[at-l] Trip report - a cold walk in Harriman Park

[bobsectionhikes at hotmail.com (Bob Hikes)]

Dwight:

SO THOSE WERE YOUR FOOT PRINT I SAW....REALLY I DID....YOUR BRAVER THAN 
ME....ANYWAY...I BOUGHT A STEPHENSON WARMLITE  DOWN AIR MATTRESS THIS FALL 
AND USED IT ON MY SOUTHBOUND SECTION OF PENNSYLVANIA...I REALLY LIKED THE 
COMFORT..THEY AREN'T CHEAP....AND DO NO INFLATE BY THEMSELVES...BUT I FOUND 
IT VERY COMFORTABLE...I WILL BE BRINGING IT TO THE RUCK IF YOU'D LIKE TO SEE 
IT...ALSO THINKING OF BUYING ONE OF STEPHENSON'S TENT....EXPENSIVE, BUT 
LIGHTWEIGHT..

JB

Bob Davies



>From: "Dwight Lindsey" <Dwight@schneideroptics.com>
>To: <at-l@backcountry.net>
>Subject: [at-l] Trip report - a cold walk in Harriman Park
>Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 22:36:32 -0500
>
>I did some hiking in Harriman Park last weekend, in some pretty cold
>weather.  It wasn't my longest hike (the bar is not that high) but it
>was the coldest.
>
>I learned some things.
>
>I left home on Long Island at 10am on Friday January 23, after loading
>the pack.
>
>I drove to Harriman with the intention of starting out southbound on
>the AT from the place I left off on my last hike, Seven Lakes Drive
>(between the Obrien Shelter and Fingerboard Mountain).
>
>I drove to the Silvermine parking lot, which I'd noticed on my last
>hike, and parked there.  I removed the antennas from my car (I'm a ham
>radio operator) to make it a bit less attractive to thieves and right
>then I was hit with a terrific blast of wind.
>
>I rethought the situation and donned another layer of clothing, notably
>a pair of insulated pants from EMS.  Suitably armored, at 12:30 PM I
>hoisted the pack and set off down Seven Lakes drive for the AT crossing.
>  I suppose it's a half mile walk to the trail from the Silvermine lot.
>
>The wind was pretty fierce on the road, I suppose the temperature was a
>bit less than 20 degrees, but what a wind!  Fortunately when I got to
>the trail and into the trees the wind almost disappeared.
>
>I started down the trail in the snow and noticed three sets of tracks,
>a solitary NOBO hiker, likely from the day before, a dog, and a deer.
>I lost the deer a few times, the dog seemed to have been pretty happy,
>he was ALL over the place.
>
>The trail was great, the snow was about 2 inches deep and just fine to
>hike in.  I was testing out my new Leki poles for the first time.  I
>found that I really liked the way they grabbed a snow covered rock and
>gave me more secure footing both uphill and downhill.  I'm sold.
>
>I've been using a Camelback hydration bag inside my North Face pack, I
>used it on this hike and took a few sips every 10 minutes or so.  After
>an hour the drinking tube froze solid and I was done sipping from the
>tube for the rest of the trip.  One lesson learned.
>
>I haven't got a balaclava, so when I reached the top of Fingerboard, I
>tied a bandana over my face to cut the wind.  It worked, I didn't get
>frostbite.  The wind was pretty severe.
>
>I saw two White-tailed deer from a distance of 300 yards.  They'd heard
>me, a pole hitting a rock I think) and took off quickly in the other
>direction.  On my last hike I saw 4 in a group.  They're fun to watch.
>
>I reached Arden Valley road and saw a school bus, which I found odd
>since I thought the road was closed (I'd road walked out after dark on
>my lemon squeezer hike with my children and it was real closed).
>
>Crossing the road, I headed up the hill past the water tank and tried
>to walk faster.  I was headed for Fingerboard shelter and I wanted to
>get there early enough before dark to gather firewood, because it was
>COLD.
>
>I arrived at Fingerboard about 4:45 PM, with 45 minutes or so before
>dark.  I put down the pack and started gathering firewood.  I was amused
>to find myself moonwalking without the pack.  I felt pretty light after
>hauling it all afternoon.  Somehow I hadn't felt that before, perhaps
>because my procedure so far has been to put down the pack and rest a
>bit.  This time I put down the pack and immediately started walking.
>Interesting feeling.
>
>I located a pretty good amount of firewood, a lot of branches 1 inch
>thick and 6 feet or so long had come down in the wind very recently.  By
>dark I had a big pile of branches and one tree stump as large as I could
>carry up the hill.
>
>I made a pretty good fire in one of the shelter's fireplaces and lit
>the stove to cook dinner.
>
>I had a Mountain House Pad Thai to cook.  It wasn't bad, but not worthy
>of a great review.
>
>I was COLD and the roaring fire wasn't really helping, so I decided I
>needed all the protection I could get and popped open the freestanding
>North Face Rock tent inside the shelter.  I opened a Ziprest and a
>Guidelite (sp?) Thermarest. I'd brought both, planning to use them
>together.
>
>I had two bags with me, a North Face Polarguard 3D 20 deg bag and a
>down 40 deg bag.  I put the down bag inside the North Face and climbed
>in.
>
>I was COLD.
>
>I zipped up the tent and I was COLD.
>
>I ate the nearly boiling Pad Thai and I was COLD.
>
>I honestly didn't expect to have quite that much trouble wearing 3
>layers two bags and a tent.
>
>I never did find out the actual temperature on Fingerboard that night,
>but it was clearly single digits.
>
>I pulled my water bottle, boots and cooking gas into the bag with me
>and tried to sleep.
>
>I was COLD.
>
>I finally realized after an hour or so (I'm a slow learner,
>apparently), that I was damp.  Not really wet, but pretty damp from
>perspiration during the hike.  I hadn't changed to dry clothes.
>
>I sat up in the tent, opened both bags, stripped off three layers from
>the waist up and replaced them with one dry layer.
>
>Got back in the bag.
>
>I was warm.  Well, at least I was warmer.
>
>I managed an OK sleep, but I can tell you that the Guidelite Thermarest
>is NOT good enough for the shelter floor. I'm buying the heavier model
>before I go out again.  I'll carry it.
>
>I tossed and turned every 30 minutes or so because I was feeling the
>floor through the two sleeping pads.
>
>I woke up finally about 7:30am Saturday morning and put on a dry fleece
>and a very cold jacket.
>
>I was COLD.  I cooked a Mountain House Chili Mac & Beef for breakfast.
>Pretty good, I liked it better than the Pad Thai.
>
>I thought about starting a fire (there was enough wood left over) and
>decided that it was so cold that I'd really rather break camp and get
>warm by walking.
>
>At 8:30 I was at the signpost that says 1.1 miles to Arden Valley Road.
>  I'd had some vague plans to do some more hiking on Saturday morning and
>return home in the afternoon.  I was cold and decided that hiking back
>to Silvermine would be just fine thank you.
>
>I'd developed a stiff neck overnight (from sleeping in the cold I
>think) and this was bothering me quite a bit.  So when I got to Arden
>Valley road I road walked down the road to Tioratti Circle.  I only saw
>one car, a park police car.  When I reached the circle at the bottom of
>Arden Valley, I found that the road had sawhorses across it, so it was
>sort of closed (you could skirt the sawhorses if you wanted to in a
>car).
>
>Tmobile cell service is pretty lame in that area, so I phoned my wife
>from the pay phone in the circle and told her that I was road walking or
>hitching back to the car and I'd be home soon.  She sounded rather
>relieved, 'cause she's from California and they apparently don't have
>cold weather there.  Snow neither.  She thinks I'm nuts.
>
>So I started walking, got 200 yards down the road, heard a car, put out
>my thumb and before you know it I was in a pickup truck with an Ice
>Fisherman headed back to my car.
>
>At 9:30 I was in the car and WARM.
>
>The car has a thermometer, which read 11 degrees.  By the time I
>reached the Palisades Parkway, 5 minutes later, it read 12 degrees, so
>things were warming up fast.
>
>So . . . what did I learn?
>
>1)  I can hike and overnight in the cold
>2)  I need a zero degree down bag
>3)  I need the most comfortable sleeping pad I can find, I'll carry the
>weight
>4)  It makes no sense to use that hydration bag when it's that cold
>5)  I carried a filter and a collapsible water jug, but melted snow
>instead . . .
>6)  Don't get into the bag damp, if it can be helped
>7)  Did I mention that I need a warmer sleeping bag?
>
>I'd tested the two bag combo in the back yard at 10 degrees, and it
>worked fine.  I think the differences were:
>
>1)  It was colder, likely 5 degrees
>2)  The bags in the backyard were warm when I got in them
>3)  I was warm and dry when I got in them
>
>So, short overnight hike, nice country, two beautiful white tailed
>deer, and a few lessons learned.
>
>Did I mention that my wife thinks I'm crazy?
>
>Saturday night I flew off to Germany on business and I'm seriously
>jetlagged and writing this from bed in a German hotel.
>
>Dwight
>
>
>
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