us longer. We knew that this path was easier then by the Beckhorn. We finally arrived at our camp site (Lilian Brooke) around 9h00pm...." — CPaquin • Aug 20, 2018

"Couldn't have asked for a better day to walk across the Dix Range. The best and final summit of the day. I felt like I was standing on top of the world. It was rewarding to look out and see how far I had made it throughout the day. Yet, humbling to see how far I had yet to go to make it back to camp at Slide Brook. I descending down Hunter's Pass and made it back just as the last of the light faded." — Right-On • Jul 29, 2017

"Trip report from the whole Dix Range traverse, included on all five logs: On Tuesday the 6th, Mom and I drove up to the Elk Lake parking lot and hiked in to the Slide Brook Lean-to. We got in sometime early evening and had the place to ourselves! It was raining, had been raining, and continued to rain into the early hours of Wednesday morning. But I'm willing to take the rain on set-up day versus hiking day. It was a little chilly at night and I had to put all my layers on to stay warm. I forgot that summer nights in the ADK can still fall into the 40's! Wednesday morning we were up at 6am and planning to hit the trail by 7am. A little late getting going and hit the trail by 740am. The climb up Macomb was pretty smooth, although wet and muddy (theme of the day). We found a sweatshirt, long sleeve shirt hanging off branches at one point and then a t-shirt and pants hanging off a tree branch at another point. Fully expecting a naked man at the top! (joking) Mom was nervous on the slide up Macomb but she did fine. Told her to just lean forward and don't look up! Once we hit the summit marker we stopped for some snacks, water, and pictures. The black flies weren't that bad at this po..." — tscha1 • Jun 7, 2017

"Solo. Macomb > S. Dix (Carson) > Grace > S. Dix (Carson) > Hough > Dix. Note pertaining to the entire day's hike - the trail register for the Dix Wilderness at Elk Lake Road was completely out of pages.. Coming over from Hough, the col dropping down wasn't too terrible in my opinion, though the multiple false summits became a bit disheartening as I topped out on each one expecting to be on the last one! The views were unparalleled though, I had such great weather for this hike. The herd path was easy to follow, though very narrow and brushy in many spots- I'm glad I was wearing long pants and long sleeves to protect myself from being all scratched up. The rock scrambles nearing the summit were something to write home about - especially the large cracked rock that I encountered and almost donated a shoe to! I had some trouble navigating how to get up onto some things without any help from anyone, and really wondered how the heck I would descend afterward, haha. When I finally got up to the summit I ran into Ray whom I had been passed by on Grace Peak, he was on his way down. I took some photos and talked to two other young men at the summit who were nice enough to take some photos f..." — kellieirene • Sep 12, 2016

"A little overcast today but the clouds were high and the views from Dix and Hough were great. Deb and I went up the Beckhorn trail to Dix first then took the herd-path to Hough. Found the Beckhorn trail steady, long and very steep up by the Beckhorn, a lot of fun and very challenging. We made great time and the herdpath from Dix to Hough was easy. Once done we continued toward South and went the down the Lilian Brook Herdpath." — hbotc • Sep 10, 2016

"The 5th and final peak of the day. More pockets of ice between Hough and Dix that slowed us down. We probably spent an hour up here. Some other people at the summit as well. Headed back to the car from here. " — newenglandwarrior • May 12, 2016

"Started from Round Pond trailhead. Very hot day, somewhat worried about heat exhaustion. Surprisingly level trail until slide at 5.8 miles. Took wrong turn up the slide and wasted a futile hour going up and coming down the slide. Ascent over final mile was quite tough in the heat, but not otherwise challenging. Descent to trailhead uneventful. Total duration, not including slide detour and time spent on the summit, 9.5 hours. Ended up using four liters of water. Time to get a water purifier." — rschainbaum • Sep 6, 2015

"Another awesome Adirondack day! Sun was just coming up as we started. It stayed sunny and very nice all day! Trail was great - after hiking trailess peaks for the last few weeks, this was awesome! " — PJSelmer • Oct 3, 2013

"First overnight, stayed at Lillian Brook campsite. did a loop up the beckhorn trail to Dix, over the herd path to Hough then down Lillian Brook herd path down back to the campsite" — ticehouse • Jun 11, 2012

"Hiked Dix from Elk Lake on a perfect day. Went up via Beckhorn and down via Hunter's Brook. Mid 30's in the morning. Mid 70's in the afternoon. Beautiful blue skies. See my trip report and pictures at: http://www.offonadventure.com/2012/05/dix-mountain-51212.html " — Telemarkmike • May 12, 2012

"Frank, Johnny, and I climbed Dix using handholds and whatever else we could muster on the very difficult route up to and over the Beckhorn. After Dix we went to Hough to participate in the Grace Hudowalski 60th Anniversary Celebration. She had become Forty Sixer #9 on Esther 60 years previous and the Forty Sixers honored her by placing people on each of the 46 High Peaks." — barbaratraver • Aug 26, 1997

"I don't remember the exact day I hiked this. What I do remember is it was if not my first it was my second trip into the High Peaks region. I was introduced to the great out doors through my uncle and my cousins. Every year we would try and bag as many of the 46 high peaks as possible over memorial day and labor day weekends. " — jouv236 • May 20, 1995

"Our second peakbagging day of the weekend. Two folks leave today and we are joined by another friend who came in yesterday. Back up the Elk Lake-Beckhorn trail to tag the final peak of the Dix range. We meet two more friends from the 3500 Club on the summit. On our way back we head off the beckhorn and over to Hough again for the young lady who came in yesterday." — Nimblefoot • Sep 5, 1993

"Martin Luther Kings weekend the Winter of 1988, we hiked Dixs via the Round Pond Trail off of 73. We camped out at the base and in the morning hiked to the summit. I have no photos!" — hbotc • Jan 16, 1988

"Finally Frank and I ascended the fifth peak in the Dix Range. The views were exciting--a sea of gold created by fall foliage possibly of birches. On the way down the trail we met a woman who was so impressed with what I had accomplished that day that she insisted on treating me to some home made brownies she'd brought. Despite being a marked trail, the descent was long and steep. Then it seemed like a very long hike back out the Elk Lake Trail, but we were never prouder in our quest." — barbaratraver • Sep 21, 1985