The plan [...]]]> It was cold, about 19 degrees, as four of us-Jim Muller, Mark Hay, Jay Katonica and Scott Handy set out on a slippery, snow-covered bushwhack up Warren County’s Mount Blue.  Our canine escort, Maddux, a German shepherd/husky cross, bounded ahead with enviable ease as the rest of us struggled on the slick footing.

The plan was to drop our packs along the trail to Lizard pond, bushwhack up Mount Blue, then return to our packs and hike along the shore of the Lizard pond to the lean-to sited on the western shore of the pond. The mile-long trail to Lizard pond begins on the southwest shore of Garnet Lake, where there is a campsite and a trail sign at the foot of the valley between Mount Blue and Gillingham Knoll.

Donning snowshoes it was easy and straight forward crossing over Garnett Lake.  then we followed the mile-long trail leading to Lizard Pond on the southwest shore.

According to Bill Ingersoll “long ago, some unknown surveyor recorded the name of this small pond as “Lixard Pond,” probably in error. This simple misspelling shaped the topographic maps of the next century, for the name “Lixard” appeared on the U.S. Geological Society maps for decades to come. The metric USGS maps currently available label it as Lizard Pond, but this restoration of proper spelling has gone largely unnoticed. People still refer to it as Lixard Pond as though it is the actual name – or else they just haven’t updated their maps”.

But as soon as we hit the shore line Mark pulled out the trail guide. Now I am all in favor of excessive planning but it is with some trepidation that we watched Mark consult the trail guide. Although Mark had been on many winter camping trips he was not known for organizing and planning any trips. His previous attempt at organizing resulted in the “The Much Anticipated Never Accomplished Rainbow Falls Trip“.

OK, at least Mark is sure where we came from…  While Mark shed his Beyond Fleece Steel Windshirt and consulted the trail guide Scott hydrated and kept an eye on Maddux. Jay decided to surreptitiously check his GPS Unit. Not that Jay would betray a trust in Mark, but hey it never hurts to measure twice.

We left the Lizard Pond trail where the swamps in the pond’s valley first become visible, and headed up the mountain.
Mount Blue, which rises from a solid ledge deep in Garnet Lake to a height of 2,940 feet with an elevation gain of ~1500′ from the lake.  Mount Blue is part of the Wilcox Lake Wild Forest, a popular winter recreation area in the southeastern corner of the Adirondack Park.

 
Although Mark, who had planned the trip, touted the hike as “relatively easy,” we found out later that DEC’s Wilcox Lake Wild Forest Draft Unit Management Plan characterizes it as offering “moderately difficult bushwhacking opportunities to adventuresome hikers and snowshoers.” This proved an apt description. Fortunately, Jay had packed trekking poles, which he graciously loaned Jim for the bush whack up and down Mount Blue. Needless to say, they were a great advantage and a set of trekking poles where purchased after the trip.

Treeless patches on the southeastern side of the mountain-the result of a 1908 fire-affording us splendid vistas. Taking advantage of these open areas, ledges and false summits, one can enjoy 270 degree perspectives of Crane Mountain, Lizard Pond, Bearpen Peak, Baldhead Mountain and Moose Mountain. To the west are Georgia Mountain, Harrington Mountain, New Lake Mountain and Wilcox Mountain. With these glimpses of the impressive panorama providing inspiration, we scrambled onward and upward.

As we climbed up Mount Blue there were several ledges and false summits offering views of Garnet Lake and Lizard Pond.

At the peak, we posed for the requisite group photograph and enjoyed a quick snack while the wind blew in increasingly dark cloud cover.

It was steep and slippery climbing up, but nothing like the journey downslope when each of us experienced a ‘Jay-nami’.
Then it was time to head back down Mount Blue. If the way up was steep and slippery, the way down was steeper and slipperier.

Fortunately, no one got hurt as we tumbled and slid our way down the mountain and soon we re-joined our backpacks and made our way to the lean-to along Lizard Pond. We hiked the remainder of the trail along Lizard Pond to spend the night at the lean-to on the western shore.

Once we settled in at the lean-to, we boiled water for hot drinks and wolfed down reconstituted freeze-dried meals. In other situations, what passes for food in these highly processed packages would be turned back to the kitchen. However, the salty, hot food tasted great to four tired, wet and cold winter campers.

but for Maddux was dried dog food.

Afterward we sat around a fire and talked until bedtime as flurries floated down. This is one of the best parts of winter camping. Since it is dark early, there is lots of time to chat, laugh and discuss future trips. Not only does a campfire help pass the time during the long nights, but the sense of camaraderie is enhanced as the night deepens around a campfire circle. As our fire dwindled, we settled into warm sleeping bags and took advantage of the extra darkness to log a solid night’s sleep.

We settled into warm sleeping bags. This was possibly the maiden voyage for my Western Mountaineering winter sleeping bag – an extra long, over stuffed, over engineered Puma.

In the morning, we awoke to the sun illuminating the back side of Mount Blue across Lizard Pond. Mark was the first to arise while the rest of us lingered in our warm sleeping bags and offered breakfast ideas. Despite our imaginative suggestions, Mark gave us hot water, which we used to make a simple breakfast of hot oatmeal washed down by coffee and hot chocolate.

Following this quick breakfast, we snowshoed out the Lizard Pond trail to our cars and searched for a convenient diner for a well-earned second breakfast.

There are benefits to winter camping in a lean-to.  Foremost, is that you don’t have to carry your shelter with you.  Lean-tos are spacious; although each lean-to can be different typically [...]]]> “Decided to sleep in lean-to, floor like C-ment. To those who come behind us, bring a mattress. – Griffin Rapids.”

There are benefits to winter camping in a lean-to.  Foremost, is that you don’t have to carry your shelter with you.  Lean-tos are spacious; although each lean-to can be different typically there is adequate room for 5 campers.  The lean-to provides a level, dry platform for changing clothes, setting up a stove, mixing food, or just plain sitting.  On the other hand, lean-to’s aren’t particularly warm in cold weather – even if you close off the open side with a tarp as we did. They are usually situated in high-use areas. They can house rodents and the sleeping arrangements can leave you lying wide awake between two prodigious snorers.

There are over 200 lean-tos in the Adirondacks and we have all read the lean-to registers.  Stuart Mesinger took several years and read hundreds of registers to compile his book; No Place I’d Rather Be: Wit and Wisdom from Adirondack Lean-tos.

Stuart received permission (and sponsorship) from the ADK to go through the register archives. Stuart flagged the interesting entries, had a High School student type them up and then organized the book into themes: love stories, tall tales, partying, complainers, weather, critters, bugs, food, the privy, the campfire, the long walk, adventures, culture clashes, hunting and fishing, companions, religion and solitude.

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Tirrell Pond is reached by [...]]]>

With participants coming from many distances and directions it was decided to meet at a diner.  In this case, we chose the diner in Indian Lake at the intersections of Routes 30 and 28 for a 10am rendezvous.  We ate a big breakfast and drove to the trail head.

Tirrell Pond is reached by using a portion of Northville-Placid Trail which heads north from Route 30 near Lake Durant.  From the trail register on the north side of Route 30 the trail extends 3.5 miles to the south end of Tirrell Pond. It is a roller coaster of a trail which begins on state land and passes through primarily hardwood forests.  Shortly after crossing a finger of O’Neill Flow, the trail crosses Finch Pruyn Paper land and then re-enters state land before O’Neill lean to on south end of Tirrell Pond (1,918′ elevation). Since our visit the O’Neil Flow lean-to has been removed, the site of the old lean-to is closed to camping and new lean-to has been constructed nearby.

It took us 1.5 hours to snowshoe into the lean-to.  I was flying along breaking trail for the 1st 45 minutes. During our trail break Mark attributed it to my new dedication to yoga, but I then settled down to occupy a position further back in the line and I was glad to see the lean-to.  Below Mike, Ian, Mark and Skip snowshoe to Tirrell Pond.

Jason and Mark watch the snow blow into our lean-to.  Who knew that Jason  wore the silk shirt under his parka and would later debut slippers?  He would also be borrowing an additional jacket as the wind rose and temperature dropped.

After dropping our packs in the lean-to and changing out of damp clothes we began to gather and cut firewood for our evening fire.

A few of the larger logs were used to create a platform and reflective surface for the fire.

We took pictures of Tirrell Pond and Tirrell Mountain.

And occasionally took pictures of the picture takers.

Mike and Jason did some exploring and continued on the trail along the western side of Tirrell Pond reaching a 2nd lean to at 4.6 miles. Blue Mountain Village can be reached by continuing another 4 miles.

As darkness fell we cooked soup over the fire, roasted hot dogs and had snacks.

Laying our our sleeping pads and bags in the lean-to we realized that six bodies was maximum capacity as we were all laying shoulder to shoulder.  Mike and Jason tried to snooze in their sleeping bags while Mark, Skip, Ian and I played a game of “I Doubt It” (also call bullshit or cheat).  It was cold enough that we hide our bare exposed hands under jackets or in pockets until it was our turn to play.

We turned in a little before 9pm.  With everyone in their sleeping bags I read the perfect winter camping bedtime story – “The Cremation of Sam McGee” by Robert Service using my headlamp for illumination.

It was cold that night.  I had a 0 degree Northface Snowshoe sleeping bag and got a little chilled.  I pulled  my down jacket into the sleeping bag with me for extra insulation.  With the plummeting temperatures everyone began snoring.  While Skip got blamed for being the principle protagonist (“That’s funny, I had a dream that Skip was yelling in my ear all night.”) at one point during the night I woke up and heard two distinct snorers to my right and one to my left.  I can’t claim that I didn’t join the chorus at some point.

We were packed into the lean-to so tight that one person couldn’t move without affecting others.  Skip awoke during the night and being unable to roll about he sat up and stared at the darkness for several hours until sleep returned.

In the morning we awoke at 7:30, had breakfast and were on the trail out at 9am.  We were back to our vehicles at 10:30 and I was home by 1pm to put away my winter camping gear.

Follow our occasional Tweets @WinterCampers and visit us on Facebook.

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I merged  pictures from our winter camping trip to Dead Vly with Walt Michael’s hammer dulcimer tune “Hawks and Eagles” using PhotoStory for Windows.  Matt did one of these last year and I liked the results.  I didn’t do as much panning in the photos and the photos move by fast (5 seconds or [...]]]>

I merged  pictures from our winter camping trip to Dead Vly with Walt Michael’s hammer dulcimer tune “Hawks and Eagles” using PhotoStory for Windows.  Matt did one of these last year and I liked the results.  I didn’t do as much panning in the photos and the photos move by fast (5 seconds or less) because I had a lot of pictures and the music was fast paced. The process was pretty straight forward and is another way to view the trip.

Basically it shows us hiking in, setting up tents (and bivys), getting wood, sitting around the fire and the snow fall on the tents (and bivy) at night.

A broadband connection is recommended. WinterCampers.com at Dead Vly

Follow our occasional Tweets @WinterCampers and visit us on Facebook.

Follow our occasional Tweets @WinterCampers and visit us on Facebook.