Grace and Carson again!!

I headed out on Friday morning at 7 from the Elk Lake trailhead, knees still sore from the Allen hike. Lucky that there were spots in the parking lot as there was a waiting list when I got back. A few people were signed in ahead of me, the most recent of which were apparently hiking Dix and Haystack (Good luck with that bushwack). It had rained on Thursday night but it was nothing you couldn't walk around and I had some brand spanking new hiking boots with a gore-tex liner so I was safe. I passed one group and then didn't see anyone until much later. The Dix range has a nice remote feel to it and each of the peaks in the range has great although different views.

I followed the Lillian Brook trail up to the Macomb-Carson col. I think that trail is my favorite of all the herd paths. I understand it used to be one of the worst so a lot of work must have been done to clear all the blowdown. From the col it is a short climb to the Carson summit. I picked a great weather day as it was blue skies and no haze to obscure the great view. A few photos and off to Grace. I'm not sure about the rules for including peaks in the 46 but there doesn't seem to be much descent and only a short climb up to the Grace summit.

The summit marker is nailed to a large boulder. There is somewhat of a view if you stand on the rock but the real treat is when you follow the herd path past the summit and come to the ledges that look across the Bouquet valley at Hough and Dix as well as down the Keene Valley and over at Giant and Rocky Peak ridge. I have a feeling that this might be the best spot in the High peaks to see the fall colors. I had a peak over the edge at the slides which must be pretty steep as I could only see the lower sections. I dropped a lens cap from my new camera down a deep crack so if you find it somewhere below...

The trip back was pretty slow as I had the same knee issues as from the Allen hike. It took more than two hours to get down the LB trail. I think I will have to stick to short hikes for a while.

See more photos on flickr.