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We arrived at the Eleventh Mountain trailhead on RT 8 around 11:00. After packing up the gear sleds, donning our snowshoes, and signing in at the trail register, we headed off up the trail. The trail over the hip of Eleventh Mountain was a bare rock, ice, and crusty snow mix. This made dragging sleds almost impossible. At times it seemed that we were stopping to upright the sleds every 30 feet. When the trail turned to mostly rock and ice, we took off the snowshoes and found that a lot easier to maneuver. To put it mildly, everyone was a little on edge when we finally cleared that first climb an hour or so later. To keep the sled from tipping so often, we ended up replacing the backpacks currently on the sleds with lower profile stuff like the food and daypacks. Four hours later, we made the Sacandaga lean-to, which was our destination. Our moods immediately became better. Not only in that we could stop the death march, but this place was just beautiful with the sun was shining off of the partially frozen river and snow pack. We took some quick pictures and set about making camp. There was a good supply of firewood to be had. This combined with the 20-30lbs of cut hardwood that my 18-year-old son dragged in for us, made for a very enjoyable evening in the woods. We set up sleeping bags and such in the lean-to, which was clean and dry. While we were making dinner, a day hiker stopped by on his way out from the Siamese Ponds to chat. Dinner and a full apple pie for desert while sitting around a campfire was a fantastic way to end the day. While sitting by the fire we were treated to a clear night sky lighted by an almost full moon. We woke up to +5 degrees to start the day. After warming up with food and hot drink, we packed up and readied ourselves to repeat the previous days arduous trek. With the gear sleds packed better, the hike out was almost uneventful. The day brought cloudy skies with +15-20 degree temps. We bare booted it out as there was only a thin coat of snow on top of a thin old crusty snow pack. We again had our problems on the eleventh Mountain hip with the sleds, but nothing like on our trip in. It only took us two hours to get back to the trailhead. This was my second winter camping trip and I think that I’ve learned a lot on each of my trips. Next year, I hope to be able to stay out two nights. Enabling me to do a little exploring wherever I end up. All in all a successful outing and great experience.
Here is a link to the trip pictures.........................
Here is a link to the trip pictures.........................
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