For the first winter camping trip of the year,
Jeff and I went to the eastern Adirondack region to camp
and hike
around Pharaoh Mt. We only had Saturday and Sunday to make our trip,
so we didn't have as
much time to drive as far north as we would
have liked. As it was, the trip up there was nearly five and a
half hours. Though a mild winter so far, there was some snow/ice
on the ground and the temperature did
reach single digits at night. I think the highs
were in the high twenty's. Picture credits go to Jeff and
myself.
GPS coordinates:
N43*51.541 W73*41.319 1099ft.
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The Pharaoh Mt./
Pharaoh Lake region has a short two to three mile hike to get
in. Our plan was to get to
the Oxshoe lean-to at
Oxshoe pond (one of the many many ponds in the region) to camp for
the night. The
trail was an easy old logging road. We used our
crampons most of the way, but they weren't totally
necessary.
Not knowing the interior conditions (snow/ice) of the region, we
basically hauled everything we
had for winter trips. Our packs
averaged about 60
lbs each. Here's Jeff making his way
up the access road.
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A shot Jeff got of me
headed down the trail through the Hemlocks.
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After
the two mile (or so) access road we reach the Pharaoh Lakes
wilderness area and sign-in at the
trail
register.
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Earlier this fall we
noticed in pictures of alpine ascents/adventures the hikers usually
had at least one
stainless thermos hanging around their gear. We
both got one, but only Jeff had enough room to take his.
These
things are amazing in winter. You fill them up with hot boiling
water in the morning and you've got hot
boiling water all day
long. If you need a quick pick-me-up or boost to get you going in
the cold, a shot of this
stuff really helps. All future
winter trips
will have at least one thermos full of steaming
water.
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So every trip has a story. The story for this
trip is one of perseverance and ingenuity. About a half mile
from
our camping destination Jeffs boot decided to explode. For
winter camping we use hard plastic
mountaineering boots. The average cost of these
boots brand new is around $300, so we buy them used on
ebay for
much cheaper. The boots have a hard plastic outer shell to make them
stiff and
waterproof. On the
inside is a soft thermal
inner boot for insulation. Who would have thought you'd ever have
problems with a
hard plastic boot designed for extreme cold and
climbing ice? Jeff took a simple step off a bridge and the
front
of his boot busted into pieces.
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Very carefully he made
it to camp where surgery began on the boot. With a roll of duct tape
we pieced his
boot back together. This was fine for around camp.
It kept the snow out and kept the boot together, but how
were we
going to climb Pharaoh Mt. and hike back out? We had about 7 miles
still to hike and 120lbs of
gear to haul out.
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In the meantime
we had camp to
setup, food to make
and warmth to maintain.
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This was Sunday
morning at our campsite. We never made it to the lean-to. The final
hike to the lean-to
was up a hill that was probably too much for
Jeffs boot, so we setup the tent (new for Christmas, it's a
special winter tent) on this little rise overlooking Oxshoe
pond. Overnight we had all kinds of sounds to
serenade our
sleep. Right before we went to bed we heard some coyotes yelping in
the distance. Closer to
us was the sound of the pond releasing
trapped air at the outlet. As the sun went down and the
temperature
dropped the "burping" increased until it quit in the
cold night. When the sun came up again and the
temperature rose, the burping
came back for a little while. We were actually able to record the
sound. You
can listen by clicking here. GPS
coordinates: N43*50.325 W73*39.341 1211ft.
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We didn't camp close enough
to running water, so we broke up ice on the pond to melt for food
preparation
and water. We'd break up pieces to fill the stuff
sack by my feet, melt them down and boil it. Ice axes are
very handy.
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