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Well, this being my second winter overnight i can definitely say we did quite a bit better than last time. we were much more prepared in terms of gear and clothing, but sometimes you just cant beat the cold.
We left for the trail saturday with rain forcasted till at least noon, but we went for it anyways. we had a nice breakfast at the Lake Pleasant diner place in speculator (dont know the name), then headed for the trail. after suiting up and getting our packs set up we ventured into the woods. about a half mile in at the first water crossing it started to rain. this continued untill we got to the first lean-to on the pond. at the trail junction we were getting pretty discouraged but decided to continue onward since we were pretty close. we got to the lean-to and immediately started prepping for a fire. luckily the helpful tips i received from a few board members paid off and we got a nice fire going, but constantly had to work at it. we got the gear that was wet/damp dried out and set up our lean-to.
thankfully our bags/pads were nice and dry so we had no complications. however, even though heeding previous warnings, i found that cannisters dont perform well under cold conditions. jetboil's four season mix was better than previous brands tried, but cooking was slow none-the-less. we had some mac'n'cheese with tuna and settled in for the night fairly early, probably around 8, but i dont know for sure.
sleeping was a little cold at times considering the temps were somewhere around -6 from what i learned of later reports with wind blowing thru the lean-to (even with our tarped entrance). for the most part our relatively cheap 0 degree bags held up. none of us were really cold enough to a point where we couldnt sleep.
we intended to stay till monday but with temps in the negative 15 range for sunday night we decided it would be pretty stupid of us to stay. so we had many a hot beverage and hiked out. we got back to the car and decided it was too nice a day to just drive 4 hours home, so we broke out the snowshoes we didnt get to use and 'shoed accross Kings Flow and back to the trail that runs along it.
overall we had a blast. i think in the future we're gonna try for more daytrips so that we dont eventually freeze in a lean-to somewhere. i have photos for people to enjoy: http://community.webshots.com/album/545065625kZjcfl
-Jon
We left for the trail saturday with rain forcasted till at least noon, but we went for it anyways. we had a nice breakfast at the Lake Pleasant diner place in speculator (dont know the name), then headed for the trail. after suiting up and getting our packs set up we ventured into the woods. about a half mile in at the first water crossing it started to rain. this continued untill we got to the first lean-to on the pond. at the trail junction we were getting pretty discouraged but decided to continue onward since we were pretty close. we got to the lean-to and immediately started prepping for a fire. luckily the helpful tips i received from a few board members paid off and we got a nice fire going, but constantly had to work at it. we got the gear that was wet/damp dried out and set up our lean-to.
thankfully our bags/pads were nice and dry so we had no complications. however, even though heeding previous warnings, i found that cannisters dont perform well under cold conditions. jetboil's four season mix was better than previous brands tried, but cooking was slow none-the-less. we had some mac'n'cheese with tuna and settled in for the night fairly early, probably around 8, but i dont know for sure.
sleeping was a little cold at times considering the temps were somewhere around -6 from what i learned of later reports with wind blowing thru the lean-to (even with our tarped entrance). for the most part our relatively cheap 0 degree bags held up. none of us were really cold enough to a point where we couldnt sleep.
we intended to stay till monday but with temps in the negative 15 range for sunday night we decided it would be pretty stupid of us to stay. so we had many a hot beverage and hiked out. we got back to the car and decided it was too nice a day to just drive 4 hours home, so we broke out the snowshoes we didnt get to use and 'shoed accross Kings Flow and back to the trail that runs along it.
overall we had a blast. i think in the future we're gonna try for more daytrips so that we dont eventually freeze in a lean-to somewhere. i have photos for people to enjoy: http://community.webshots.com/album/545065625kZjcfl
-Jon
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