we got on the AT heading north from the deleware water gap around 9:30 am on the 26th and hiked till about 4pm when we found a nice site around catfish tower.
after dinner the snow flurries began so we decided to head to sleep.
since the next 4 nights would be spent at shelters i packed a bivy, no tent, my friend brought a tarp.i got into my trash bag vbl, down bag and black diamond winter bivy.
a few hours later it was snowing pretty good and my breath was condensing on the roof of the bivy and dropping on my face(great)
waking up in the a.m. i found a few inches of snow had fallen and then noticed that my bag from my face down about a foot or so was soaked.
when i unzipped the bivy the wet bag immediatly froze(must have been in the single digits) and the seems of my bivy were icy.
that day we encountered high winds on the kittatinny ridge line one which actually blew me over.
that night we stayed at brink road shelter, i slept with basically everything in my bag to keep it from freezing(really cold) bag still slightly wet.
that morning we took breakfast at gyps on rt 206 where i was able to dry my bag next to a heater, learn of the tsunami, and find that overnight temps was 2 degrees farenheit, our waitress also pointed out that i was limping? didnt really pay attention to the pain in my calf till she pointed this out.
that day we hiked to mashipishong(sp) shelter took a break then headed to rutherford shelter as it was getting dark and beginning to snow again.
once it was dark i switched on my headlamp to find it wasnt working, after some fiddling with the wires it went on and off... so did i.
got to the shelter around 5:30pm and my leg was killing me, i found a lump on my inside shin which made me feel real uncomfortable in that i still had about 35 miles to go to greenwood lake.
next morning weds the 29th.. bag was less damp,leg was less swollen and feeling a bit better so i decided to see how i felt at high point where we had supplies waiting.
at high point we got our supplies, cleaned up, and watched prisioners cleaning the bathrooms and hallways of the park office.my leg was a bit shakey but decided to go on.
3 hours or so after high point the pain had reached my knee, i was having lots of trouble keeping up to the others,going up and downhill and realized that it was time to bail.we decided to head to the backtrack bar/hostel in unionville about 5 miles away or so.
at the next road crossing after seeing a half coyote eaten deer a very helpful and nice hunter in full camo coveralls named clyde gave us a lift to the bar.
there we waited for 5 hours for our ride to show up while trying not to get too drunk and putting up with bieng refered to by patrons as the baby with a hurt leg, one guy bought us some beers and recommended that a nipple be placed on mine(great)
finally got to suffern ny at 10pm and was on a bus to nyc at 11 which got me home around midnight.
been apartment locked for the last few days trying to heal up so that i can return to work by weds(the stairs in my apt are a killer)
thoughts
get a synthetic bag
scale down the miles on winter trips due to lack of daylight(i believe the hurried pace led to my injury)
should have bailed at high point before the pain got really bad.
try sno seal..my leather gore tex lined vasque sundowner mx2s with 2 coats of nikwax were soaked on the third day and i was wearing gaitors and rain pants?
cant wait to get this trip finished.
happy new year to all
after dinner the snow flurries began so we decided to head to sleep.
since the next 4 nights would be spent at shelters i packed a bivy, no tent, my friend brought a tarp.i got into my trash bag vbl, down bag and black diamond winter bivy.
a few hours later it was snowing pretty good and my breath was condensing on the roof of the bivy and dropping on my face(great)
waking up in the a.m. i found a few inches of snow had fallen and then noticed that my bag from my face down about a foot or so was soaked.
when i unzipped the bivy the wet bag immediatly froze(must have been in the single digits) and the seems of my bivy were icy.
that day we encountered high winds on the kittatinny ridge line one which actually blew me over.
that night we stayed at brink road shelter, i slept with basically everything in my bag to keep it from freezing(really cold) bag still slightly wet.
that morning we took breakfast at gyps on rt 206 where i was able to dry my bag next to a heater, learn of the tsunami, and find that overnight temps was 2 degrees farenheit, our waitress also pointed out that i was limping? didnt really pay attention to the pain in my calf till she pointed this out.
that day we hiked to mashipishong(sp) shelter took a break then headed to rutherford shelter as it was getting dark and beginning to snow again.
once it was dark i switched on my headlamp to find it wasnt working, after some fiddling with the wires it went on and off... so did i.
got to the shelter around 5:30pm and my leg was killing me, i found a lump on my inside shin which made me feel real uncomfortable in that i still had about 35 miles to go to greenwood lake.
next morning weds the 29th.. bag was less damp,leg was less swollen and feeling a bit better so i decided to see how i felt at high point where we had supplies waiting.
at high point we got our supplies, cleaned up, and watched prisioners cleaning the bathrooms and hallways of the park office.my leg was a bit shakey but decided to go on.
3 hours or so after high point the pain had reached my knee, i was having lots of trouble keeping up to the others,going up and downhill and realized that it was time to bail.we decided to head to the backtrack bar/hostel in unionville about 5 miles away or so.
at the next road crossing after seeing a half coyote eaten deer a very helpful and nice hunter in full camo coveralls named clyde gave us a lift to the bar.
there we waited for 5 hours for our ride to show up while trying not to get too drunk and putting up with bieng refered to by patrons as the baby with a hurt leg, one guy bought us some beers and recommended that a nipple be placed on mine(great)
finally got to suffern ny at 10pm and was on a bus to nyc at 11 which got me home around midnight.
been apartment locked for the last few days trying to heal up so that i can return to work by weds(the stairs in my apt are a killer)
thoughts
get a synthetic bag
scale down the miles on winter trips due to lack of daylight(i believe the hurried pace led to my injury)
should have bailed at high point before the pain got really bad.
try sno seal..my leather gore tex lined vasque sundowner mx2s with 2 coats of nikwax were soaked on the third day and i was wearing gaitors and rain pants?
cant wait to get this trip finished.
happy new year to all
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