At the bottom of West Face Slide on Macomb. Unlike most Adirondack slides which are a single smooth wall of anorthosite,
Macomb's West Face Slide is composed mainly of broken rock in a sea of gravel.

Update on the Descent from Macomb (9/2005)
Since Hurricane Floyd blew through in the mid-Nineties, the routes up or down the west faces of Macomb have been varied and often in disarray. Now we appear to be able to put some clarity on what the situation currently is for those of you that want to hike into the Dixes via Lillian Brook.

Art Allen informs us that the approach to McComb's slide from the Red trail has been re-routed about half way up. At the point where the trail descends down into Lillian Brook a new trail has been cut. This new section remains up on the ridge to the north of the brook (brook on your right) and continues to it reaches the slide about 10% of the way up the slide. From there Adirondack Journey's description remains correct.

The Dixes In General
The RED Dix Trail (ADK #119, McM #59), connects to all the Dix Range summit trails from the Elk Lake trailhead. Unmarked as well marked trails ascend the Dixes. These are not maintained, but in a majority of cases, usage has tamed them since Hurricane Floyd wreaked havoc with them in 1999. Hikers' boots have rerouted them around the principal blow-down sites. The resulting herd paths are numerous and can cause confusion. By 2002, the herd path to Macomb from Slide Brook, and the route from (approx.) the col between S. Dix and Macomb down to Lillian Brook remain challenging. Now, at least the former, which we treat on this page, is in good shape (in the Adirondack sense of the word "good").

West Face Slide: The approach to Macomb's West Face Slide, the short slide shown on maps that show such natural features, but the fallen trees are in onesies and twosies, and are not masses of full-grown, uprooted trees obstructing the path almost completely for tens or hundreds of yards. Clearly, the herd path has been rerouted because you will occasionally see enormous devastation on 10 acre patches just to your left or right as you move through the forest. Red tape tied to trees occasionally marks the herd path, but it seems less needed as time goes on.

As for ourselves and our hike up Macomb, we decided we had burned too much time looking for a different herd path, the start of McMartin's route #67 from Lillian Brook to the S. Dix Macomb col, so we opted to climb Macomb's West Face Slide, instead. Once again, the McMartin guidebook was a hindrance, not a help, but a new edition came out in 2001.

Difficulty: The slide itself is not at all difficult. As slides go, it is short; slide length is about 1400 feet with an elevation change of approximately 400 feet. Mainly gravelly rubble, not smooth rock or slick rock. Anyone should find this an easy ascent, even though footing is sometimes a bit uncertain in the gravelly areas. All in all, it's a good slide for first-timers. The modest challenge associated with climbing Macomb is actually the approach to the slide from the RED trail. It is a narrow path, often following along the steep banks of Big Slide Brook, and finally on rocky, boulder-strewn, streambed of the upper reaches of the brook. Figure on lots of blow-down, but as an irritant, not an obstacle. The footing from the point you leave the red trail to the bottom of the slide is spongy humus, the basic, organic black earth of Adirondack trails, often covered with pine needles. We figured less than 5 hours round trip allowing plenty of time for photography. Overall, we give the hike an moderate rating for the average hiker.

Views: If you go to our view ratings (left at top) you will see that we assign Macomb a lofty VERY GOOD for view. And so she is. The best thing about climbing the slide is the view over your shoulder as Elk Lake and the mountains beyond open to your view. Terrific! You will see Elk Lake in its entirety. The view of the Colvin Range is perhaps the most spectacular. The Great Range behind the Colvin Range is very nice. Oddly or not, when you reach the summit, you will have access to the same views, but they are not as good. Somehow they do not seem as close or as fresh, so take your photos on the ascent.

Notes: Finding a route from Slide Brook is not hard. There are at least 2 herd paths at Slide Brook, probably more. We went outbound on one, returned on another, and appear to have unintentionally switched from one to the other several times in between. Starting out, we recommend that from the Slide Brook lean-to itself, you head toward the Elk Lake trailhead, crossing Slide Brook bridge which is no distance from the lean-to. After you've taken a few dozen steps off the second bridge, you'll see a sort of clearing uphill to your left and a little higher than you're standing on the trail. You'll also note that if you walk a bit further on the red trail (still in the direction of the trailhead), you'll come to another stream bed. It was dry when we were there.

Walk up into this clearing and head toward its right, rear corner. There you'll intersect this dry stream bed and see the start of a trail that's pretty well defined. Follow it. It's over rough terrain, but it's easily discernible. It will generally follow the stream bed such that from time to time you're on a steep bank that drops down to the stream. You may see orange or red tape tied to trees marking the trail. All in all, you are not apt to get the feeling that you've wandered off the trail. At one point, we were low in the defile that the stream bed follows and saw a trail junction, one branch of which crossed the stream bed and angled up on the opposite slope. We took that to be the route to the 1947 slide up Macomb (McM #64). McMartin reports that that slide is now little used. We stayed left.

In time you find yourself right in the streambed, which has become very narrow. Many cairns mark the route. The streambed becomes less and less like a watercourse and more and more like a rubble pile. In fact, it turns out to be the outlet for the rubble that falls down the slide, because, shortly, the rubble makes a sharp right turn and opens up to the slide itself. Climb on! You've arrived! When you reach the trees at the top of the slide, you will find the route to the summit easily identifiable. A 10 min walk takes you to the summit of Macomb.

(We note that there is also a herd path that starts at the outhouse above the lean-to. We found that to be vague and meandering, a collection of herd paths that petered out. We're sure that if you hit on the correct one you'll be okay, but the route we describe in the preceding two paragraphs starts out solid and stays solid all the way.)

Options At the Top:
If you have aspirations to hike the whole Dix Range, this climb up Macomb is a good way to start out, provided you allow appropriate time. We hiked the rest of the Dixes on a different hike (go up to the button bar and click on "up"), but here are some options that might appeal to you.

A Note Regarding the Lillian Brook Herd Path (McM #67)
The page you are now on is devoted only to the West Face Slide approach to Macomb, but in case you are researching other routes to Macomb you can find the Lillian Brook herd path by clicking here. The bottom line, though, is avoid the Lillian Brook route until the blow-down (particularly bad there) settles.

Ascent of Macomb via Slide Brook and the West Face Slide (Unmarked)
1	As this photo shows, the herd path to Macomb passes through miles of sunlit forest with firs and mixed hardwoods. Most of the trail, however, is not at all this clear. There are plenty of saplings to squeeze between, fallen trees to step over, and steep banks that you must cut across high above the brook. Sometimes the trail can be very nice, but be prepared for some tough going. That said, as more people go via this new route, the way should become easier. This trip was taken in 2002.	2	From the Slide Brook lean-to walk a short distance in the direction of Elk Lake on the RED trail, crossing the 2 bridges that are very close to the lean-to. You can pick up the herd path to Macomb's slides on your left after crossing the second bridge. You'll find it near the dry or almost dry streambed.
3	Cairns appear frequently to mark the herd path to Macomb's West Face Slide	4	Eventually, the herd path which always follows Slide Brook or a tributary, is just following the dry waterway.
5	The herd path continues NE toward the base of the slide over dry rock. This continues for a half hour or more until, suddenly, the brush on the right and left opens up and the slide appears on your right.	6
7	The West Face Slide viewed from its bottom.	8	Elk Lake as seen from about a third of the way up the slide.
9	This photo gives the illusion that the slide is steeper than it is. The loose nature of the surface is readily apparent. Still, footing is not a particular problem. One caution is that the occasional 5 lb. rock starts rolling, so you don't want to be just below someone else on the climb.	10	The views of Elk Lake continue throughout the ascent. The view is to the SW and Boreas Mtn lies just beyond the lake.
11	Looking up the slide from about the halfway point.	12	We are looking NNW from the slide at Nippletop in the foreground. In the far background you see Saddleback looking like a set of lips aimed at the sky. To the left of Saddleback is Basin. Just below and in front of Basin, peeking out from behind Nipple Top, is Colvin.
13	Compared to the photo just above, the camera is now aimed to the NW. The entire Colvin Range is now visible, except for part of Colvin itself. Blake is dead center and above Blake and slightly to the left is Haystack. Behind Haystack and to the left just a tad is Marcy. Gray and then Skylight are to Marcy's left.	14	The camera is looking west. Allen Mtn lies behind the Colvin Range. You can spot it above the small slide on Pinnacle.
15	Moving to the WSW, North River Mtn lies in the center of the photo. Allen is to the right.	16	Basin and Saddleback.
17	Summit Panorama #1: The Great Range in the background with Marcy. The Colvin Range center. and Nipple Top in the right middle ground.	18	Summit Panorama #2: Redfield, Cliff, Pinnacle, Allen
19	Summit Panorama #3: Elk Lake with Clear Pond to its left.	20	Macomb's nubble from summit
21	The summit sign which replaced the old canister. Now the signs are being or have been replaced (or stolen) with a trail disc, which we hope is not as attractive to the thieves as the signs.