Region
Highlights
- Hough Peak is one of the four peaks in the Dix Range which are reached by unmaintained trails. (The others are Grace Peak, South Dix, and Macomb.) It is named for Franklin B. Hough, sometimes called the "father of American Forestry", since he was the first chief of the U.S. Division of Forestry.
Routes
/-73.7775755947,44.0694879414,11,0.00,0.00/320x240@2x?access_token=pk.eyJ1IjoicGVha2VyeSIsImEiOiJjampra3Z0bnAxeTVnM3FteHlybHY3b2p1In0.7a5dEa5-995VUv8ceHHNmw)
33 summits • 15.3 mi • 5,022 ft gain • 10 hr 48 min
/-73.7775755947,44.0694879414,11,0.00,0.00/320x240@2x?access_token=pk.eyJ1IjoicGVha2VyeSIsImEiOiJjampra3Z0bnAxeTVnM3FteHlybHY3b2p1In0.7a5dEa5-995VUv8ceHHNmw)
1 summit • 14.6 mi • 4,655 ft gain • 11 hr 57 min
/-73.7775755947,44.0694879414,11,0.00,0.00/320x240@2x?access_token=pk.eyJ1IjoicGVha2VyeSIsImEiOiJjampra3Z0bnAxeTVnM3FteHlybHY3b2p1In0.7a5dEa5-995VUv8ceHHNmw)
1 summit • 16.7 mi • 3,785 ft gain • 8 hr 41 min
/-73.7775755947,44.0694879414,11,0.00,0.00/320x240@2x?access_token=pk.eyJ1IjoicGVha2VyeSIsImEiOiJjampra3Z0bnAxeTVnM3FteHlybHY3b2p1In0.7a5dEa5-995VUv8ceHHNmw)
1 summit • 18.9 mi • 5,014 ft gain • 15 hr 50 min
/-73.7775755947,44.0694879414,11,0.00,0.00/320x240@2x?access_token=pk.eyJ1IjoicGVha2VyeSIsImEiOiJjampra3Z0bnAxeTVnM3FteHlybHY3b2p1In0.7a5dEa5-995VUv8ceHHNmw)
1 summit • 24.4 mi • 6,917 ft gain • 31 hr 46 min
Latest summits

"Becca and I hiked 21 miles from the car, around the loop, and back. With the rock slide on Macomb, and the steep faces of South Dix, and the 15 miles logged the previous day, this was one of my most dangerous hikes to date!" — mikebenjamin • Sep 6, 2020
"A quick one-day trip up to the Dacks to do the Dix range for Tom’s 46r quest. The last two miles of Elk Lake road leading to the normal PA was closed so we had 4+ miles of road walking added to our day. A stray shower came in as we were nearing the Beck-Horn so we were basically soaked while trying to enjoy the view. With the nice gust that appeared to blow the shower away had us shivering until we got a jacket on. The season quickly went from summer to fall instantly. Fortunately the sun came back out to share the sky with some clouds so the rest of our romp on the Range was delightful with comfortable temps. " — Nimblefoot • Aug 19, 2020

"Dix Range – 5 peaks in about 13.5 hours total time and 19.1 total miles.
With: Jeff, Meenu, and John. The day started with a midnight leave time for our 3.5 hour drive, and a 4:45 am start to the hiking day. The drive was interrupted for a little bit when we saw some stuff in the road and then realized a person was flagging us down. Turns out he (and a younger guy who was the passenger) had fallen asleep and flipped their truck on the side of the road (which we hadn’t seen until we stopped). We called 911 and helped them a little – luckily both guys had gotten out of the truck and were walking around and seemed relatively ok although with bleeding cuts all over. I got a mylar blanket out of my emergency pack and wrapped it around the younger guy who was freezing. The state troopers showed up in not too long and we were able to get on our way. Hopefully they both were ok.
Back on our way, we were doing a traverse, so met up with our friend John at one the Route 73 end point of our hike where we left his car and drove over to the Elk Lake Road start point. Because the Elk Lake parking lot is closed we had to park 2 miles down the road at the Clear Pond lot (which was full already, ..." — kvander • Aug 1, 2020

"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. Elk Lake keeps on getting farther away and Beck-Horn closer. Closing in on the end of the day, with the best summits yet to come." — 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.. A little clarifying I did on my S. Dix & Grace Peak summit logs as well - When I read other people's trip reports about doing the entire Dix Range, all of them said "just past the summit of S. Dix, take a left to go to Hough, or a right to go to Grace (E. Dix), there is no cairn." I interpreted these reports to mean that there was a "T" or a "Y" junction a few steps from the summit of S. Dix. HOWEVER, just before the summit of S. Dix coming from Macomb there is indeed a cairn on the left going to Hough.. then you get to the summit of S. Dix.. and straight past that is the herd path for Grace. Blah blah. Maybe that'll help someone else in the future. ANYWAY. After I figured out where the heck I was going, the col dropping off of S. Dix was pretty rough going in terms of elevation lost, but that was nothing compared to the elevation gained on the other sides! Definitely huff and puffed my way up this one. The numerous outcrops with views of where I had been and where I was going were..." — kellieirene • Sep 12, 2016

"A little overcast today but the clouds were high and the views fron 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
"Our pace slowed down quite a bit going up Hough. Some great views just below the summit. Also encountered a group of 3 guys going in the opposite direction, the first people so far today." — newenglandwarrior • May 12, 2016