Sunny 46

The hike starts with an initial elevation gain along the road which is rocky and well-traveled, then curves around the North side of Round Pond. The trail around the pond surprised me; it had actually been built several yards from the shoreline, so it was dry and managable. After the pond, the trail is an steady climb up to the top of the plateu for a total gain of about 700' over .8 mile. Sunny and Daisy were eager for adventure and we made pretty good time here. 

At this point, there is about three miles of flat to traverse. Long, flat sections aren't my favorie part of hiking and I was concerned about my speed in these secitons. The guys were kind enough to let Sunny and me keep the pace on this section and I think Sunny did a great job.

I like the part of fall when there is still some green mixed with the yellows and oranges. There were quite a few stream crossings between the Boquet River and the Dix slide which were fast-moving and clean. 

Sunny and Daisy were getting along very well. Sunny definitely had a hard time seeing Daisy with a bit more freedom than him, but I had to keep him in check on these lower sections, even on major elevation changes where leashing is dangerous. Still, Daisy was a big help keeping Sunny on task and she was generous with leading time, letting Sunny take point from time to time.

After one more stream crossing, we came to the base of the slide. Dix looked magnificent from here. This wasn't too hard to climb on the dry bits, but there are distinct areas where the water paths down the rockface which are caked with very slippery algae. As you ascend here, keep an eye out for the yellow paint markers on the rock and the caerns which mark the spot where you need to re-enter the woods for the penultimate ascent. 

This is where the real ascent begins in earnest as the trail climbs along the broken face of one of the arms of Dix to the top of its ridge. A lot of this part of the trail is a series of scrambles across broken terrain, huge steps, and boulders with a 40% grade or greater.

Although the grades are sheer and the terrain can be treacherous, I never felt afraid in these sections the way I did going up Gothics. There was plenty of bigger, well-anchored formations and vegetation to anchor myself to. As we climbed here, we heard some people over on the slide. I yelled across the trees and asked them if they were climbing the slide on purpose. They said no, they weren't, and they were quite grateful to be redirected back to the proper trail.

I love looking at foliage, trees, and moss clinging to the mountains at these elevations. I always look forward to these elevations where the evergreens take over and it smells like Christmas on the side of the mountain.

This section of this trail is extremely steep and gravelly. We took great care at our footing here. I was glad for my hiking pole here, as well as the close, strong trees.

At the top of the ridge, the trail follows a less steep path to the junction with Hunter's Pass. From here, the ultimate ascent begins. This is pretty steep as well according to the map, but the climb is very different. Instead of steps and boulders, this is a classic high-elevation narrow slide climb with a few ledges. There are some very slippery parts that you have to be careful of, but none of them felt very dangerous if we took our time since each section of slide was only ten to twenty feet in length each. Sunny helped a lot going up, but I had to do it on my own going down for safety purposes.

There was a bit of a tromp through mud pits at the top (of course) before we made it to the summit. Sunny made a few new friends there and got a bunch of pets. 

Sunny and I did pretty great on the descent. We had a lot of fun scrambling down the slide from the summit, and the rocks down the side of the ridge. Sunny and Daisy played tag with chipmunks and squirrels as we neared the base of the slide. 

The part of the hike I was quite dreading had come. While I felt certain I'd kept a great pace on the way up and down the mountian, it was now time to cross the four miles of easy terrain to the pond. I've never been good about making good time on the long walk back to the car. My method is to carry 3 to 4 liters of water to keep stop time to a minimum and charge the summit at a steady but safe pace, but take great care on the descents, then walk at a pain-management pace along the flat traverse back to the car. Often times, the hike back to the car takes me just as much time as it took to get to the summit in the first place. 

I know that for other hikers, they take more time on the ascent and fly back to the car in like half the time, so I was worried about holding people back on this part despite how well we managed the ascent and descent. In the end, I know I was a bit slower than some of the long-legged people in the party, they were kind enough to let me set the pace in the second half of it and I feel like we did okay. Jay assured me that I did well and should not feel so self-conscious in the future.

With that, Sunny had completed his 10th high peak. We've had a lot of fun and put in a lot of hard work on this part of our journey. We'll have some more adventures this year, but this is it for high peaks until next year. 

I am still a bit dubious about some of the 15-mile or greater hikes that will be necessary to actually complete the 46, but I am already thinking about camping solutions. Still, I think it's important to mention that we are not "do or die" on getting Sunny his 46. We are going to make a solid attempt at this, but I'm reserved to the idea that some summits might actually be impossible, especially by ourselves.