It has to be the last thing I check before I walk out the door and the first thing I clear once I return. These are hard-won lessons. It has everything I will need for any given adventure and the odd bit of adversity. It never ever has everything I may ultimately want but it totally changes my comfort level and experiences. Any time you head out on an Adirondack Adventure, you gear up- this is a list (boring) of a packing I did for an ultimately re-focused trip (but, WHY, Ed?) with a great friend in February. This is why I pre-pack, post-pack, and pack-pack my adventure-buddy. Not Scott: he packs himself!
Early February is a great time to scout ADK locations. Bugs are missing, snowshoes get you into places too tangled in the warm months, animal tracks abound. Paradise. Our goal is a cascade up along the Bouquet, with 30″ of snow on the float, hammered in by folks heading to their winter 46er peaks, for some pictures to show at the NEAF in April. On board for me? Here come the lists!
- Clothing for the Season. Here is a non-negotiable, and my favorite of the Boy Scout Ten Essentials for every hike. A breathable first layer, top and bottom, by Under Armour, not a sponsor. There are a ton of brands, levels of warmth, and so forth out of first-layer out there. I tend to go for a lighter level on winter hikes than in the fall, since I am generating a bunch of heat with snowshoes on. Neck gaiter always. Warm knit Ephemeradk beanie (represent!) is in a pocket for when I stop for a snack because I would burst into open flame if I mushed with it on. Bandana or Ballcap, check. Shell pants down below and shell jacket above with a light fleece underneath it (full zips always, for temperature regulation) and that’s my outfit for this 20F day. Boots are summer hikers with neoprene blend socks as liners plus wool blend socks- my feet are wet-and-warm while I move. My gloves lately are deep-cuff skiing gloves with a liner. This is MY outfit- yours will be different based on activity level, fitness, location, goals, and so forth. My hike-buddy Scott is both superfit and half-dressed today imo, but he’ll be comfortable even if he has to drag me out by the collar. Regrettable accident reports in the backcountry will often mention that the rescue was “unaware/unprepared for the conditions they encountered”. Some of this comes from on-line access to other folk’s experiences (insert liability disclaimer here) overriding what they can see with their eyes: I prepare for the end of the day before I step on the trail, and you should, too (spoiler!) Snowshoes and poles complete the non-bag pack, but this really counts as a pack (Pack Zero?), the first thing I pack/consider for every outing. With food and water and map/compass, I am good to go. Too Spartan? I add a…
- 30lt Deuter climber’s pack. The rest of the Ten Essentials go in here, the definition of my Good Life for the day. Fire starter kits x 3 have just been reduced to two by the addition of a collapsible fire bellows tube, but the rest of the TE are in there year-round: pocket knife/multitool, basic first aid kit (mine also has a CPR kit, naloxone, and a Sam Splint, but cuts/scrapes/burns/blisters deplete it the most often), extra clothing, for this day a puffy shirt (down, not Seinfeld) and extra socks, and a few flashlights. Scott and I are also both carrying photography stuff today: cameras for him, a phone booster pack and a shelter tarp for me. You never know, but we’re covered.
- Spares Bag. In the car I always pack more of everything. Warm clothes, extra food and water, booties or insulated slippers, batteries. A Table Talk pie and a Diet Coke always find their way in there as a reward. Could be the reason I’m not as super fit, but non-negotiable.
- The Bag with Wheels. Somebody has to get us going, get us there, and get us back. It definitely counts as one of those things you clean out, maintain, pre-pack, pack, use, post-pack, unload and clean again. Ignore steps at your peril.
This is a lot of list. A bunch of planning, prep, and packing gets us to the trailhead, and we step off knowing we’ve got the gear we need to mush about a mile into the winter woods. Our route is along a high esker bank in a valley framed with 4000′ peaks, and as we hike further in on the rolling trail, the temperature drops and a lovely snowfall begins. We will get where we are going, get amazing shots of a winter waterfall, and be home in time for afternoon chores. That’s what the end of the day looks like: adventure planned, a good time had by all, and home to our Table Talk Pie, Diet Coke, and family, only one of those things being our sponsor as of this writing. If I had to say I had forgotten anything, it would have to be the stretching I do for 10 minutes every day in the morning. It turned out we didn’t reach our intermediate goal (cool pictures) because on that occasion I was unable to walk, talk, glissade, and watch the mountains disappear in the increasing snow at the same time. I don’t even have to pack my sense of what I should do in this situation. We could have reached the falls even if I had to be dragged out. We turned around and walked out instead. The photo ops will be there later, and you know, we will be there too. A proper memory to pack away where I pack my memories, next to where I hang my memory-maker, loaded and ready to go.
