Beginning winter hiking - which trails to start out on?

[Driver8]

I always carry a compass, but its been 20 yrs since Ive carried a map in the Whites. Quite frankly no matter where I was I could navigate without one.

I, on the other hand, have loved maps since I was a kid and will always carry one with me unless on a very familiar hike.

Dave Bear: I value your thoughts about altimeters. On our recent hike of Flume, I enjoyed checking in with Sunshine Chris's mechanical altimeter (probably the same one you're recommending). It outdid my phone app which lost the cell network connection for most of the climb. I enjoyed after each stretch of hiking playing the guessing game on elevation, testing my sense of how much we'd just climbed - usually pretty good, I fancied - vs. the altimeter. I held up ok. As good as my map- and terrain-reading skills are, I would want to have all available tools above tree-line in winter. Speaking of common sense, it seems to me that that's freshman-level common sense.

 

[Dave Bear]

Yes Driver, Chris has a Brunton. The problem with the analog altimeters is they are all scaled with a range of at least 15000-16000 feet which of course we don't need in these parts. I wish someone would come along and make a 7500 foot range so the scale would be easier to read. Damn tough to get used to pulling out cheater glasses when your eyes are over fifty. The least they could do is make bolder major divisions on the scale!

Once you have been out a lot you can tell elevation better by the trees and their height and their branch structure when you are in the woods.

 

[Driver8]

Once you have been out a lot you can tell elevation better by the trees and their height and their branch structure when you are in the woods.

Those are among the cues I use. I also develop a feel for the land and will have reviewed beforehand the topo maps for a Whites hike pretty thoroughly, so I have a mental image of the shape of the terrain, to say nothing of our good friend, Google Earth, which really should be called Ogle Earth.

 

[una_dogger]

Aside from all of the excellent tips already posted, it never hurts to check what's been broken out :

Www.newenglandtrailconditions.com

 

[The Unstrung Harp]

Many, many thanks again to everyone for the great discussion. Just wanted to chime back in and give a little update. My friend Crag and I hiked today and, mostly due to proximity, ended up on the Little Jackson trail up Tumbledown in Weld, ME.

Trip report. gear list, pics are all here! http://trekforpeace.blogspot.com/2013/01/little-jackson-weld-me-january-10-2013.html

(And yes, if it matters: I will snag an altimeter when I can, and yes, I will get my compass skills happening soon too. But sometimes you just gotta start where you are...!)

 

[Brambor]

How was the road access? Just wondering whether it matches what I have been told by snowmobilers from the area.

 

[The Unstrung Harp]

Brambor, thank you very much for the info on the road access - can't remember if I replied on the other thread but if not, I meant to!!
The road was plowed, roughly, after the big storm from over a week ago but the few new inches were not plowed. There is a big snowbank in the mid of the road the whole way. And there was certainly no sand or anything. We only went to the Mt Hope Cemetery, (so we didn't even go as far as Brook Trailhead) and things looks possibly even less plowed (one lane maybe okay) after that. We were in a jeep and there were some sketchy moments but we made it.

 

[sardog1]

Apparently I don't know what the hell I'm talking about:

Six Tufts students rescued after getting lost in White Mtn. National Forest

"HART'S LOCATION -- Six students from Tufts University Mountain Club were rescued early Saturday morning after they took the wrong trail down Mt. Pierce and wound up lost in the Dry River Wilderness area."

 

[sardog1]

Resources for learning map and compass navigation

For any who want to work on map and compass navigation, my brief guide is attached below. You'll also benefit from looking at the resources listed in the VFTT Pathfinders Group.

 

[sierra]

Apparently I don't know what the hell I'm talking about:

Six Tufts students rescued after getting lost in White Mtn. National Forest

"HART'S LOCATION -- Six students from Tufts University Mountain Club were rescued early Saturday morning after they took the wrong trail down Mt. Pierce and wound up lost in the Dry River Wilderness area."

That is a really BAD mistake, I mean you have to go in the opposite direction! In relation to finding the trail off Pierce in heavy conditions, Ive used a number of tricks over the years in spots like that. First off, when you leave the scrub turn around and study the terrain and know what it looks like, a funny looking tree, a rock outcropping, anything you can remember. Lacking any of those, Ive "dug out' a drift so it wont blown in and I look for that gash on my return, Ive even left a trekking pole with bandanna tied to the top at the entrance of the scrub or woods.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

... In relation to finding the trail off Pierce in heavy conditions, Ive used a number of tricks over the years in spots like that.

A glance at my Garmin 60CSX will tell me within a few seconds exactly whether I'm on my GPS track. It's accurate within a few feet under all conditions.

Always use the right tool for the job ...

 

[The Unstrung Harp]

Thanks Sardog!

 

[HH1]

Thanks Sardog! Your guide and resources are, and always will be, relevant to those of us who give a damn.

 

[JacobH]

at the low low cost of 600 bucks and .5lbs and only 18hr battery life. what do you do after lunch on day 2?

luckily a compass is good enough for most people who stick to trails and have some common sense. I know that i get turned around on summits sometimes so I will leave my trekking poles at the trail i came out of if i'm going back that way.

If it takes you 2 days to summit Pierce I'd assume you're prepared for that.

Willow wands do add extra weight but they may be helpful in certain situations, so I've heard. How much do the trekking poles weigh anyway?

 

[ChacoTaco]

Great information Sardog, thanks for posting.

 

[Dave Bear]

at the low low cost of 600 bucks and .5lbs and only 18hr battery life. what do you do after lunch on day 2?

luckily a compass is good enough for most people who stick to trails and have some common sense. I know that i get turned around on summits sometimes so I will leave my trekking poles at the trail i came out of if i'm going back that way.

Can be an advantage to have both! You can find a GPS for less and you can carry spare batteries. This unit takes the same as my camera so it would be an easy swap over to what is more essential. Best to keep your poles with you, since both Pierce and Ike are known for snow over ice that can cause a fall.

Surprising that out of six people none had the skill to determine where they were going wrong.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Surprising that out of six people none had the skill to determine where they were going wrong.

This is perhaps one of the most important things you can learn from this thread--You need to be self-reliant, and if you have any doubts at all, speak up, at least privately, with the "leader". Frame it as a learning experience for yourself if you feel it will be confrontational otherwise.

Tim

 

[Kevin Rooney]

If I had to guess - it looks like they may have been near the Mizpah Hut trail junction, and rather than heading west on the Mizpath Cutoff, they headed east on the Mt Clinton trail, which leads into the Dry River Wilderness. Just a guess on my part, however.

When I skimmed this post quickly last evening I made an assumption they're gotten lost at the point where the Crawford Path re-enters the scrub just down from the summit, a spot which has caused some hikers problems in the past. But - if they ended up in the Dry River that didn't make any sense, especially if they were on a trail - so I read the UL article. It would be useful if the UL had a reporter who was familiar with WM trails and could add a critical detail here and there, but ...

 

[Tom_Murphy]

at the low low cost of 600 bucks and .5lbs and only 18hr battery life. what do you do after lunch on day 2?

JakeD,

I agree that a compass would have help them and is cheaper than a GPS but trail finding in the winter is a whole different ball game. Like you, I believe in minimizing weight as appropriate . On three season backpacks on the regular trails I agree map and compass are adequate, but I think a GPS back-up for winter hikes above treeline is prudent.

I use my GPS for a navigational fix when the forest or the snow or the fog makes Land Nav techniques unworkable or when I am afraid I am "bending the map". So I dig it out, turn on, get a sat connection, get lat/lon and a point on the map screen, figure out where I really am on my map, turn off GPS and store it away. Not a big drain on the batteries.

I was taught that you have the bearings for the escape routes written down before you get to the trailhead and you put your compass on before you leave the trees. This year I added a plastic map case because I lost a map to the wind last year. So water proof map, with bearings written on it, in water proof map case attached to the compass lanyard which goes over my head when I layer up just before breaking out of the trees.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Let's continue specifics to the rescue in this other thread, and maintain this one on the original topic: 6 Tufts Students Rescued From Dry River.

Tim