Spring Vacation, part 5, Trip #2

We woke up fresh and energetic. Our first trip was over, but our break was not. Although Juliana, a friend from school, texted me and invited us over to her place in Vermont for a couple days, we decided to stick with the original plan of hiking has many high peaks as we could. We had a completely different plan this time. Learning from our previous trip, we decided that instead of moving camp every day, we would set up a sort of basecamp. We would then issue forth and conquer the mountain tops. With this new strategy, we planned to stay out for four nights, scaling seven peaks in all. All we had to do to prepare was pack some more dinners, replace the stolen peanut butter log, repack our now dry gear and then we could head out.

At the first break

We knew that today was going to be a fairly easy day. The goal was hike about four miles in, but it would be much easier than the first day because the terrain was relatively flat and the trail was definitely broken out. It was a little after three in the afternoon by the time we got to the trailhead. Our destination was a lean-to near John’s Brook Lodge. We hefted our packs, (that weighed on average 50lbs) and started to tramp up the trail. Since we were used to the exertion required to break trail, we put out with the same amount of energy. This caused us to cover the first mile in record breaking speed. When we paused for some water, we realized we were putting ourselves through unnecessary pain. We  slowed down and enjoyed the hike.

This snow face was right near John's Brook Lodge

When we got to the junction to the trail that led to the lean-to we were planning on staying at, we felt good and strong, so we thought it would be best if we pushed on to the next lean-to. This would lessen the distance that we would need to hike tomorrow. After hiking about half of the distance that remained between us and the new destination, we ran into the two guys who had offered us a lift the day before. We joked about how it is impossible for us to stay out of the woods for long. When we moved on the terrain quickly got steeper. Soon we were climbing some steep pitches that required the use of the heel lifters on our snowshoes. At the top of each rise we would crane our necks, looking for the destination lean-to. After more disappointments that I would like to mention, we finally saw the lean-to.

It turned out that there was a couple at this lean-to. As we walked up they greeted us and moved their gear over to one side. They introduced themselves to us as Jackson and Dana. Their dog, a malamute, was named Inga. It turned out that they had just gotten to the shelter a little before us, so we all got our respective stoves out and cooked dinner. After supping on curried rice and lentils, we prepared for bed. This time, in order to prevent the small animals from gorging themselves during the night, we hung our food from a hook in the rafters. Jackson assured us that this was sufficient food protection in the winter.

We quickly bedded down Raf against the wall, me in the middle, and Nate on the outside. This was strategic because the weather forecast was that it was going to get down into the low single digits, and I only had a bag rated for twenty degrees. We figured that if I were sandwiched between the other two guys, it might keep me a little warmer. We also made sure to fill up our water bottles with warm water. We put those at our feet to keep them warm throughout the night. After saying good night all around, we turned off the lights and went to sleep excited for tomorrow. 

Not many pictures from today.