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I've been caught backpacking in blizzards a couple of times. Once was actually sort of intentional. It started really coming down as I headed out, but I decided to go ahead with it anyway. The other snowed four days into the trip after constant rain, and I was encountering some white-out conditions while on foot. All I can really say is if you're in an area where there's even the slightest chance of snow, be prepared before you go. Bring your warm and water-proof (cotton-free) layers. Also know how to navigate. Learn how to use your compass and map before you go, in the event the trail is completely buried. As for if it happens, do what you can to stay dry and don't change locations unless you're sure you know you're navigating properly. I had to change plans at the last minute when I was in the white-outs. I wanted to take a steep side-slope traverse through one pass, but chose a more stable, flat-grounded pass instead. Not like I would have seen the views from the original goal anyway. Guess I just have to go back, at a warmer time of year. It's a 25km hike to get there, and I would prefer not to be snowed out again.
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Oct 10, 2013 01:39
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| # ? Apr 18, 2024 21:38 |
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I'm looking for a day hike in the Appalachians (tennessee preferred) with a really great summit view. This'll be in November. We're fairly experienced hikers so we can tackle trails at a good pace. Any suggestions?
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Oct 10, 2013 01:52
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Bottom Liner posted:Christmas came early! Been doing some light bike camping, but filled out my kit nicely with some Amazon credit. Cute weiner 
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Oct 10, 2013 02:17
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Fuzzy Pipe Wrench posted:I'm looking for a day hike in the Appalachians (tennessee preferred) with a really great summit view. This'll be in November. We're fairly experienced hikers so we can tackle trails at a good pace. Any suggestions? Max Patch, but you can drive up it most of the way. The Smokies have nice stuff, but November means likely snow up at the 5-6k feet points. Grayson Highlands are really pretty (in VA near Abingdon) and very open. Mt Rogers is there but no view at the top. Snow also may be a problem. Thanks for the elaboration on lightning info too. Mercury Ballistic fucked around with this message at 03:25 on Oct 10, 2013 |
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Oct 10, 2013 03:09
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Mercury Ballistic posted:Max Patch, but you can drive up it most of the way. Snow as in trail is closed or just "hope you have snow gear"? Just a bit of Google and everytrail is pointing me at Mount Leconte and Myrtle Point as a good choice for Tennessee. The Grayson's seem great but VA is pushing how far we can go for this and would require eliminating a city from our visit list.
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Oct 10, 2013 03:26
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Fuzzy Pipe Wrench posted:Snow as in trail is closed or just "hope you have snow gear"? Depends. I have heard the smokies can have several feet at a go. AT hikers this April mentioned having to do days of knee deep stuff in TN. Also with the shutdown the Smokies are closed.
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Oct 10, 2013 13:59
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Fuzzy Pipe Wrench posted:The Grayson's seem great but VA is pushing how far we can go for this and would require eliminating a city from our visit list. Grayson is indeed straight dope, but if you can't make it up there, the Roan Highlands are in Tennessee. Those have several Appalachian balds, which typically lend themselves to sick views without trees to occlude your range of vision.
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Oct 11, 2013 00:43
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I agree, do the Roan Highlands. It's a beautiful area.
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Oct 11, 2013 00:51
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I too agree. Roan Highlands are great. You can park on the N side of Roan Mtn at carvers gap. Go N on the AT and get off at 19E. With two cars it would be a easy A-B hike of 15 miles.
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Oct 11, 2013 01:14
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Roan Highlands seems like it's about to leap to the top of the list for where to go. The views I'm seeing in some photos I've dug up are spectacular. Only one car is for sure going to be part of this hike, so it'll have to be a loop, but what I'm digging up on the trails we'd probably end up taking that wouldn't be undoable.
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Oct 11, 2013 04:48
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Anybody having luck/experience accessing national forests right now? I don't want to trek out to the sierra to find a locked gate in front of the fresh powder 
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Oct 11, 2013 05:38
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pizzadog posted:Anybody having luck/experience accessing national forests right now? I don't want to trek out to the sierra to find a locked gate in front of the fresh powder They're closed nationwide. You could probably hop a gate and trek out anyway, but it seems like a bit of a disservice to the Park Rangers who are furloughed or are having to work for free. I have a feeling that my forest service buddies would kick my rear end if they heard I went wandering around in their woods while they're struggling to put bread on the table. Considering how much I love those forests and know that they need to be managed, I'd show a little solidarity and find a state park instead.
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Oct 11, 2013 05:48
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I hiked in Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest on Saturday. "Closed" just meant that they weren't servicing the trailheads (BYO toilet paper) or collecting parking fees. Forest roads aren't going to be gated unless they were already gated for some other reason but ranger stations and campgrounds are definitely closed.
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Oct 11, 2013 06:15
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The fiancee and I are supposed to head down to Arches and Canyonland National Parks towards the end of the month. Really hoping the fed has their poo poo together by then so the parks aren't closed. Since I've only been down to the Moab area once as a tourist any recommendations on hikes we should see or little traveled trails with a great payoff?
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Oct 11, 2013 13:22
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lavaca posted:I hiked in Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest on Saturday. "Closed" just meant that they weren't servicing the trailheads (BYO toilet paper) or collecting parking fees. Forest roads aren't going to be gated unless they were already gated for some other reason but ranger stations and campgrounds are definitely closed. That's the difference between a National Park and a National Forest. They're not really allowed to keep you out of the forests. One is a protected recreation area, the other is land being held by the government until it's ready for harvesting.
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Oct 11, 2013 15:22
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TouchyMcFeely posted:The fiancee and I are supposed to head down to Arches and Canyonland National Parks towards the end of the month. Really hoping the fed has their poo poo together by then so the parks aren't closed. you might be in luck regardless http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/11/us/utah-parks-reopen/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
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Oct 11, 2013 15:28
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Speleothing posted:That's the difference between a National Park and a National Forest. They're not really allowed to keep you out of the forests. One is a protected recreation area, the other is land being held by the government until it's ready for harvesting. That's the funny thing about National Forests. They're not a so much a conservation concern as they are a strategic wood bank. Edit: I should clarify. Conservation is absolutely a part of what the Forest Service does with the goal of maintaining healthy forests. My understanding was that at the time of it's creation the interest was more to ensure a reserve of timber, but a little digging suggests that preservation was a goal at the time as well. TerminalSaint fucked around with this message at 17:11 on Oct 11, 2013 |
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Oct 11, 2013 16:15
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TerminalSaint posted:That's the funny thing about National Forests. They're not a so much a conservation concern as they are a strategic wood bank. Eh, not exactly. The Forest Service's job is management...they're supposed to balance conservation and access for the public with resource utilization. There is a lot of conservation stuff that goes on and protecting the areas, but they don't have the authority to just act like the Parks do. The emphasis also kind of changes depending on the administration... My dad worked for the Forest Service for over 30 years. They do what they can with what they're given, for the most part.
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Oct 11, 2013 16:44
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Verman posted:you might be in luck regardless Thanks for that. It looks like the agreement is only for 10 days but hopefully the parks will either be open normally by then or Utah will extend the offer a bit longer.
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Oct 12, 2013 01:20
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Awesome. Not only is RMNP opened up again, but it seems most of the trail & road closures on the eastern side of the park from the floods last month have been lifted. Highway 36 from Lyons to Estes is still closed until early December I think, since much of the pavement is sitting in the St. Vrain River, but access is reportedly good via the Peak to Peak Highway. I'm hoping to bring my camera up there next week to see how much the landscape has changed.
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Oct 12, 2013 17:22
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i_heart_ponies posted:Awesome. Not only is RMNP opened up again, but it seems most of the trail & road closures on the eastern side of the park from the floods last month have been lifted. Highway 36 from Lyons to Estes is still closed until early December I think, since much of the pavement is sitting in the St. Vrain River, but access is reportedly good via the Peak to Peak Highway. I'm hoping to bring my camera up there next week to see how much the landscape has changed. I'd love to see your photos from RMNP. I am dying to move out that way just so I can hike RMNP.
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Oct 12, 2013 17:30
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I just posted a Mountain Hardwear Gore-Tex jacket for $80 shipped in SA-Mart here. No idea what it's actually worth so maybe it's a good deal that someone in this thread might be interested in.
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Oct 20, 2013 23:42
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Easychair Bootson posted:I just posted a Mountain Hardwear Gore-Tex jacket for $80 shipped in SA-Mart here. No idea what it's actually worth so maybe it's a good deal that someone in this thread might be interested in.
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Oct 20, 2013 23:56
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Has anyone been to the Gates of the Arctic? A few friends were talking about going there next year, but I haven't talked to anyone who had been there before. It looks like it is mostly tundra with a few glaciers here and there.
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Oct 27, 2013 04:55
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I'm down in Moab enjoying the parks and have got to say that Canyonlands is my new number two favorite park behind Zion. The fiance and I did Arches on day one, which I had been to before and is nice but Canyonlands just blew us away. We went back later in the evening to watch the sunset and do a little start gazing. By 6:30 most everyone was gone and by 7:00 we pretty much had the park to ourselves. If you're ever looking to come out to southern Utah I really recommend late October. The crowds are much more reasonable and the weather is less extreme. I also highly recommend driving West to East on I-70 if you can. Stop at the multiple viewing areas as well. You'll be blown away by the natural formations and if you're lucky will run across some natives selling some pretty cool jewelry and pottery under the "No vending or soliciting" signs.
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Oct 27, 2013 13:35
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Well, here's a picture of me from today. It was 16C, clear and sunny yesterday afternoon when my class hiked in, then a cold front and snowstorm moved in overnight. Winter is close! Also God bless Alberta weather.
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Oct 28, 2013 06:10
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That looks awesome.
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Oct 28, 2013 12:14
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Picnic Princess posted:Well, here's a picture of me from today. It was 16C, clear and sunny yesterday afternoon when my class hiked in, then a cold front and snowstorm moved in overnight. Winter is close! Also God bless Alberta weather. Did everyone have the right shoes for the job, considering the weather change? That is one case where the trail-runner crowd is at a disadvantage.
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Oct 28, 2013 13:24
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It was a mixed bag. One guy was in runners but he was hilarious about his misfortune. We had to cris-cross a stream multiple times, so those of us with out good waterproof boots or gaiters (myself included, couldn't find my gaiters) ended up with wet feet. The people who were properly waterproofed helped us avoid soaking our feet as much as possible by building bridges out of boulders to hop across. More than half the group was waterproof from head to toe. We were all well-informed that it would probably snow, so we were as prepared as we could be, considering we're all university students and some people who didn't previously own good trekking boots couldn't afford a new pair so just sucked it up. The class I was in was a university class for outdoor leadership, so we were not only encouraged to help each other out, but expected to. Anytime someone started acting a bit selfish or reckless they got called out as an example of what a good leader should not do. It's an awesome class; no one actually gets in trouble, they're just used as examples of "things to do on your own time vs. how you should behave if you have a group of clients in the backcountry".
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Oct 28, 2013 17:30
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Picnic Princess posted:The class I was in was a university class for outdoor leadership, so we were not only encouraged to help each other out, but expected to. Anytime someone started acting a bit selfish or reckless they got called out as an example of what a good leader should not do.
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Oct 28, 2013 17:58
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Has anyone ever sewn straps to a backpack? My Osprey Stratos 36 is awesome. Except if I throw a sleeping bag in, 75% of my space is gone. I'd line to tie it to the bottom of my bag. But there are no straps! 
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Oct 29, 2013 03:00
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Oxford Comma posted:Has anyone ever sewn straps to a backpack? My Osprey Stratos 36 is awesome. Except if I throw a sleeping bag in, 75% of my space is gone. I'd line to tie it to the bottom of my bag. But there are no straps! Have you tried using a compression sack? I can get my down sleeping back down to maybe 3 inches thick by 10 inches around if I compress the poo poo out of it. Goes into the bottom of my pack like an oversized hockey puck.
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Oct 29, 2013 03:30
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Also, consider a sleeping bag that packs down smaller.
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Oct 29, 2013 04:25
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Yeah I have my bag in a compression sack, but its still kinda bulky. Its actually not super-huge but it takes up a ton of room inside my pack, and its annoying. Maybe I'll return the pack to REI - I bought it about a year ago give or take. Can I still do that?
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Oct 29, 2013 04:39
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In my experience, the bottom straps are used for the tent or the sleeping pad - not the sleeping bag.
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Oct 29, 2013 07:07
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Strapping it to the bottom also means you kinda have to be careful about where you put down your pack. Can you not strap it under the lid?
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Oct 29, 2013 12:02
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Most osprey packs I've seen have little loopy guys all over the place. Maybe tie it to those with rope, vertically along the back (outside, away from you) side of it?
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Oct 29, 2013 17:12
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Just get a bigger bag, REI takes returns up to a year. If your sleeping bag wont fit or takes up the entire volume of your backpack, you need a bigger backpack or a smaller sleeping bag. Storing your sleeping bag outside of your backpack sounds like a bad idea to me because it just makes it more likely that it will get wet, dirty, or damaged. I'm not sure what kind of hiking you do, what season, how long, and where you go but a 35L is a good long day/overnight bag, or even possibly a weekender if you are in the summer and don't have bulky/heavy gear. Look at something closer to the 50L range if possible. And it sounds like your sleeping bag is pretty large if its taking up almost all 35L in a compression bag. A bigger backpack will also give you the opportunity to go on longer trips where more food/gear is required if thats something you're interested in. Verman fucked around with this message at 17:31 on Oct 29, 2013 |
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Oct 29, 2013 17:28
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I have another Osprey in 70L or thereabouts. It's great for longer trips. I wanted something smaller for a daytime or overnight bag. The Stratos 36 is perfect except if I decide to take my sleeping bag space can get kinda tight. I'll look at it again tonite and see if I can rearrange things.
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Oct 29, 2013 18:56
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This is why my 130L external frame pack freaking rules
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Oct 29, 2013 21:44
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