After multiple successful camping trips over the summer and fall, 2 brave New Yorkers set out to survive the Vermont winter, just for a night, on Mt. Stratton.
After a solid and relatively quick mile in, it started to snow. And then it started to snow heavily. Like, very heavily. Leo was not happy.
We got about another mile and a half into the trail and decided to take a break. We were having trouble seeing the white trail blazers on the trees, and we figured it would be better to wait than to get lost. Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.
So we took a breather waiting for the storm to subside. We built ourselves a nice shelter on a piece of land removed from the trail.
We were cold, wet, and hungry. We'd been moving for about 3 hours, at a decent clip, uphill. It was tough going for flat-landers, so we were sweating. Now that we had stopped, our wet clothes were sucking heat from our bodies alarmingly fast.
Side Note: Before you make comments... we were carrying wood bc we were trying to limit our impact on the surrounding living trees. It added to the suck, but we felt it was right. Plus... it'll only make you stronger.
We inhaled some soup to warm us up and get some energy.
And I changed my socks, which made me like a new man. Hot soup and some new dry socks? GOLDEN!
But the storm refused to subside, so we decided that we would hunker down where we were, build a fire, and settle in for the night.
The storm cleared just before sunset, and gave us a beautiful glowing sky.
With camp built, and having changed into warm, dry clothes, we were ready to get comfy and enjoy a clear night sky, roughly 3 miles from anyone.
Our snow fire was a life saver. Drying clothes, and warming appendages. Nice work, Leo
Changing Clothes was the best feeling on this side of civilization.
Leo's all bundled up and ready for a nappy-poo.
Once we went to sleep, it was a relatively peaceful night. With temps forecasted to drop into the low teens, we were bundled up and cozy in our tent and sleeping bags.
Once we awoke, we needed to head back to town to catch up with a party that would be joining us that evening. So we broke down camp, and turned around. Snow shoeing our way back down the trail we could barely see.
Sometimes snow shoeing down hill is really difficult. Good timing on the camera.
We made it down in about 3 hours, never reaching the fire tower up top. But, such is life. We will back, in winter, to enjoy the views.