another day hike: snow & ice on the appalachian trail.

[JV3]

please excuse the crappy cell pics (i was too lazy to bring the dslr)...i decided to take a day hike on the a.t. to take in the last remaining snow this year...it rained a couple of days ago but it's back to below freezing so i was kicking myself for not bringing my microspikes - everything white has a really thick layer of ice now making for a trecherous terrain with just normal boots on




i finally broke down and bought a hill people gear kit bag...first hike with it.




i've been carrying the essentials hanging on my belt like this for awhile now but i still hated doing it, it just made my pants feel heavy and bulky...the kit bag just feels way better (we'll see if i still feel that way at the height of summer heat though!). it should work even better on overnighters too, since i don't have to empty out my pants before sleeping then re-stuff it again the next day.




anyway, back to the terrain...i haven't been here in over a year so i'm surprised to see so much downed huge trees (most likely from hurricane sandy)...the other areas i frequent on wasn't hit anywhere as bad as here.




there's a deer here looking at me :)

[JV3]

nice little natural emergency shelter.








...although i'd much rather stay in one of these...we're lucky to have a couple of these shelters spread all over here.




check it out - two chimneys too...cover the front with a tarp and it'll be super-comfy in the winter.






...with a view of the lake too.




i continued on towards a spot known as the "lemon squeezer" (two giant walls of rock that you can barely walk in between).




with no microspikes on, at this point i should've just turned around and wandered somewhere else...but i got into a "red mist" state of mind i continued on...i nearly slipped several times but managed to stay upright while working my way down the hill. the entire hike i didn't feel anything unusual but i must've twisted my right knee since i've been hobbling the past two days now and can't get down the stairs without feeling pain :o

[JV3]

all that work didn't matter, there was so much snow melt i couldn't cross the water without getting my feet soaked anyway...i would've gladly pulled a couple of bear grylls maneuvers to cross it if there was someone else with a camera to document my stupidity though :p




this is why winter is my favorite time of the year to hike!




queue the angels music :)




worked my way back up and decided to follow a side trail i've never been on to see where it leads...l-shaped tree.




...just led to some powerlines and then on a side of a road...strange someone would make a trail that ends in a road with no parking lot for hikers to park on.

[JV3]

i definitely regretted not taking a dslr on this trip...snow & ice has a lot of interesting shapes that i like to photograph.




headed back up towards the shelter for lunch...i think this waterfall is seasonal. too bad since it'd be awesome to sit under it in the middle of summer!




more downed huge trees...these are crazy hardwoods too so it takes a lot of wind power to knock them down!




i didn't have a good first impression of the fallkniven s1 (i actually even tried to sell it to a friend within minutes of getting it but now i'm happy he didn't take it) but i've been using it for awhile now and it's one of my favorite belt knives now (easily in the top 3)...funny how that works.




i'd really like to see an orange esee fire kit.




right off the bat i'm already loving the kit bag.




i decided to setup for lunch near an existing make-shift fire ring/camp - you can see the shelter on the upper left corner in the distance. i try not to stay too close to those shelters (especially on overnighters) since everyone knows where they are and i'm paranoid about crazy people sneaking up on me :o i mean, even crazier people than me :eek: you only have to ask those that have seen me while holding a machete - serial killer comes to mind :p

[JV3]

kinda felt weird not having a kifaru pack with me.




soaking in that woods perfume aka smoke :p








heading back to the car, i came across plenty of these deer. they were a lot closer than the pic shows too - maybe 100 ft or so...they were probably looking at my goofy winter hat and deemed me not a threat :)

[Clearcut]

really nice hike, im waiting for it to get a little warmer

[xceptnl]

Appalachian Trail Approved! Thanks for sharing your great pics.

[Holland]

awesome photos! thanks for sharing

[O,just,O]

Hard bitten lookin place & cold as a fishes tit I'll bet.
Like to see some spring & summer shots :)
O.

[mikerestivo]

Hard bitten lookin place & cold as a fishes tit I'll bet.
O.

Thanks for the laugh on that one! I didn't know fish had boobies!

[Liquid Cobra]

I love posts like these. Thanks.

[phillipsted]

Great post, JV! You're making me want to get out there next weekend!

TedP

[JNewell]

I love seeing pics of other people's woods walks. Thanks for posting! The pics look great, especially for a phone, by the way!

[D1omedes]

Thanks for the great photo's. I was born and raised up in that region. My home town is about 20 to 30 minutes from Bear Mountain, actually. That scenery brought back good memories. I miss those hills and autumn leaves now that I am down in Texas. But you can keep that snow and ice. :p

Hope the knee heals up.

[impulse2010]

Loving these photos, If you dont mind me asking what model dlsr do you have, i Have been thinking of getting a d40 for backpacking. Seems to take great pics and not as big as others.

[JV3]

really nice hike, im waiting for it to get a little warmer

thanks!

Appalachian Trail Approved! Thanks for sharing your great pics.

thanks and you're welcome!

awesome photos! thanks for sharing

thanks!

Hard bitten lookin place & cold as a fishes tit I'll bet.
Like to see some spring & summer shots :)
O.

Thanks for the laugh on that one! I didn't know fish had boobies!

haha, same here...i now look at fish differently.

I love posts like these. Thanks.

thanks!

Great post, JV! You're making me want to get out there next weekend!

TedP

thanks! i'll try to go hike again next weekend before it warms up too much.

I love seeing pics of other people's woods walks. Thanks for posting! The pics look great, especially for a phone, by the way!

thanks!

Thanks for the great photo's. I was born and raised up in that region. My home town is about 20 to 30 minutes from Bear Mountain, actually. That scenery brought back good memories. I miss those hills and autumn leaves now that I am down in Texas. But you can keep that snow and ice. :p

Hope the knee heals up.

thanks! wow, if i lived that close there i'd be hiking there twice a week...i love those woods - i spent at least an overnighter a month there for an entire year.

as for snow and ice, i was hoping for more since we only got one big snowstorm actually...almost literally, all the snow went to ct and ma this winter!

Loving these photos, If you dont mind me asking what model dlsr do you have, i Have been thinking of getting a d40 for backpacking. Seems to take great pics and not as big as others.

thanks! i don't mind at all...it's a nikon d90 body with a tamron 18-270 mm lens - it's about 4 lbs that's why i'm sometimes too lazy to lug it. i used my cell phone on this trip but on this previous hike, i used the d90: http://www.spyderco.com/forums/showthre ... -spydercos.

i've only had it for a few months so i'm by no means an expert...what i find is that a dslr makes a huge difference in photo quality right off the bat over any point & shoot and well worth the investment...here's a few of my favorites that are spyderco-related (all taken last fall):

[Zenith]

Thanks for sharing the wonderful pictures.

[Senate]

phone or DSLR, your pics looks great!

[sbwings]

Nice pics, thanks for sharing!

[JV3]

Thanks for sharing the wonderful pictures.

thanks!

phone or DSLR, your pics looks great!

thanks!

Nice pics, thanks for sharing!

thanks!