Recent content by J.P.

Beautiful day to be out hiking. Clear and sunny with a high of about 30. We climbed Rusk using the Spruceton trail to the horse shoe turn and bushwacking from there. The trail was hardpacked (and unfortunately had been bare booted when the surface was softer) and some traction aids were needed...

The trail from Route 23 was flooded so I drove around to the Peck road trailhead and hiked from there. The trails were wet and slick from the mud and leaves; but, there was no snow. Got lucky with the weather since all the forecast scattered showers hit while I was in the truck either before or...

From Mink hollow the trail reaches a view point at about 3700’ then heads south-west up and over the ridge line of Plateau for about 0.2 mi. to a hard right turn. Based on topo maps, GPS and altimeter readings and visual observation the high point on the section of trail between the view point...

Hiked the Devil's path from 214 over the summit to the eastern viewpoint and back. Bare ground until near the first viewpoint; then patchy snow until just past the third viewpoint after which the trail was snow covered almost the entire way. From the depth of some of the postholes left by...

Route Hiked: Trail from Woodland Valley. Weather Conditions: Sunny, high temperature 50F Trail Conditions: Mostly bare ground below the junction with the trail to Terrace Mountain; snow and ice from there; the ledges on the way up to Wittenberg were very icy; the V-notch below the summit of...

Are you lighting it with the fuel stick in the case? I hold one end of the fuel stick and light the other end, then put the fuel stick in the case.

I have one and have used it. The pluses as compared to the single use heaters is that it is cheaper and is re-usable. The minuses are that it is heavier (4 oz vs. a fraction of an oz) and bulkier. I haven't noticed any smell. Obviously it wouldn't work as a toe warmer.

Conditions: A fresh dusting of snow at the trail head increasing to about an inch along the ridge. Special Equipment Required: Bare boots worked fine. The snow wasn't hiding any ice so the stabilicers stayed in the pack. Comments: A beautiful day in the woods with the sun and the fresh snow...

Unless waste water treatment facilities remove DEET. I don't know if they do or not; but, it might not be as bad as you describe.

We hiked up and back down from the end of Spuceton Road. Apparently no one else had been up Westkill since the last major snow storm as the trail was not broken; however, the older, deep snow had consolidated enough so that we could easily walk on top of it with snowshoes without breaking...

Was this the company you were refering to? http://www.irl.bc.ca/Forestry%20Supplies/snowshoes.htm

I think you're onto something.

There is also Havlick Snowshoe company in Mayfield, NY. According to their website http://www.havlicksnowshoe.com/ their snowshoes are completely manufactured in the US.

Actually, since I do most of my hiking in New York, I had in mind the "winter" season as defined by the ADK 46rs and the Catskill 3500 club which is December 21 to March 21. As you have pointed out in your later post, this is another way that the various organizations differ in how they define...

On the other hand you could say that it will be more difficult now since "winter" is now an hour shorter.