Elevation
4,409 ft / 1,344 m
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).
- 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
33 climbs • 15.3 mi • 5,022 ft gain • 10 hr 48 min
4 climbs • 16.1 mi • 4,581 ft gain • 9 hr 52 min
Latest climbs

"Hiked the Dix Range from Elk Lake parking area. We took the Macomb Slide up to start. Lots of loose rock and pebbles but there were enough solid and dry surfaces to hop to. The path to Grace Peak, the Dix Trail, and Beckhorn trail were all moderately to severely muddy which added to the difficulty of the trek. I still highly recommend this hike for all of the surprise rock scrambles!" — pandyabear • Jun 11, 2022

"Started from Upper Elk Lake parking, 2.3 miles to trailhead then up Hunter's Pass to Lillian Brook Trail to Hough summit. Over the Back-horn to Dix, then doubled back to descend via the Beck-horn Trail. Fifteen below in the morning… and windy on the summits!" — hunterjfrost • Jan 16, 2022

"Tom, Black and I arrived at Elk Lake parking area at 6 am. Temps in the low 40s, little wind and clear. Remembering that 2 miles of the road is closed due to Covid we brought our mtn bikes this time. 15 mins to the trailhead. Trail was mostly dry to the summit. View was awesone when we summited at 9:30. Returned to car at 1:12 pm. A great day for Tom and I to become 46ers! 13.4 miles rt. 46 peaks...270 miles hiked...70,000 feet of elevation climbed!" — garyogden • Sep 12, 2020

"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

"Longest day spent in the ADK. Took herd path from Route 73 and up Grace via the slide. Lost my way in the upper dry river bed. Was lucky enough to meet a couple of hikers whom I eventually became friends with. Between both our GPSes, we found our way through that part of the climb and did the marathon 5-peak Dix Range on a very hot day. Loved the descent into the col between Carson and Macomb as well as the ridge walk between Carson and Dix. Met another hiker bathing on the slide down Dix. Descent from Dix to Round Pond was very slow due to fatigue and one of the toughest descents in the ADK in my opinion. Returned to our cars around 11:30 that night." — JMindlin12463 • Jul 4, 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