another day hike: snow & ice on the appalachian trail.

[JV3]

please excuse the crappy cell pics (i was too lazy to bring the dslr)...i decided to take a day hike on the a.t. to take in the last remaining snow this year...it rained a couple of days ago but it's back to below freezing so i was kicking myself for not bringing my microspikes - everything white has a really thick layer of ice now making for a trecherous terrain with just normal boots on

i finally broke down and bought a hill people gear kit bag...first hike with it.

i've been carrying the essentials hanging on my belt like this for awhile now but i still hated doing it, it just made my pants feel heavy and bulky...the kit bag just feels way better (we'll see if i still feel that way at the height of summer heat though!). it should work even better on overnighters too, since i don't have to empty out my pants before sleeping then re-stuff it again the next day.

anyway, back to the terrain...i haven't been here in over a year so i'm surprised to see so much downed huge trees (most likely from hurricane sandy)...the other areas i frequent on wasn't hit anywhere as bad as here.

there's a deer here looking at me

nice little natural emergency shelter.

...although i'd much rather stay in one of these...we're lucky to have a couple of these shelters spread all over here.

check it out - two chimneys too...cover the front with a tarp and it'll be super-comfy in the winter.

...with a view of the lake too.

 

[JV3]

i continued on towards a spot known as the "lemon squeezer" (two giant walls of rock that you can barely walk in between).

with no microspikes on, at this point i should've just turned around and wandered somewhere else...but i got into a "red mist" state of mind i continued on...i nearly slipped several times but managed to stay upright while working my way down the hill. the entire hike i didn't feel anything unusual but i must've twisted my right knee since i've been hobbling the past two days now and can't get down the stairs without feeling pain

all that work didn't matter, there was so much snow melt i couldn't cross the water without getting my feet soaked anyway...i would've gladly pulled a couple of bear grylls maneuvers to cross it if there was someone else with a camera to document my stupidity though

this is why winter is my favorite time of the year to hike!

queue the angels music

worked my way back up and decided to follow a side trail i've never been on to see where it leads...l-shaped tree.

...just led to some powerlines and then on a side of a road...strange someone would make a trail that ends in a road with no parking lot for hikers to park on.

i definitely regretted not taking a dslr on this trip...snow & ice has a lot of interesting shapes that i like to photograph.

 

[JV3]

headed back up towards the shelter for lunch...i think this waterfall is seasonal. too bad since it'd be awesome to sit under it in the middle of summer!

more downed huge trees...these are crazy hardwoods too so it takes a lot of wind power to knock them down!

i didn't have a good first impression of the fallkniven s1 (i actually even tried to sell it to a friend within minutes of getting it but now i'm happy he didn't take it) but i've been using it for awhile now and it's one of my favorite belt knives now (easily in the top 3)...funny how that works.

i'd really like to see an orange esee fire kit.

right off the bat i'm already loving the kit bag.

i decided to setup for lunch near an existing make-shift fire ring/camp - you can see the shelter on the upper left corner in the distance. i try not to stay too close to those shelters (especially on overnighters) since everyone knows where they are and i'm paranoid about crazy people sneaking up on me i mean, even crazier people than me you only have to ask those that have seen me while holding a machete - serial killer comes to mind

kinda felt weird not having a kifaru pack with me.

soaking in that woods perfume aka smoke

heading back to the car, i came across plenty of these deer. they were a lot closer than the pic shows too - maybe 100 ft or so...they were probably looking at my goofy winter hat and deemed me not a threat

 

[drgnclwk]

Great photos, I'd love to go out to someplace like this eventually for camping. I didn't know places had shelters like that.

Did you write the shelter sign or did someone else already leave that there for people to find?

Thanks for sharing.

 

[agile_1]

Nice pics. Even for a cell phone.

All those downed trees - did the hurricane hit that hard in that area? Is this down in the tri-state area in NY? I saw Bear Mt. Rt. 17 on the sign. Used to live down that way (years ago) and hiked Bear Mt. a couple times. Will have lots of firewood for a couple years anyway.

Spring is rolling in.

 

[JV3]

Great photos, I'd love to go out to someplace like this eventually for camping. I didn't know places had shelters like that.

Did you write the shelter sign or did someone else already leave that there for people to find?

Thanks for sharing.

thanks! we have about a dozen or so shelters like that spread all over here (it's around 46,000 acres so there might be more that i just don't know about or not in the trail maps yet)...not sure about california though so you'll have to buy a trail guide/map to find out.

that sign was probably spray-painted on by one of the trail maintenance crew.

Nice pics. Even for a cell phone.

All those downed trees - did the hurricane hit that hard in that area? Is this down in the tri-state area in NY? I saw Bear Mt. Rt. 17 on the sign. Used to live down that way (years ago) and hiked Bear Mt. a couple times. Will have lots of firewood for a couple years anyway.

Spring is rolling in.

thanks! yup, this was in the southern tip of harriman state park, very close to rt. 17...i think we saw about a 60 mph wind gust (lots of power lines went down in my neighborhood and we had no power for about 8 days). plus those trees were on a very exposed ridge that's facing east/south-east (facing the coast) so it's probably from the hurricane.

yup, lots of firewood. i think i'll be doing a couple of overnighters there this summer.

 

[JSMcustoms]

Very beautiful. What part of the trail is this? I've only seen my local NC section and just a few miles of it.

 

[JV3]

Very beautiful. What part of the trail is this? I've only seen my local NC section and just a few miles of it.

thanks! that was in southern ny, only about 30 mi north west from nyc.

 

[crossada]

Great report as always JV3:thumbup:

 

[ROCK6]

Good to see you give the HPG Kit Bag a shot. I’ve been sold for a while and won’t be out without one. I’ll be using my on the AT later this spring with my wife…it’s more for my CCW platform, but I live having a few essentials right at hand.

We’ll eventually work our way up north…I love that area up there!

ROCK6

 

[jonnyt16]

What a great thread, I really enjoyed it! Just curious, what didn't you like about the Fallkniven S1? I have an A1 right now but considering getting an S1 as well.

 

[tknife]

Awesome pics! The knife pics in the frozen waterfall look fantastic, like they are mystically rising out of the water Excalibur style. Quick question on the chest rig, does it affect breathing as you get hiking? I have tried different cross chest carry and I'd get huffing up a hill and feel like my chest couldn't expand enough when breathing hard.

 

[Eric B43]

Great report, thanks!

 

[VTguy17]

Great photos, I'd love to go out to someplace like this eventually for camping. I didn't know places had shelters like that.

Did you write the shelter sign or did someone else already leave that there for people to find?

Thanks for sharing.

We have a ton of really nice public shelters up here in VT as well. Here are two I frequent regularly. There's never anyone here and it's a hike to get to that's why I love shelters like this.

Sonya on first watch...

 

[pinnah]

[hijack]
VTguy, mind sharing which shelters those are? The one on the northeast side of the Sterlings is fairly new, no? Is that the first one?
[/hijack]

JV3, I keep nearly all of my essentials in a fanny pack. Fanny pack gets dropped into the top of my pack when carrying a full pack. Like you, I don't want to have to empty/refill my pockets regularly. On side trips, I just grab the fanny pack and go. Luggable around camp easily too.

More of my thought here:
http://home.comcast.net/~pinnah/DirtbagPinner/essentials-list.txt

 

[VTguy17]

^ first picture is the shelter up on bread loaf wilderness and the second is a side trail off of the Mt Ellen trail both have been there quite a while.

If your referring to sterling pond that's up near smugglers notch, both of these are quite a ways to the south near sugar bush and Middleburry.

 

[JV3]

Great report as always JV3:thumbup:

thanks!

Good to see you give the HPG Kit Bag a shot. I’ve been sold for a while and won’t be out without one. I’ll be using my on the AT later this spring with my wife…it’s more for my CCW platform, but I live having a few essentials right at hand.

We’ll eventually work our way up north…I love that area up there!

ROCK6

yeah, i've been looking at your kit bag pics and from others for probably close to a year now and finally broke down...my first hike with it went really well. i think i'm sold! plus, i can put my bike repair stuff in there while riding around town when a camelbak is overkill...i'm already used to getting looks when i'm wearing my mtb shorts/shoes while on the road bike that wearing this kit bag won't be any different, haha.

let me know when you're in the area and i'll try to join you guys for the day.

What a great thread, I really enjoyed it! Just curious, what didn't you like about the Fallkniven S1? I have an A1 right now but considering getting an S1 as well.

thanks! mainly the blade length and swedge (my perfect fallkniven would probably be an s1's handle with the f1's blade shape but 4" long). i'm also used to my spyderco bushcraft which is very hand filling so the s1's handle was a tad too narrow for me.

i used my f1 for awhile but never got used to the skinny handle so sold it and bought the s1. it too has a tad narrow handle (but definitely more filling than the f1) but with gloves on it feels just right...now that i've used it for awhile, i wouldn't change a thing about it. i even bought a lefty sheath last week and the retention on it is way better than the original - there's no way it'll come off even if i shake it upside down...so it's a keeper for sure

Awesome pics! The knife pics in the frozen waterfall look fantastic, like they are mystically rising out of the water Excalibur style. Quick question on the chest rig, does it affect breathing as you get hiking? I have tried different cross chest carry and I'd get huffing up a hill and feel like my chest couldn't expand enough when breathing hard.

thanks! i barely notice it's there since i don't have a lot in it. i weighed it last night, 2.5 lbs, so it still floats in my chest as it moves. also, the cold weather helped but i'm sure i'll notice it more as it gets warmer...much more noticeable pressing on my chest when my gun is in there but since we can't carry here, i can't really give it a true test and hike with it.

one thing is that you can adjust the straps so it's positioned all the way down your stomach so it doesn't interfere with your breathing...if you ask me again around july i'll probably say i stopped using it until winter rolls around again

someone requested more pics so i'm doing a review of it (it'll be in the outdoor gear sub-forum in a day or two) but here's a quick peak at the pics:

it'll probably depend on which pack you have on/how it's set up but for me, the kit bag doesn't interfere with the ku3700 at all (or the kestrel 28 i had on in this hike).

i didn't buy the lifter kit but i can still attach the kit bag directly on the backpack via the itw grimlocs (it comes with it) instead of wearing it:

...i had my s1 hanging like this while i was hiking so it didn't create a hot spot with the waist belt:

Great report, thanks!

thanks, eric!

that's a woods mansion!

JV3, I keep nearly all of my essentials in a fanny pack. Fanny pack gets dropped into the top of my pack when carrying a full pack. Like you, I don't want to have to empty/refill my pockets regularly. On side trips, I just grab the fanny pack and go. Luggable around camp easily too.

More of my thought here:
http://home.comcast.net/~pinnah/DirtbagPinner/essentials-list.txt

thanks for the article...i'll give it a read.

 

[Woods Walker]

Did you know about all the rattlesnakes in the area? Too cold right now but in May they will be out moving around.

 

[smitty44]

Great photos,when you come from the flat lands of Kansas,anything with trees and hills look great!!!

 

[SideTracked]

These shots are great, inspiring to get out and hike early. And that section you were at isn't too far from me.