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This weekend I led a beginner winter backpacking trip for the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) to the Catskills. This is the second year I’ve led this particular trip and I like it because it’s a perfect trip to introduce experienced 3 season backpackers to winter.

Many hikers and backpackers think “oh winter, it’s like summer only colder” NOT! The winter presents an interesting situation in balancing staying warm but dry while sweating profusely. Hiking with winter boots, snowshoes or crampons with a 30lb backpack full of gear and I sweat just thinking about it!

This trip has some safety nets built into it. We start out at the parking area at the end of Big Hollow Road and hike 1.25 miles with our fully loaded winter packs to the Bativa Kill Lean to area. We set up our tents and off load some gear and head off to hike over Acra point and Burnt Knob, approximately 7 miles round trip.

The group was small this weekend so we were able to move swiftly and stop at the many view points off the Escarpment Trail. Our first nice view was at Acra point. The day was very cold and clear giving us nice views, of the valley below.

Continuing on the trail towards Burnt Knob there were some short climbs before getting to the view off Burnt Knob at 3.5 miles. Along the way we were treated to some nice views of the Blackhead Range.

We headed back the way we came along the Escarpment Trail. The 3.5 mile walk back was uneventful. Our group was hiking well together and we all snacked and hydrated along the way. The temperatures felt like they were in the single digits and stopping for more than a few minutes would have been unpleasantly cold. Arriving at camp with our tents all set up gave us some time to gather some firewood for the evening. There were plenty of downed branches to give us a nice fire for a few hours while giving off precious heat. It was shaping up to be a cold cold night. At 5pm the temperature was at zero degrees.

After having dinner and lots of laughs I was in my sleeping bag by 6:30. Seems like an early bed time but For me winter camping equals – catching up on sleep! I don’t generally sleep the entire time. I may even wake up for an hour or so in the night but I usually just listen to some music or on this trip chat it up with my tent mate, Mo, trail name Irish.

Irish was waking me up periodically to make sure I wasn’t concussed. Earlier in the evening while hanging up the food, on the bear rope, the branch I was hoisting our line up broke from the tree and hit me right on the head. I was fine just more in disbelief that this fairly substantial tree branch broke off. From my vanish point it didn’t appear to be dead wood but in any case the branch was not to hold our food for the night. Not really a huge deal to sleep with food in winter. The bears are asleep however other vermin have been known to chew through a backpack or tent to get some free food. Luckily there weren’t any visitors through the night. Food secure and definitively…FROZEN!
The plan for Sunday was to get up at day break and hike up Black Dome and Thomas Cole. But that never materialized one guy had a very sore neck, one guy had to get back home and Irish, well she had a rough night…she’s discovered that the zero degree temperatures exceeded her comfort level. Enjoying the winter hiking and landscape but realizing that her threshold for winter camping may be closer to 20 degrees. As we hiked out early to the parking area we talked about her coldest night ever in the woods. And what she said summed it up pretty well “even the simplest tasks become difficult when it’s this cold”