As I read these winter trail reports, I am struck by the amount of traffic the 46s get in winter. You're almost guaranteed in having any summit trail open and packed down even this late in the season.
Time was (here I go ... "When I was your age...etc") when the trail register at the Loj listed 3 or 4 people who made the trip to say, Mt. Marcy, during a whole week!!! Believe you me, a solo winter hiker really earned that "W" or even just a the view from the top. Making it to the summit of Haystack in 4' of unbroken powder separated the men from the boyz. Now it seems more like a walk in the park.
And we didn't take no food with us either. We ate the bark offa the trees. You can still see the scars if you look close, only now they refer to them as blazes. ;->
Now that I'm up in age and can barely walk up the stairs I do get a thrill though at reading these reports. Any old geezers out there agree with me?
Time was (here I go ... "When I was your age...etc") when the trail register at the Loj listed 3 or 4 people who made the trip to say, Mt. Marcy, during a whole week!!! Believe you me, a solo winter hiker really earned that "W" or even just a the view from the top. Making it to the summit of Haystack in 4' of unbroken powder separated the men from the boyz. Now it seems more like a walk in the park.
And we didn't take no food with us either. We ate the bark offa the trees. You can still see the scars if you look close, only now they refer to them as blazes. ;->
Now that I'm up in age and can barely walk up the stairs I do get a thrill though at reading these reports. Any old geezers out there agree with me?