Hiking ADK: Dix and Noonmark 10/27/15

It's late Fall so I started out early and arrived at the trail head (Round Pond) about 1/2 hour before sunrise. The drive over was pretty nice since it was a clear night and a full moon. I had my head lamp on for a about 5 minutes when I started walking and then turned it off finding I could see better with the moon. The sun was coming up just as I got to Round Pond. Nice still cold (20 deg) morning. The pond was calm with no ripples except those created by a beaver that started circling in front of me. The trail to Dix is relatively flat for about 5 miles until you get to the base of Dix. The trail from that point on is very steep and goes up just to the right of a slide and has roughly the same pitch as the slide. It was icy and then very icy for the last .5 miles. Dix has two tops that both look like they are about the same height. I don't know which is the actual top so I always go to both of them. Dix is South of most of the 4000 footers and has great views of the great range, Giant, and the rest of the Dix range.
I spent some time walking around on the Dix ridge and then headed back down the trail. There was no wind so it was very comfortable to hang out at elevation. Going down was slow going until I got to the bottom and the "flat" trail that goes back out. About 2.5 miles away from the parking area is the junction to Noonmark. Noonmark is a 3500 foot mountain with a rick top. It has great views since it is sitting in the middle of the high peaks and is closer to them than Dix. It also has great views looking back toward Dix. This was an extra 2 miles and 1200 foot elevation gain, and I was pretty tired at this point, but I had been up Noonmark before and it is worth it.