Anatomy Of A Hike – Part One

Jack pulled the car into the motel parking lot. He backed in carefully, avoiding the snow piled up around the walkways and entrance.

It was dark, and he’d arrived later than he planned. The long holiday weekend marked by President’s Day in the U.S. had given him some breathing room to return to the Catskill Mountains of New York.

Jack left the New England states late on the Saturday afternoon, driving through Massachusetts and into the setting sun. The roads were clear and the weather fine for the trip that would require four-plus hours on the road.

After a quick check in, he carried his overnight bag and hiking boots into the rented room. He never left his boots in the car overnight in winter. Slipping one’s feet into boots that sat out in 15F temperatures was akin to a cold plunge. Jack loved his winter hiking, but was not a masochist.

In January, Jack had returned to the Catskills planning on collecting Panther Mountain.

The weather had been slated to clear just before sunrise. Mother Nature had other plans. On arriving in the state, He found he had driven into the teeth of the storm. The car swam drunkenly on the unplowed roads and the snow continued to fall with unrelenting fury.

The rental crawled to the trailhead, which sat on a steep incline at a hairpin in the road. The wheels spun, searching for traction, finding none. The parking was unplowed, with several vehicles already snowed in. Jack had been forced to turn back. He would not want to try to get a tow truck to rescue him in the middle of a snowstorm should he get stuck, especially in a vehicle that was not even his own.

Now he had returned a month later, with better weather and a solid plan.

Jack needed to hike both Balsam and Panther during astronomical winter. He would need to return and collect them in summer as well, but it would be easier to achieve that goal with several more months to work with.

This time he would travel farther, but the hike of Balsam required an overnight stay in New York.

It was not a long hike, but more the long drive to the trailhead that caused the mountain to be such a tough nut to crack.

Jack had done his research. In the morning he would drive an hour to the Rider Hollow Trailhead for a hike to Balsam’s summit. The elusive Panther would have to wait.

The entire hike would be less than 5 miles, gaining 1650’ of elevation.

There were some unknowns. Would the road to the trailhead be plowed or very rough to travel? Would the trailhead be plowed or snowed in and very icy? What about the trail? Wind and recent snowfall would mean it would require “breaking” a fresh trail if none had hiked the route recently. Trail breaking through deep drifts in snowshoes would be hard work, and would slow his pace considerably. His searches on trail conditions had come up empty for any activity on the trail in the last few days.

He knew he would need the snowshoes, and expected to wear them the entire time. There was easily two feet of snowpack on the ground already.

Jack’s shoes and poles were out in the rental, as well as his winter pack. He carried his standard setup including food, water, headlamp, first aid kit, fire making tools and bivy sack, extra mittens, facemask, goggles and hat.

The weather forecast was for perfect hike weather. 30+F, little or no wind and slight overcast.

He had planned as best as he could. He switched off the lamp in the room and pulled up the covers to his chin. Tomorrow he would know for sure.