After spending 26 nights on the trail last year (a personal best by far) I knew if I wanted to continue to get outside on a regular basis, I was going to have to up my cold weather game. I’ve been trying to work on my outdoor wardrobe using Skurka’s articles and have purchased quite a few new bits of gear to try. I had an early March vacation, and while I was unsure if I could handle the temperatures comfortably, I decided to go for it and planned a four-night loop in Shining Rock and Middle Prong.
I left work in Greensboro about 11:30 on Friday and headed towards Pisgah. I was aware the temperatures might be too cold for my gear, and there was a high wind warning to boot. The wind warning didn’t bother me too much, it had been similarly windy when I did the Green Knob trail in Middle Prong last spring. Asheville was expecting temperatures in the normal 30-50F range and while the trails up in Pisgah are a few thousand feet higher, my experience is that they aren’t all that much cooler, but this has varied over the several trips I did in the area last year.
On the drive through Canton, I stopped by the Jukebox Junction diner and had a nice Carolina style burger and some tasty onion rings. If you’re taking this way rather than the Parkway, it’s worth checking out. I continued up Lake Logan Rd and parked where the MST crosses the road. I began my hike in a standard base layer t-shirt thinking it was noticeably cooler than 50F but I just blamed it on the wind. I would later look at my data logger readings and determine it was already into the upper 30’s at that point. I didn’t get very far before the breeze forced me to throw on a wind shirt which helped substantially. There is a small stream with a log bridge over it and I stopped to fill up the water bottles. I had decided to take a Nalgene to use as a hot water bottle in case it got really cold.
My goal for the first night was a stand of Balsams near Devil’s Courthouse. I’ve stayed here a few other times. There’s plenty of flat open ground under the balsams and a nice stream a few hundred feet into the woods. I tried to set up between the two trees I’ve used previously but gave up after 20 minutes of fighting cold fingers and windblown gear. It was becoming obvious the tarp wasn’t going to block enough wind and I’m not sure it would have survived the beating anyway. I walked downhill a little way and found an OK spot that was much less exposed to the full force of the wind. By the time I finally had camp set up, it was almost dark and already getting colder quick.
I laid down in the hammock to rest for a few minutes and noticed my stomach felt icy cold to the touch and I was starting to shiver even with my down jacket on. My shirt felt like it had dried out already, but I knew it had gotten sweaty from the hike in. It was really shocking how much of a difference putting on a different shirt made. I intended to keep a separate dry shirt just to sleep in, but the shirt I hiked in wearing didn’t feel the slightest bit damp. I then put on some Columbia long underwear with the fancy Omni heat dots. I had a rather odd reaction to these. My knees of all things began to feel very cold. Even when I was in the hammock in my sleeping bag, my knees were super uncomfortable. I wasn’t in any sort of position that had them pressed against the sleeping bag or anything. I figured my pants were probably like the shirt I hiked in with, sweaty enough I’d be warmer without them on. At this point, I was listening to the weather radio and tweaking my setup trying to get as warm as possible. I knew if I ate something, I’d feel better, but I wasn’t hungry just yet. I had hauled in quite a bit of extra reflectix which along with some foam pads did a good job of keeping me warm underneath. I had a cheap 20F bag as a top quilt and a silk liner inside for extra measure.
Among my new gear to try were Goosefeet gear down socks and the matching overboots. I was happy with how warm my feet felt with these on. On previous winter trips I could sit in my hammock like a chair and cook dinner, but my feet would freeze. Not this time. The overboots, however, are a bit of a joke. I suspect they are designed with the idea of walking around camp on packed snow and I imagine they’d work well for that. If I got up to water the tree, it was almost like walking on ice. Your feet and down socks slide around in the boots if the ground isn’t perfectly flat under you. It was rather obnoxious and made walking very slow and awkward but they did seem to at least product the down socks.
After I finally ate dinner, I felt pretty comfortable, but this didn’t last very long and I felt myself starting to shiver. I knew this meant I was going to end up using the space blanket. Space blankets are amazing things, but I absolutely hate using them for the wet clamminess they give you. I found I needed to keep my down socks on inside the space blanket to stay warm but this had me concerned about moisture build up. I had my down jacket and fleece mid layer on, but I didn’t need to pull the space blanket up past my waist to stay warm so I wasn’t too worried about those layers getting wet.
I went to sleep and was mostly comfortable during the night. Anytime I left the hammock during the night, it was very hard to get warm again. At some point, my legs felt like they were getting cold again. I decided to put my hiking pants back on and was absolutely shocked how much warmer it made things feel. It ended up getting down to 20F which was a good bit cooler than I expected. Before dawn, I decided I should try the hot water bottle trick, but I discovered the Nalgene had frozen solid. I expected a bit of ice inside, but it was a solid complete block. I also discovered my feet were getting cold. The space blanket had caused the down socks to become completely soggy. I was thinking this would take days, but in a single night, they were totally useless.
I did my best to sleep in and didn’t bother trying to get up till the sun was starting to really warm things up. Breakfast was pretty miserable. I had brought granola with dehydrated milk, but there was no way I was going to eat a cold liquid. I was able to scoop water from a nearby brook without having to deal with my frozen water bottles. I made LOTS of coffee, more than my share for the day and considered my options while eating Snickers for breakfast. At this point, it dawned on me that my toes had been cold enough I could barely feel some of them for many hours.
I knew I could break camp and hike to warm up, but I was no longer going to have anything dry to put on that night. The wind might die down, over the day, but it would likely be just as cold the next night. I considered making a fire, but that seemed like a bad idea under the circumstances. NOAA was expecting the wind to stay until at least noon and was warning against fires while the wind was blowing. If I waited that long and then took the time to dry out my gear, I’d be way too far behind schedule on completing my hike. If I continued on my planned route, I’d end up walking around Black Balsam Knob and into the Shining Rock wilderness where fires are not allowed, so I couldn’t do the whole fire thing after the day’s hike.
Given my options, I decided it was best to abort while I was only an hour from the car. My gear was able to keep my moderately comfortable, but there was no way I was going to manage another night like that without a way to dry everything out. I had no issues staying warm once I got moving again and my toes all felt fine after I had been on the trail a little while. Halfway back to the car I felt comfortable enough I was second guessing myself. Almost. I took the Parkway down out of the mountains and enjoyed the views from some of the overlooks before a late lunch at Sunny Point café. I had to wait outside in the cold a little while before I got a seat, which made me happy I wasn’t spending another night out in the cold. It was worth the wait for the best shrimp and grits I’ve ever had. I noticed I.B.T.A.T. in the kitchen. I considered trying to wish him luck on his upcoming thru-hike, but it was awfully busy in there for all that. I hope he has warmer nights than I did.
So, 20F is a new PR for me and I learned a lot about the limits of my gear. I really hate having to bail early, but it wasn’t just a matter of comfort. Another night would have likely been downright dangerous without better gear.
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The thing you mentioned that leapt out at me was getting sweaty from the hike in. This should not happen in the winter and is easily prevented (or largely mitigated) by venting and/or removing layers until you're no longer overly warm. The only thing that might get a little damp is a polyester base layer, which should dry out relatively quickly when the activity level drops while doing camp setup, etc.
Originally Posted by BillyBob58
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