[at-l] Trip report: Leonids night hike to Mt. Watatic, NH

[m_factor@hotmail.com (Mara Factor)]

Hi folks,

Here's a trip report from my night last night.  For those interested, I
included some thoughts on the use of a Big Agnes Zirkel and REM Air core pa=
d
at the bottom.

Mara
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mount Watatic =96 Leonid Meteor shower trip report

Last year for the Leonids, I had an incredible experience just 10 minutes
from my house and about 10 miles north of Boston (trip report at
http://friends.backcountry.net/m_factor/reports/leonids2001.html).  There
were rumors that this year=92s shower might be as good or surpass last year=
=92s
except for the full moon problem.  With the weather report giving a =93most=
ly
clear=94 window of opportunity for exactly the length of the two peak showe=
r
times in this region, I took up my friend, Kem=92s, offer to join him and h=
is
14 year old daughter, Gillian, on a night hike up Mt. Watatic, the 1,832=92
mountain in southern NH at the southern end of the Wapack Range.

We left Lexington, MA at 9:05 and drove directly to the mountain.  The
weekend storm that had drenched the Boston area in around 2=94 of rain, was=
 an
ice storm and then an ice/snow storm the further north we went.  As we
drove, we were just hoping that it was more snow than ice on Watatic.  My
friend guessed that we would be the only car at the trailhead.  Given the
crowds I=92ve seen on the top of nearby Mount  Monadnock, I guessed that th=
ere
would be a total of three cars at the trailhead as we drove up.  My friend=
=92s
daughter concurred with me.

As we drove, we noted with irony the one sign for both LEOmister and
LUNEnberg given the goal of the evening was to hike by moonlight and watch
the Leonids.

The trailhead was a mess of previously slushy tire tracks, now frozen and
not slushy at all.  My car was the only car in the lot.  Gillian,
immediately upon exiting the car, found a great flat patch of unspoiled sno=
w
and  proceeded to demonstrate the mastery of the perfect snow angel.

It was probably 10:15 or so when we started up the mountain.  With only a
1.1mile hike to the top, blazed with yellow markers, we hoped to make it to
the summit by 11:00 pm.

With the full moon and the snow on the ground, the landscape was lit up and
we didn=92t need our lights.  There was an inch or two of powdery snow on t=
op
of an inch or so of crusty ice on top of more snow.  When we started, it wa=
s
easy to follow the trail of footprints from those that had been there befor=
e
us.  We didn=92t even notice the blazes. Where the trail was not steep, it
offered us good purchase.

The ice storm brought quite a few branches down and a few trees, too.  Thes=
e
and the steeper sections that didn=92t hold footprints led to a number of
times when we lost the trail on the way to the summit.  When we realized we
had lost the trail, we would take turns scouting ahead to see if we could
pick up the trail again.  There were times when we were scouting in multipl=
e
directions from a single point to try to find the trail.  We finally
resorted to using our lights to try to keep track of the footprints on the
trail.

At one point, we had to backtrack a few minutes to a place where we had see=
n
some other tracks branching off in a different direction and followed those=
.
  These led right up a fairly steep pitch.  It was on these steep sections
that the icy crust got too thick to kick steps.  None of us had brought our
crampons, and I had left my Sorels at home and was only hiking in trail
shoes.  There were a few dicey sections where we had to bushwhack past some
steep exposed slopes and stay in the adjoining woods where there was enough
snow to gain purchase.

Thankfully, it was cold enough though that the snow was staying dry and
remained thin enough that it wasn=92t getting in my shoes.

We finally noticed we were on a blazed trail and managed to follow the
blazes past the =93shelter=94, now just a roof and part of a floor, and up =
to
the summit.  The few times we got =93lost=94 meant we didn=92t get to the s=
ummit
until ~11:45pm.  A bit later than we had intended.

We quickly set up our pads and sleeping bags on the icy summit and crawled
in.  The moon was high in the sky so we tried to mainly look north.  We wer=
e
rewarded with quite a few meteors trailing long and colorful tails.  We kne=
w
to expect fewer meteors at this hour, but the ones that appeared did tend t=
o
have the long tails or even skip along the atmosphere.

By 12:30, Kem set his alarm for 4:00 and I set mine for 4:30.  We didn=92t
want to miss the morning peak period.  We all try to get a few hours of
sleep.  At 4:15 or so, a lone woman comes strolling past us on the summit.
Kem exchanged pleasantries but by the time I extricated my head from the
confines of my sleeping bag, she had continued on her way.  I suspect she
was headed for the east peak.

At  4:30, I start looking for signs that the meteor shower is picking up.
It was slow at first but gaining strength so I woke my friends and so we
could all watch the show.  The show seemed to come in groups.  First a
flurry of activity right in the center of Leo.  Then a bunch streaking off
to the north.  I caught a glimpse of only one large enough to be considered
a true fireball.

While watching for meteors, we also caught sight of five satellites, all on
polar orbits.

Another early riser out to watch the meteors passed us around 5:00.  It
occurred to me that there must now be three cars in the parking lot.  I
guess we all guessed the parking situation correctly, in one sense or
another.

Things definitely seemed to be peaking just after 5:30 and we were
definitely seeing more than one a minute for a period.  Frequently, there
were a few in just a few seconds, and then nothing for a minute or two.

Dawn was coming and the eastern sky turned an incredible rust red.  Slowly
it continued to brighten and offered an amazing backdrop to the ice
encrusted branches of the summit bushes.

Nature called and it was time to start packing and head down the mountain.
We could see the places where we had gotten =93lost=94 the night before.  A=
t one
point, it was obvious we had been on the trail but turned around and
followed the wrong trail up.  Thankfully, they all lead to the summit.  It
was also obvious that had we looked, we could have seen that we were
following the blaze markers for the entire way up the mountain.

Ah well, live and learn.

The entire descent, even with me slowing down on the steep slippery section=
s
to try to keep my knee in one piece, took about one hour.

This year=92s shower, somewhat washed out by the full moon, was not quite a=
s
spectacular as last year=92s seen just a few minutes from my house.  Seeing
the shower, however, from the summit of a snowy ice-encrusted mountain, wit=
h
the full moon to ascend by, the spectacular sunrise to descend by, and the
company of friends not daunted by getting =93lost=94 in cold wintery condit=
ions,
certainly made for a much more wonderfully memorable trip than my solo trip
last year to a neighborhood park.


Gear report:

I was using my 20 degree Big Agnes Zirkel and REM Air Core pad as well as a=
n
additional closed cell foam pad.  Initially, I tried to just put the BA
system on top of the closed cell foam pad, but the air circulating was stil=
l
too much to retain my body heat.  I eventually put the closed cell foam pad
inside the Zirkel and immediately felt warmer.

These are the temperatures I wasn't sure if I should even take the Air Core
pad.  I'm concerned that the buildup of moisture in the pad with the
freezing temperatures could spell trouble if/when crystals form in the pad.
FWIW, with temps topping out in the 20s all night, the pad held most of its
air (following a recent fixed leak) and the cold did not present any
difficulties when deflating the pad in the morning.

When lying on my back I do feel like the insulation along the sides of the
Zirkel where it meets the pad leaks a bit.  Also, maybe it=92s just because
I=92m a woman and have different physiology or tend to sleep =93cold=94 in
general, but on more than one occasion with the system, my hips and butt
have gotten cold.  Last night, I was wearing long johns, and fleece tights
on my bottom, and long john top, microfleece sweater, and my MEC
Northernlite jacket inside the bag.  I also made use of my Design Salt silk
liner.

Additionally, I kept my water bottles in my bag with me, and with those
acting as hot water bottles, I was still cold on occasion.  I suspect the
temperature last night was probably hovering right around the 20 degree
mark.  If it really was much colder than that, then the bag did OK.  If it
was warmer, then the bag was disappointing.  At 20 degrees, the bag was OK
as long as I bundled up inside of it.

I didn=92t sleep all that well, but that was mainly because of the wind com=
ing
across my exposed cheek and nose.  When I covered my face with my silk
liner, my face was warmer, but I really hate the stuffy and claustrophobic
feeling of breathing inside the bag.  In general, I would avoid breathing
inside the bag, but knowing I would be coming home and be able to let the
bag dry, I wasn=92t too worried about the accumulating moisture.

In the morning, all of our bags were frosty, especially around our heads.
My pack which had been right next to my head and downwind also seemed a bit
frostier than it might have been had I left it either upwind or further awa=
y
from my head where I was exhaling warm moist air.

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