EthanPondOvernight

Ethan Pond Overnight

Crawford Notch---Mt. Willey---Mt. Field---Ethan Pond Overnight

13-14 Feb 2010
11 miles to 2 peaks and an Overnight Stay at Ethan Pond, White Mountains

Fred Knight

Panorama looking NE to SE from Mt. Willey with clear skies. Mt Washington and the other Presidentials on the left.

I planned an overnight stay at the Ethan Pond shelter after a day of hiking. Arriving at the trailhead, I noticed only one car---with White Bear on its license plate frame. I thought the occupants must be early risers, but a little up the trail I met a solo hiker who had spent the night at my destination and who hailed from New Brighton, MN, a suburb close to my home town of White Bear Lake, MN. I guess his car was from White Bear or Hugo, MN---he didn't quite provide a full background. He admitted that although his destination WAS the Ethan Pond shelter he had weathered the night in his tent, unable to locate the shelter when he arrived the previous afternoon. "It was windy!" How could he have missed the shelter? Oh well, I'm sure that I will find it. After 1.6 miles, I dumped my pack at the junction of Ethan Pond and Willey Ridge Trails and took my day pack with a few supplies and headed up the steep trail. It was more than two hours of tough climbing---not so much the slippery conditions but the steepness, ~1400'/5600' = 25% Yikes! Luckily I slid down a large part of it on the return, taking 45 minutes! In between, I crossed to Mt. Field, meeting a few parties coming from the north (Up the Avalon Trail, see map) and fed a healthy and friendly Canada Jay at the Mt. Field summit.

I didn't get back to my pack until 2:30 and still had a mile to go to the Ethan Pond shelter. Luckily, it was mostly flat. After turning off the AT (aka Ethan Pond Trail), I had only to find the shelter. I followed the White Bear fellow's tracks and, sure enough, he camped in the open (which is a swamp in the summer.) So where's the shelter? It must be higher up, so I plodded up hill away from the lake and spied it through the trees. Unfortunately, I had a wade through a few snow drifts to get there. Lots of room for 8, but nobody else showed up. I set up my sleeping arrangement, my two nested bags. What loft---it will be cozy! With an hour left of daylight, I got on my sleeping gear, my down parka, and my new down booties. Sitting on my spare pieces of sleeping pad, I was warm. Yes, I stayed warm. Now for some tasty coucous with extra vegetable soup flavoring. Unfortunately, I couldn't make the stove work, so I resorted to moistening my coucous with the tepid tea from my thermos. Warming the Pocket Rocket and fuel inside my coat, I finally got a flame going---and had what remained of my couscous piping hot.

The night was indeed warm. Those two bags are perfect together. Oh yes, I also bought two compression sacks, so the two sleeping bags don't fill my pack anymore. Having had gobs of sleep, I ruminated on work, the windy night, and the expectation of old-fashioned oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins for breakfast. In the morning, I extracted my stove and water from in between the bags, where I thought they would stay warm. Oops, not warm and the water bottle leaked all over the bags. I guess those down booties did quite a job, keeping my feet warm even in a wet bag. Well, I couldn't get the stove to start. Oh well, I packed up, slogged through the drifts, ambled along the trail, met a party of five women and three dogs coming up for the day, and finished with potato chips and Coke at the trailhead!

A few more gear points.

My stove (Pocket Rocket) problem was a lack of tightening the burner to the canister. I tried an outdoor test today: snug coupling and immediate flame. That's the secret.
This nested sleeping bag technique is a real winner for winter. It was probably 5 deg F and fairly windy in the shelter, but I felt only warmth with minimal sleepware (2 layers). With those compression sacks to keep the volume low, I have space in the pack for all sorts of things.
My 18" squares of sleeping pads are a great insulator when sitting. The squares are good for sledding as well.
The modified down booties kept my feet warm; I got the REI ones (no longer available) and added an extra layer of insulating foam inside the soles because there had been reports of cold from underneath. Inside the booties I wore one pair of wool socks. They still have slippery soles, which slid on the snow, so I might think of another mod to get more traction say some cordera cloth glues on the bottom.
I needed two pairs of mittens. The wool ones froze over night, so I used the second pair of thin wool with waterproof shells in the morning.
The microspikes did very well. They are getting good reviews. As I read: "microspikes for hiking; stablicers for snow blowing."

26 hours, 12 in my cozy double sleeping bag. 11 miles and 520 getfit@mit minutes for a weekly total of 911 minutes. Beautious scenery and nice trails. Sweet!

Starting out on Saturday morning Just up from the railroad tracks above Crawford Notch.	First view SE ascending Willey Ridge Trail The trail is 1400' up in 1.1 miles, oh so steep, but probably easier in the winter with microspikes for traction.	Hungry but well fed Canada Jay I feed this beggar from arm's length atop Mt. Field
Just down from Mt. WIlley The skies cleared even more as I neared Mt. Willey again on return from Mt. Field.	Atop Mt. Willey Trusty hat and attempted smile with descent from Mt. Willey ahead---I slid down a good bit of the way. I have to remember to bring my sleeping pad for a sled next time!	Leaving Ethan Pond Campsite The last 0.1 miles was unmarked and had snow drifts off the Pond.
Accumulated snow perched aloft I saw a few of these mesas where a flat balsam retained the snow.