Date: 2005-03-07
To: Prep #4
Miles today: 0.0

Ten Reasons to Like Winter Hiking10. Snowy woods are pretty.9. If you get too warm you can always take something off and cool down.   Of course, the minute you sit down you start to freeze, but nothing is perfect!8. If it is warm enough you can have fun playing in the snow.   Downhills are particular fun.7. You get to use those snow shoes you got for Xmas a few years ago.   A mixed blessing, since in my experience only the first hour of snowshoeing is any fun.6. The views are much better, since there are no leaves on the trees to block the view.    The views from the Kittatinny Ridge have been great. 5. No rocky trails.   All the rocks are under a foot of snow.4. The lakes talk.    The ridges I've been hiking on in NJ are followed by lakes and ponds which are iced over. The ice shifts and groans as it warms and cools, making the most remarkable noises.3. Lots of animal tracks, so even if you don't see the wildlife you know what's been there.    On one hike we followed a deer down the AT for several miles. We also saw something that might have been bear tracks. (old, blurry, hard to tell, but likely in NJ)2. You have the woods mostly to yourself.   This can be bad if you are lost, or are wondering how far it is to the trailhead!1. Going home to a hot bath and a warm bed!I'm trying hard to find good things because I have been very frustrated by not just the cold, but the snow cover, which has made my section hiking in NJ increasingly difficult. This past weekend I hiked ( on snowshoes) in High Point State Park on Saturday with my friend Martha, and Sunday with my husband, Allen. On Saturday I injured my hip snowshoeing and limped in to the trailhead parking lot 6 hours after starting 5.3 miles south. We barely made it to the car before sunset and then spent 20 minutes trying to extricate ourselves from snowshoes with frozen straps. ( You cannot drive a car with snowshoes on. Believe me, we considered it!) The first two miles were great, 'though! Sunshine and blue sky. beautiful views and lots of fun sliding down the hills. The snow was up to 2 feet deep which made for some tough going. The whole afternoon we met only one other person and a dog. The trail was unbroken until then. He came in from the other end, which made the going a little easier from then on, and not a moment too soon. My hip was giving out, and we were reduced for the last few miles to, as Martha said, "practicing the Zen art of trudging".Sunday the snow was even deeper, in spots up to my hips, and the trail was completely unbroken. I couldn't manage the snow shoes because my hip was still hurting and the extra weight on my foot made it excruciatingly painful, so Allen broke the trail on snow shoes and I followed in my boots. He breezed over the deep drifts, however, ( that's why you wear snowshoes) and I sunk in. I would have a picture to show of this, but the camea was in a side pocket of my pants, buried in the snow drift with my leg. I ended up crawling over the drifts, because I was damned if I was going to put those snow shoes on again! It was actually kind of fun, but pretty slow progress. We made it 3 miles in 3.5 hours. and then reached our car at the first raod crossing, having completed High Point State Park. We gave up at that point 'though and went home 4 miles short of my planned mileage.I am sooo glad I am starting the trail officially at the end of April! If it was all like the last few weeks it would take me several years to complete the trail and I would probably lose several parts of my anatomy to frost bite along the way.There's more snow on the way tomorrow and at the end of the week, so who knows when I'll be able to get out and hike again and make any distance at all. In between hikes I am working on preparing my food and designing a pot stand/simmer ring for my soda can stove. (The current design works great as a pot stand, but doesn't simmer. Phooey! It took me several hours to construct it.) Food preparation is necesary because I am gluten intolerant and cannot eat a lot of common trail foods like pasta and bread. So I have to prepare a lot of it ahead of time nd have it mailed to me. Of course, I have no idea whether I am going to like all of the stuff I am cooking and drying, because if I ate that food to test out everything I prepare I would be fat as a pig before I got out on the trail! Trail food is much higher in carbs and calories than the food I usually eat. I decided to make a variety and then at least, if I don't like something I won't have to eat it too often. Still lots of cooking to do!