Date: 2011-02-13
To: Ice Crusted Snow Hike
Miles today: 0.0

The Hike scheduled with the Allentown Hiking Club yesterday was canceled due to trail conditions. I have been chomping at the bit to get out as often as I can so I decided to try a short 8 mile hike myself (or so I thought). I started on the AT at the Rt 309 Summit and was planning to hike to the Allentown Shelter (4 miles) then return. The conditions were windy and the snow was iced over. I now understand why tall hiking boots are preferred by certain people in certain conditions (opposed to my Lightweight Low Cut Merrells). Every twenty or ten or two steps, one of my feet would lurch through the crusted snow without warning. Unfortunately, this many times meant that my ankles would hit the ice that had sealed over the top of the snow. I also quickly learned to remove my eco friendly rubber tips on my trekking poles so I could get some traction on the slippery surface. Not that I am an advocate of it, since I know what kind of damage an ATV can do to the trail, most of the first 2 miles I walked in the tracks of a 4 wheeler that had run down the trail some days before. When I did this, I still slipped a lot (as my feet gravitated to the lowest point in the ruts), but when my feet broke through the top crust they did not fall deep enough through the snow to hurt my ankles on the frozen surface.I hiked in to the Fort Franklin road crossing. After crossing the road, the ATV tracks stopped...so did I. Every step was painful, so I turned back around and my 8 mile hike became a 4 mile hike. Before this season, I have not had any experience hiking in the cold and weather that winter provides. It is good experience to trying out my cold weather gear with different winter like considerations in mind.Along those same lines, I have been wanting to try out my sleeping bag in a colder climate to see if it is sufficient for my upcoming needs. I currently have a GoLite Vario RS Long that a 40 degree bag as well as a 25 degree bag when turned over to the other higher loft side. I have been tossing around getting a warm 0 or 5 degree mummy bag to use at the beginning and end of my thru hike. I was entertaining the idea of camping out last night at a shelter, but did not want to get caught in a dangerous situation miles from my car in the dark. So I decided to try my bag out last night in my unheated garage. I did use a piece of carpet under my tyvek ground cloth, my NeoAir Trekker L Torso AirPad and my silk bag liner. I wore a warm shirt and pants to bed. The temp was 35F when I went to sleep. I woke up several times (think I caught myself snoring) to shift positions and fell back asleep. Three hours went by before I found my throat sore/dry also nose & neck cold. I looked at the temp, it was at 33F. The cold had made me uncomfortable, but not shivering. I believe that this combination would be good for me down to freezing, but below that it would be a saftey concern (as well as a poor nights sleep). Not needing to prove anything to anyone, I used my saftey net and went inside to my warm bed for the remainder of the night. It looks like I may need to look into a warmer bag for to use in March also Sept/Oct depending on the environmental conditions. Thats all for now...Happy Trails!