Hough Peak

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.

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"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

"Climbed Hough Peak from the Lillian Brook herd path for my ADK Winter 46er finish! See my trip report and pics at: http://www.offonadventure.com/2013/03/hough-peak-my-adk-winter-46er-finish.html" — Telemarkmike • Mar 8, 2013

"Frank, Johnny and I climbed Dix first this time, then took herdpath to Hough. Met Kanji and Susie Nakatsu as we were going to Hough. She was startled, but highly impressed with Frank's 46er belt buckle. When they started reporting their climbs to the Forty Sixer Historian's Office they requested me to be their correspondent, so our acquaintance continued. Once again Frank and I had special duties on Hough, we represented the Forty Sixers on that summit for the 60th Anniversary of Grace Hudowalski's becoming Forty Sixer #9 on Esther Mt. " — barbaratraver • Aug 26, 1997

"Frank and I followed Glenn's directions and succeeded in summiting Hough Peak in time to fulfill our role of "manning" that summit at an appointed time when Albany ADK members were supposed to be simultaneously on all 46 High Peaks to celebration the Centennial of the Adirondack Forest Preserve. We saw others signalling peak to peak with mirrors and we wrote our message in the summit logbook, then pushed on to Dix." — barbaratraver • Sep 21, 1985