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- Jun 5, 2006
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For those not familiar with the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York, here are a couple of shots I took yesterday (elevation about 3000 feet) at Copera and Finch Ponds, Whiteface Mountain in the background:
These ponds are fed by small mountain streams, fortified by small beaver dams and spotted with a few beaver hootches. Here's another pond shot with White Face Mountain (el.4867 ft) in the background. It was a grey damp day, light values for photography were pretty flat. Believe me, these were shot in color; ticked me off, because the day before had plenty of sunlight and clear blue skies.
I'm a 66-year-old chairborne ranger, my idea of wintering is a comfortable chair in front of a warm computer screen. But my 45-year-old buddy is a licensed trapper and he coaxed me out of my man-cave to hike up and check out his traps for Pine Martens.
Back in the day, my wife and I climbed mountains in the Appalachians, so this didn't sound like too much of a stretch. But I've only done winter hiking in the back yard. Here's what I geared up with for light snow on the ground and temperatures about 34F:
Old medium size Alice pack with plastic GI canteen full of water; plastic peanut butter jar full of beaver jerky and chocolate; leather fleece-lined gloves; cotton gloves; extra socks; TP; winter trooper hat with ear flaps; baseball hat; nylon windbreaker with hood; space blanket; polarized sun glasses and yellow woods glasses; LED flashlight; fire kit with two fire steels, mag block, two bic lighters and PJ cotton pack; cell phone. Total weight about 15 pounds.
On my body: SAK Tinker; CS Master Hunter; extra cheap folder with spear-point blade; digital camera; storm whistle; cotton/poly polo shirt; polar-fleece shirt/jacket; Carhart cotton work pants; steel-tipped walking stick; military canvas mukluks as seen here:
I love these things, they're 18" tall. You can buy them in mil-surp stores for about $25; rubber lowers, canvas uppers. I line mine with good felt-liners from Canada, which cost more than the boots; mop up the canvas with Sno-Seal beeswax and petroleum jelly. They're great for wading around in deep snow which I sometimes get in my front yard. For this expedition, I added a set of stretch-on rubber ice cleats. My feet have always been toasty-warm in these, no sweating problems.
For me this was an expedition; for my friend and 14-year-old son, it was a walk in the park. They were dressed about as I was, except rubber wading boots.
My friend the trapper also carried a wicker fishing basket with all his skunk-oil baiting crap. Man, does that stuff stink!
We parked at Wilmington Notch, near Lake Placid, and took off up a well- marked trail head. The trail was the usual wash of boulders and tree roots that went up at about a 45-degree angle for 300 yards and then leveled out. Close pine and cedar forest all around.
Checking his traps, we walked about 4 miles over 4 hours, nothing serious. The trail was well marked and well-stomped, there's a lot of winter hiking up here.
I was pleased that I didn't have a heart-attack climbing the hill since I'm older than the other two combined
I was also humping a back pack with better provisions than they had. Once I got my second-wind, I was fine. I go to a gym and use the treadmill, but walking a primitive snow-packed trail full of boulders and stumps and tree limbs and roots is another story. It gets tiring fast. We also walked the top of one beaver dam, which was a little icy and dicey 
We found lots of tracks for deer, snow-shoe rabbits, and Pine Martens, but my friend got nothing in his traps. The area was dead-still, but we did see a Pileated Woodpecker.
There's a lot of other stuff I coulda/shoulda taken along, but we were never far from the main road and always on well marked trails. I should have taken some basic first-aid gear; also better clothing, instead of cotton. I'm now thinking again about everything I've read here.
All in all, a good day outdoors, I came home pumped and ready for the next day out.
These ponds are fed by small mountain streams, fortified by small beaver dams and spotted with a few beaver hootches. Here's another pond shot with White Face Mountain (el.4867 ft) in the background. It was a grey damp day, light values for photography were pretty flat. Believe me, these were shot in color; ticked me off, because the day before had plenty of sunlight and clear blue skies.
I'm a 66-year-old chairborne ranger, my idea of wintering is a comfortable chair in front of a warm computer screen. But my 45-year-old buddy is a licensed trapper and he coaxed me out of my man-cave to hike up and check out his traps for Pine Martens.
Back in the day, my wife and I climbed mountains in the Appalachians, so this didn't sound like too much of a stretch. But I've only done winter hiking in the back yard. Here's what I geared up with for light snow on the ground and temperatures about 34F:
Old medium size Alice pack with plastic GI canteen full of water; plastic peanut butter jar full of beaver jerky and chocolate; leather fleece-lined gloves; cotton gloves; extra socks; TP; winter trooper hat with ear flaps; baseball hat; nylon windbreaker with hood; space blanket; polarized sun glasses and yellow woods glasses; LED flashlight; fire kit with two fire steels, mag block, two bic lighters and PJ cotton pack; cell phone. Total weight about 15 pounds.
On my body: SAK Tinker; CS Master Hunter; extra cheap folder with spear-point blade; digital camera; storm whistle; cotton/poly polo shirt; polar-fleece shirt/jacket; Carhart cotton work pants; steel-tipped walking stick; military canvas mukluks as seen here:
I love these things, they're 18" tall. You can buy them in mil-surp stores for about $25; rubber lowers, canvas uppers. I line mine with good felt-liners from Canada, which cost more than the boots; mop up the canvas with Sno-Seal beeswax and petroleum jelly. They're great for wading around in deep snow which I sometimes get in my front yard. For this expedition, I added a set of stretch-on rubber ice cleats. My feet have always been toasty-warm in these, no sweating problems.
For me this was an expedition; for my friend and 14-year-old son, it was a walk in the park. They were dressed about as I was, except rubber wading boots.
My friend the trapper also carried a wicker fishing basket with all his skunk-oil baiting crap. Man, does that stuff stink!
We parked at Wilmington Notch, near Lake Placid, and took off up a well- marked trail head. The trail was the usual wash of boulders and tree roots that went up at about a 45-degree angle for 300 yards and then leveled out. Close pine and cedar forest all around.
Checking his traps, we walked about 4 miles over 4 hours, nothing serious. The trail was well marked and well-stomped, there's a lot of winter hiking up here.
I was pleased that I didn't have a heart-attack climbing the hill since I'm older than the other two combined
I was also humping a back pack with better provisions than they had. Once I got my second-wind, I was fine. I go to a gym and use the treadmill, but walking a primitive snow-packed trail full of boulders and stumps and tree limbs and roots is another story. It gets tiring fast. We also walked the top of one beaver dam, which was a little icy and dicey We found lots of tracks for deer, snow-shoe rabbits, and Pine Martens, but my friend got nothing in his traps. The area was dead-still, but we did see a Pileated Woodpecker.
There's a lot of other stuff I coulda/shoulda taken along, but we were never far from the main road and always on well marked trails. I should have taken some basic first-aid gear; also better clothing, instead of cotton. I'm now thinking again about everything I've read here.
All in all, a good day outdoors, I came home pumped and ready for the next day out.
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