Dial & Nippletop

Hunters Pass, photographed from the Leach Trail connecting Dial and Nippletop

Trip In A Nutshell:
A climb of Dial and Nipple Top via the H. G. Leach Trail, followed by a descent via Gill Brook is, without a doubt, one of the finest hikes in the Adirondacks and one any hiker would enjoy. The hike starts out at the Ausable Club trailhead for access to the Adirondack Mountain Reserve (AMR) on Rte 73. From the Lake Road you will quickly pick up the H. G. Leach Trail you will follow all the way to Nipple Top. The real hiking starts with a steady, sometimes stiff, climb of the segment from Lake Road to Bear Den. En route to Bear Den's wooded summit, you pass through the site of a recent forest fire and get the opportunity to see Mother Nature at work healing this man-made tragedy. Continuing on to Dial and Nipple Top both peaks afford excellent views. Even the walk between summits provides occasional views such as the view of Hunters Pass shown in the photo at the top of this page. There is abundant flora as well. After ascending Nipple Top, the descent to Elk Pass is a steep one, but the pass itself is yet another interesting sight to admire. Finally, you finish your descent with a hike down the Gill Brook Trail, taking a left fork to pick up a better route, the Bypass Trail, down to the Lake Road. And then the long walk down Lake Road to your car.

Difficulty:
The elevation change from the trailhead to the summit of Nipple Top is a substantial 3100 ft. The round trip via Elk Pass is almost 15 miles. Balancing those challenging figures is the condition of the trails which are in tip-top condition, providing excellent footing, generally on loamy soil that characterizes the best of Adirondack trails. The route follows gentle contours except for the short, very steep descent from Nipple Top to Elk Lake . Leaving the Lake Road, you start the H. G. Leach Trail, and ascend at a gentle, then increasingly steeper rate. By the time you reach Bear Den's summit, you will have put most of the ascent behind you. It seemed to us that the early steep climbing optimized availability and expenditure of energy and made the hike all the more enjoyable. Beyond Bear Den, the climb to Dial is short and is followed by a 200 ft descent into the col as you proceed along the ridgeline toward Nipple Top. Nevertheless, the ridgeline is rather gentle once past the col just mentioned, all the way to Nipple Top. There is only the slight aggravation of seeming to reach Nipple Top's summit several times only to find that you're still not there. After leaving Nipple Top, the descent to Elk Pass is a very steep 1300 ft. over very rocky terrain. This short 1.1 mile segment is the only rocky hiking on the entire route . We have camped at Elk Pass. The ground is flat and soft. It is an enjoyable spot provided it is not black fly season.

From Elk Pass back to your car the hiking is an easy and gradual downhill. Note that while Gill Brook Trail, which you will follow over most of the distance to Lake Rd., was substantially damaged at its upper third by blow-down during the hurricane of 1999, this has been entirely repaired. In fact, the complete loop described here is entirely blow-down free as far as the trail itself goes, but the upper Gill Brook section has immense blow-down left and right of the trail. Only the Dix Range and Allen Mtn are worse.

All distances in the "Total" column are from the Gate, which is itself 0.9 miles from the parking area on Rte 73, thus adding 1.8 miles to the final Round Trip figure at the bottom. We are using figures from ADK's "Guide to Adirondack Trails: High Peak Region" which differ McMartin's which differ from the signs posted on the trails, but which are intelligible.

Note: We don't usually put a table like the one below on our pages. Beware of taking it with you on the hike. It will be a nuisance because you'll always feel that you still have a long ways to go.

Views:
Dial and Nipple Top offer excellent views of the Great Range, Pyramid, and Sawteeth. Views of the Dix Range and Colvin Range are good. As much as we enjoyed the views from the summits, the trip up and down also provided a variety of regular, excellent views.

Water:
This is a long hike on a hot day. There is no easily accessible water along this route until the ponds at Elk Pass and a small brook you cross while on Gill Brook Trail, just before the junction with the Indian Head Trail. A 100 oz. hydration unit is recommended for each hiker, or bring a water filter to use at the pond at Elk Pass.

*The RED H. G. Leach Trail (ADK #42, McM #91)* to Bear Den Mtn**
1	This is a photo of the Gate that takes you off the Ausable Club grounds and onto the AMR. The Gate is the start of the Lake Road that runs all the way to the Boathouse at the bottom of Lower Ausable Lake. You'll go through the Gate and walk another 0.70 miles to the start of the H. G. Leach Trail.	2	Lake Rd. is maybe not as enjoyable as a trail, but it is easy walking and a fast way to get to the trail.	3	Can't miss this, can you? Every sign is brand new with the exception of the one at Elk Pass giving the distance up to Nipple Top. This sign is directly on the side of Lake Rd. and points to the H.G. Leach Trail. You've come 1.65 mi. from your car.
4	We leave Lake Rd. and set out on the Leach Trail.	5	The trail climbs easily through some great hemlock forest. Very well maintained.	6	Nature reclaiming its own.
7	Plant-life is abundant along this route. In September 2001, when these photos were taken, Fall was just turning the leaves and the ferns were rust on their tips.	8	Climbing steadily, we encounter this sign on the side of Noonmark. It's been three growing seasons since the fire. Will it still be charred earth?	9	We're on the side of Noonmark. Sawteeth, Pyramid, and Gothics are in the background. In the foreground, a forest is being reborn on the slopes of Bear Den Mtn. We stand on the edge of the forest fire zone still ahead.
10	The Wolf Jaws appear as we climb into a clearing.	11	The trail continues upward. More clearing ahead.	12	We are approaching a cleft on the NW side of Noonmark. We're at about 2550 ft according to the map. No sign of the fire zone just yet.
13	We have a long, narrow knob on our right and the side of Noonmark on our left. It is something like a draw.	14	Coming out of the draw on its SW end, we are on alternating stretches of open, white anorthosite and dense patches of young birch. Charred stumps are everywhere. It is obvious that fire crews fought a blaze here and cut down trees to set up fire breaks. The perimeters are all around you.	15	Young trees and older survivors. The summit of Nipple Top is in the far distance. The marvelous thing here is that nature doesn't stop; it absorbs fire as a part of the way things are and sets about building again.
16	New growth	17	New growth	18	The trail turns left 90 degrees and head SE toward what is now a large meadow.
19	There's just no peak quite like Sawteeth. Looks like a Sharpei. A year ago we were over there taking a photo of where we're standing now!	20	The col between the Wolf Jaws seems immense.	21	l. to r.: Dix, N. Dial, and Bear Den Mts taken from the fire area
22	Sign located at the lowest point before the last uphill section to Bear Den's summit.	23	The views keep coming and coming. We are on the ridge leading directly to Bear Den's summit. You see Sawteeth at left. Marcy is in the middle in the far background. Basin is just in front of Marcy. In the foreground is Gothics.	24	The Lower Range from the fire zone on Noonmark's shoulder.
25	Dix from the fire zone.	26	East toward Noonmark from fire zone	27	Headed out of the fire zone toward Bear Den
28	Cairn before Bear Den	29	Cliffs along the trail	30	Ascent of Bear Den
31	This is the summit of Bear Den. Just a pleasant area, almost flat, with room for tents on the soft pine needles.	32	Ahead
The Leach Trail (ADK #42, McM #91) RED Bear Den to North Dial

33	The trail from Bear Den to Dial	34	The trail from Bear Den to Dial.	36	The trail from Bear Den to Dial.
37	The trail from Bear Den to Dial.	38	A part of the Dial-Nipple Top ridgeline that some call South Dial and consider to be the true summit.	39
40	Dial's summit	41	Dial's summit	42	Dial's summit
43	Trail sign on Dial.
*Leach Trail (ADK #42, McM #91)* RED The Ridgeline from Dial to Nipple Top**

44	From Dial toward Nippletop. We were unsure when we reached "South Dial".	45	The trail ahead. A very nice walk along a very nice ridgeline	46	The trail ahead. A very nice walk along a very nice ridgeline
47	Hunters Pass.	48	Dial - Nipple Top ridgeline.	49	Dial - Nipple Top ridgeline.
50	Dial - Nipple Top ridgeline.	51	Dial - Nipple Top ridgeline.	52 53	On our way to Nipple Top, we come to the intersection with the trail to Elk Pass (ADK #41, McM #89) from the Nipple Top-Dial ridgeline. We will leave this be for now, go out to Nipple Top, then come back here and descend to Elk Pass.
54	This is the last bit of trail to Nipple Top's summit. Nipple Top has a number of false summits. You think you're there and then... oops! Another one.	55	From Nipple Top's summit we look south to the inlets into Elk Lake.	56	The Colvin Range from Nipple Top's summit.
57	Flat Mt. Colvin. Behind her are Basin and Haystack in the clouds	58	Colvin in the left middle ground. Behind her on the right is Sawteeth. Behind and to the left of Sawteeth are Basin, Saddleback, and Gothics.	59	The Lower Range and even Haystack in the extreme distance.
60	Looking directly down from the summit of Nipple Top, we see the south end of Elk Pass. The magnificent Nipple Top slide is visible near the bottom. This is climbable, but is rated a technical climb.	61	Dix Mtn	62	Dix, Hough, E. Dix, and S. Dix
Nipple Top down to Elk Pass (ADK #41, McM #89), the Gill Brook Trail (ADK #40, McM #84) RED, the Bypass Trail (ADK no#, McM 83), and return via Lake Road to the Ausable Club

63	We leave the Dial-Nipple Top ridgeline for Elk Pass. This route down is particularly steep and rocky, but neither as steep nor as rocky as it seemed back in 93 when we last hiked it.	64	The trail drops fast once you step off the ridgeline and start down to Elk Pass.	65	Beautiful autumn colors.
66	One flat spot before the trail it nose dives again on its way to Elk Pass.	67	This sign greets us when we reach Elk Pass, having come down from Nipple Top. Not too bad, actually. Just be careful. This is the ONLY sign on the entire route that has not been replaced in the last year.

Elk Pass
68 69 70 71 72 73 Elk Pass appears swampy, but there is quite a lot of hard ground. (Spring may be an entirely different story, though!) At the right time of year the mosquitoes, deer flies, and black flies are very bad. The trail makes a hard left immediately upon reaching the sign in photo 67, above. You are then routed around a few of the small ponds that populate the pass until you finally find yourself at the start of the Gill Brook Trail.

*Gill Brook Trail (ADK #40, McM #84)* RED and Bypass Trail (ADK no#, McM #83) RED to Lake Road**
74	75	The upper reaches of the Gill Brook Trail was pretty well zapped by Hurricane Floyd. You will find many, many trees laid low all over the place.... but none on the trail! Hike on! The photo on the right shows the trail sign for the left turn that takes you to the summit of Colvin---a nice hike but not today. You will stay right and stay on Gill Brook Trail.
76	77	Gill Brook Trail continues gently downhill. The brook is to the right, but it's so far away you generally cannot hear it.
78	79	The next intersection is the trail to Fish Hawk Cliffs, a nice side trip that is usually done as a loop. By this time, you're probably tired enough that you don't think this a good idea so we just keep on going. The loop, though is to go from Fish Hawk Cliffs to Indian Head and then re-intersect the Gill Brook Trail further down.
80	81	More trail and more signs. This is where the loop mentioned above intersects back into the Gill Brook Trail further down. We continue to descend on the Gill Brook Trail. We don't even need to read this sign. But shortly, we will come to a fork. Unfortunately, there's no photo of this.