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MLK winter HIke

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    • Thanks for the update Andy.
      I've been looking at that 4 degree Saturday night and thinking waiting for another weekend might be a more enjoyable choice.

      I cannot do Sun/ Monday night - so I hope you and Laz have fun.

      Scott
      “Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
      the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”


      John Greenleaf Whittier
    • IMScotty wrote:

      Thanks for the update Andy.
      I've been looking at that 4 degree Saturday night and thinking waiting for another weekend might be a more enjoyable choice.

      I cannot do Sun/ Monday night - so I hope you and Laz have fun.

      Scott
      It just doesn't seem to make sense to do Saturday with the temps so low, there would be little opportunity to hang out, which is really the reason for our hikes anyway.
      Let's see if we can plan a weekend when the weather is a touch milder.
      its all good
    • Kathy and I were kind of disappointed that the group hike was canceled but totally understood the reasoning.
      We looked at the forecast for Saturday and Sunday and found a window of no precipitation even if the night time temp was forecast to be a balmy 1 degree. The Sat./Sun. time frame was all that Kathy had available and we decided that since we've camped in temps much colder than that, that we'd give it a go by ourselves with the agreement that either of us could call off the trip at any time if we were too cold or uncomfortable.

      So we made arraignments to leave our dog with our son, loaded our packs, and drove up to Connecticut for a walk to the Silver Hill camp site. We parked at the Mohawk trail parking area near route 4 and I noticed the temperature on the car display as being 23 degrees, not bad. As we finished putting on our warm cloths Kathy told me she didn't want to take the route I thought we'd use. I thought we'd go up the Mohawk Trail to the A.T. and then hike south to the camp site. Kathyexplained that she remembered there being a wide stream on the A.T. and thought we'd wind up getting our feet wet. Not a good idea in the middle of winter, so instead she suggested a different route and that we followed. We walked a road along the Housatonic River passing country homes and farm fields. After a couple of miles a dirt, woods road went off to the left following the river and we went that way. After a bit the A.T. came down the hillside on our right and intersected this dirt road. Now we followed the A.T. up the hill going SOBO. It was pretty much all up hill to the camp site and we went very slow so as not to work up a sweet. We'd walk for a bit and then stop for a bit to cool off. We arrived at camp in time to get our tent set up just as it was getting dark. We then cooked up a hot dinner and explored the camp site until we were ready to climb into our bags. The sky that day, and night, was perfectly clear and there was about a quarter moon shining during the night. I did have to get up at 3AM to take care of business and noted that the temp was about 10 degrees and the sky still clear. After climbing back into my sleeping bag I drifted off back to dream land until about 8AM. Wow, it turns out this hiking trip is more relaxing than hanging around the house. That was about 12 hours of sleep. We didn't actually crawl out for another hour as we waited for the temp. to go up some more to about 14. After taking care of business again we made a hot breakfast and washed it down with hot chocolate. We had kept our water bottles in our sleeping bags so that they would still be liquid in the morning. We packed up, wandered around the woods a bit, and then set off for the return trip to the car.

      We decided to go out the same way we went in for the same reason. The difference going down the hill was that the snow and ice was much harder, and more slippery due to the night time temperatures. We did have tractions aids, Stabilicers. Ours are old and the new ones are a bit different. They came before micro-spikes. Anyway down we went to the woods road, which took us back to the paved road. We stopped there to take off the Stabilicers and just as we started walking a local stopped on his ATV like a small pick-up truck and asked us if we wanted a lift. We said yes, not because the walk would have been long, it was only a couple of miles, but because this was an unexpected adventure. We hopped on the back and had a great conversation with Bruce, the driver o9f the ATV. He asked if we were going to the store , we said no, that we were headed to our car parked at the Mohawk trail head. He dropped us off right there and after a thank-you he drove away. Now Kathy and I started changing into clean, dry, clothes and another car pulled in, it was Hikerboy. and a little after that Laz pulled in too. Seems they were out for a hike too, but they'll have to tell their own story. Now it was time for the drive home with a stop at a dinner for a post hike meal. I'm feeling good that the whole weekend wasn't a wash out as Kathy and I haven't done an overnighter since summer of 2021. There's talk of our little MLK group rescheduling for when the weather might be a bit better. And of course everyone is invited.
    • but wait!! There's more! I pulled in to the MT trailhead parking area around 12:45, rolled down my window and said hello to the guy sitting in the car next to me. Dave related the above story to me, but he and Kathy were going home. As they were getting ready to leave, lazarus pulled in next to me. LI Hikers left shortly after. The weather was looking pretty iffy for today, so we had already decided to just stay out the one night. Our destination was Pine Swamp Brook Shelter, some 7.5 mi away. The forest was an icy winter wonderland, and even with microspikes some of the terrain was treacherous and slowed us down.We reached caesar brook campsite around 4 and briefly thought about staying there for the night, but we decided to continue on. The sun was setting and the soft light through the frozen trees was exquisitely beautiful. we hiked on through the dark and finally got to the shelter around 6:30. The sky was brilliantly clear.In the morning we decided to take the scenic route back to our cars, as we were both tired from the day before.We really didn't want to climb up and down those frozen hills again, especially since the forecast was calling for rain/frozen rain. About a mile sobo on the AT, the trail crosses west cromwell rd, we took off our spikes and followed the road back to rte 7 and then 3 miles to our cars. the roadwalk was quite beautiful, passing the occasional home, and then through hemlock and pine forest with a few strong flowing streams. It was a pleasant walk, and laz and i agreed we'd made the right move. We got back to our cars around 10:45.
      its all good

      The post was edited 1 time, last by hikerboy ().