A Glorious Three Days in the Backcountry of the Smokies--Day 2

Thru-hiking couple at Tricorner Knob

When you overnight with thru-hikers, bedtime comes pretty early if you are respectful of their adventure.  An Appalachian Trail hiker once told me that the reason thru-hikers go to bed at 8:00 is because it takes them 11 hours to get 8 hours of decent sleep! The thru-hikers in our group that night went to bed as soon as they finished eating their dinner, so that ended up being about 8:00 p.m.  The rest of us were tired too, so in order to keep from disturbing them, we just all crawled in bed by around 8:30—it wasn’t even dark yet!  The warmth of our sleeping bags on this chilly, high-elevation night was also partly the reason for our retreat. That meant, too, that by the time the sun was coming up, we were all pretty ready to get out of bed.  However, we didn’t expect the wake-up call known as “Boomer” running across the bunks just inches from our heads, but that is what we got! He didn’t stick around long, but it was almost like he was saying, “I’m hungry! Would you please get up and cook breakfast so I can get any crumbs you drop?” 

A long section hiker and another thru-hiker

Our day began with breakfasts prepared with our JetBoil cooking systems after retrieving our packs from the bear cables. Mine on this day was the Breakfast Skillet meal (one serving size found at Walmart) wrapped in the two wheat wraps I had carried for this express purpose.  I don’t like all of the Mountain House meals, but that is one of my favorites! I had attempted carrying the Mountain House meals on an earlier backpacking trip without searching for the single serving size, but ended up packing out the excesses of too many rehydrated meals. Instead of getting lighter as the days wore on, my pack was getting heavier because the ends of the meals that were too big for me had been rehydrated, and thus, were no longer light weight. This single serving size worked just great! Thanks to Matt (aka @GSMNP_Hiker) for telling me that Walmart had them.

After breakfast, the thru-hikers left, one by one. I made sure to tell them about the beauty they were about to experience as they crossed one of my favorite sections of trail in the Smokies. The six miles between Tricorner Knob and Camel Gap passes across the shoulders of

Across the grassy helipad area near Mt. Guyot

Mt. Guyot, also traversing across the helipad area, a relatively flat open expanse that bears a concrete marker that can, presumably, be seen from the sky by helicopter pilots.  It is old and slightly overgrown, but I imagine it can and probably has been used to airlift folks out of this most remote section of the Great Smoky Mountains if they are in trouble.

This section of trail is almost always moist, if not from rain, then from the dew of the morning or clouds that had settled around the mountaintops overnight.  Snails are a frequent sight on the trail as are mushrooms of multiple varieties. On this trip, the mountain laurel and Catawba rhododendron were blooming, lining the trail with laurel tunnels and carpeting the path with spent rhododendron blossoms.  My favorite thing about this section though is the vista of the surrounding peaks and forests.  The sense of renewal here is real—almost tangible—both in the sense of the nature around you, and also in the sense of the renewal of your own world-weary spirit.  Heaven on Earth? Yes, in my opinion, it’s pretty close!

View from the helipad

Jennifer and Kirsten standing on the helipad

After reluctantly leaving the helipad area, we continued along the Appalachian Trail, looking now for the fighter jet wreckage found, probably less than a mile down the trail.  A marker, in case you want to look for it, is the stone staircase. Once you come to the stone stairs carefully laid in the trail by ATC trail maintainers, begin looking to your right and down the hill a bit. You’ll see a few remnants right along the trail’s edge, but most of debris is maybe 20 yards off the trail. There are well-worn footpaths you can take to explore what remains of the jet that crashed headlong into this mountain in bad weather a very long time ago.

 

View near Snake Den Ridge intersection w/the AT

The sweeping vistas continued to stop us in our tracks as we made our way beyond the wreckage on toward Camel Gap, marked by the intersection with Camel Gap Trail, which we would take to head back to lower elevations and our campsite for this second night. At one point, though, we were passed by a fast-moving thru-hiker who would have zipped by us without a word had we not spoken to him. When asked how far he was going, he replied, “well, I’m getting out of the Smokies tonight, that’s for sure!” I told him that sounded as if that were a good thing, and he responded with, “not as much elevation change; easier paths.” How sad! He didn’t even slow down to appreciate the breathtaking vistas—he just wanted out! That’s funny because I was to the point I never wanted to leave.  I have serious doubts as to whether someone with that attitude has what it takes to finish the AT. I didn’t get the sense that he was smelling very many roses along the way. 

 Camel Gap was a nice trail with gentle descent down into the valley of the Big Creek area.  It shouldn’t have taken us very long to get down, but it did! I can’t help but think that trail is mis-measured. It surely must be longer than the 5.1 miles that the sign says it is.

Finally, we made it to the trailhead for Gunter Fork trail to see yet another sign (we had seen two the previous day) that is lettered in bright red or orange paint warning that Gunter Fork is IMPASSABLE in high water! Our plan was to do that trail on our final day, but the weather was threatening rain now and the forecast had not been favorable at all for the third day, so we were going to make that decision at the last moment. We did go up Gunter Fork to the first crossing, just to see what it looked like and it seemed fine at that moment. We made our way on to Campsite 37 though with dark clouds building overhead and a bit of rumbling in the distance.

Once at our campsite, we picked out a spot, pulled out the tents we had not needed at the shelter, set them up, and then went to filter water out of Big Creek. We prepared our dinners just before the heavens opened up to dump a deluge of water on us and our belongings. Retreating to our tents, this would have been a great time for a bear to have taken advantage of the situation, because two of us left our packs where they had been placed before cooking dinner in our speedy retreat from the storm. Thankfully, no bears bothered our stuff, but there would be other critters we’d have to worry about before morning! We were able to come out a bit later and hang the packs on the bear cables before going back into the tents to escape the rain.

 

Rained into my MSR Hubba Hubba tent at 6:30 p.m.

You could tell we had not done much tent camping in the backcountry before though, because during the hardest part of the rain, we began to notice that our boots and other items we had set under the vestibule were floating in what was becoming a deep pond underneath our tents.  I took a shovel and went out to try to dig a trench to route the water away from us, but could tell pretty quickly that was going to be a futile effort.  Quickly looking around for higher ground that wasn’t standing in water, I told the other girls we would have to move our tents.   Once the tents were secured on higher ground and we had secured our other belongings on the bear cables, we took refuge from the rains inside our tents and eventually fell asleep, again much earlier than would have been true at home. 

The blessings of this second day, however, were not yet over! Somewhere about 9:15, Jennifer got up to go to the restroom (some shrubbery in the woods, really), only to exclaim that the fireflies were out! The next hour or so was simply, unimaginably magical! By  9:30, hundreds of thousands of fireflies (mixed in with enough mosquitoes that I am still scratching as I type this) totally surrounded us, caught up in their synchronized mating ritual for which thousands of people flock to the Elkmont area of the Park each summer. We were nowhere close to Elkmont, but apparently not all of the fireflies know that they are supposed to go to Elkmont to do their thing. Either that or they’re not very good at reading maps!

My phone wouldn't capture the fireflies, so this pic is from firefly.org.  Even this doesn't do it justice! 

This spectacle rivaled any fireworks or light show I have ever witnessed! For 5-10 seconds, the woods would be engulfed in total darkness, then all at once, flash-flash-flash-flash, they would be lit by a gazillion fireflies all vying for the attention of the females in the area! Then, almost as suddenly as they began, they would stop and we would be standing in utter darkness again. The cycle repeated itself, getting more and more powerful and more synchronized as it went along. Finally, with mosquitoes feasting on our bare legs and blood, we retreated again to the enclosed space of our tents, but since the rains had stopped while we had napped, we were able to open the rainflies of our tents and watch the display from inside. Not a bad way to fall asleep, now, is it?  

To read about the third and final day of our adventure, CLICK HERE.

A Glorious Three Days in the Backcountry of the Smokies--Day One

I have done a lot of hiking this year, but not a lot of blogging, but this trip just has to be recorded! Our first, but hopefully not our last, backpacking trip of the summer happened this weekend. There were interior trails in the Cataloochee and Big Creek areas of the Smokies to which we had not gotten yet. Those interior trails are difficult to reach! You really need a helicopter and parachute to get to them easily, but alas, those aren't in my hiking gear box. Instead, we began this trip by parking one vehicle at the Big Creek Campground parking lot and were shuttled from there to the Mt. Sterling trailhead by the nice folks at Standing Bear Hostel, located just a few miles from Big Creek. We have done the Mt. Sterling Trail several times on our way to various other trails in the area, but never with a fully loaded three-day backpack on our backs. I must say, I was a bit nervous about that! Over the past few months though, I had been purposefully working on my conditioning by making sure that, no matter what, I got in at least 10,000 steps using my Fitbit to monitor my progress. Many normal days I'd have way more than that, but 10,000 was my minimum. It paid off more than I could have imagined that it would.

Flame Azalea--this one light in color

 The pitch of the Mt. Sterling Trail is steep, but some switchbacks make it bearable. Scattered along the trail were various summertime wildflowers and many of the flowering shrubs famous in the Smokies this time of year.  Flame azaleas, mountain laurel, and rhododendron rewarded our efforts giving us something to ohh and ahh over as we climbed the mountain. In no time, we were at the top.

Mountain Laurel

Rhododendron

 After resting for a bit at the top of Mt. Sterling, we made our way down another trail we had already done a stretch of in the past--Mt. Sterling Ridge Trail. This is a very nice trail which does what it sounds like it would do; it follows along the ridgeline, offering a few glimpses of the surrounding mountains, although those are usually seen through the branches of many trees and shrubs along the way. It is not a difficult trail though and is well traveled, so isn't overgrown. When we finally came to the intersection of this trail and Pretty Hollow Gap and Swallowfork, we were getting "new miles." We continued on Mt. Sterling Ridge Trail until it intersected with Balsam Mountain Trail. This part of Mt. Sterling Ridge is less traveled and therefore was a little more overgrown, but primarily with grasses, not many briars or brush.

We sat to have lunch at the intersection with Balsam Mountain Trail. Lunch for me that day was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich made from a "light" wheat English muffin. I have found that an English muffin makes a great backcountry sandwich because the bread doesn't get mushy even amid the rigors of trail life. Another trick I use with that sandwich is to put peanut butter on each half of the split muffin and then put the jelly in the middle. Again, that helps the bread hold up to the pressures inside a backpack.

After our lunch break, we set out on Balsam Mountain Trail toward our destination for the night. This trail provided us with some nice views and elevation changes were minimal. Really, by the time we had climbed Mt. Sterling, we were done with any huge elevation changes. Balsam Mountain trail also runs along the ridgeline for the most part and was an enjoyable trail with several snippets of vistas.

Balsam Mountain trail runs 5.8 miles from where we had stopped to enjoy our lunch to the Appalachian Trail, but it is such a nice trail, we made that distance in really good time for us, especially considering the amount of weight we were carrying in our packs. We did the almost 6 miles in a little less than 2.5 hours--not bad, all things considered!











My favorite part about this trail, though, was the destination to which it led us--Tricorner Knob Shelter! We had stayed at this shelter on our Appalachian Trail trip two years ago and enjoyed it so much, that I was really looking forward to staying there again. I was not disappointed!

This quaint shelter, three-sided (which is typical in the Smokies), is nestled up again a hillside just a 100 yards or so below the Appalachian Trail. It has a picnic table type area with benches on both sides, a nice water source (drips from a pipe into only a small pool), and a backcountry privy which is always a nice amenity to have at a shelter!

The privy at Tricorner Knob

Bear cables are present for you to hang your packs and food bags since bears are ever-present in these mountains. We had never hung our packs on the bear cables before, but had always hung our food bags. This trip, we hung our packs because bears have been so active in the Smokies in the last few weeks. A quick call to the backcountry office right before our trip resulted in this new technique (new for us anyway) to prevent an unpleasant run-in with a bear who might be becoming to accustomed to the presence of humans and their food.

Tricorner Knob Shelter is in one of the most remote regions of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but with a fireplace inside, a fire pit outside, the comforts of being able to sit at a table while preparing and eating your food, and the typical company of a few thru-hikers, this shelter is one of my many "favorite spots" in this park. It was a privilege to be able to spend the evening of our first day at this serene location.

We did have a bit of natural entertainment during our stay at Tricorner Knob, too. If you look closely in the photo above, you can see the comedian sitting on a rock. We were kept on our toes by a personable little squirrel, a "boomer," who had moments of bravado, approaching very close to our table area, but who would then scamper back off as if his wild side finally won out. He was really cute, but we took care not to feed him or even drop scraps, tempting as that might have been. All of us knew that he was better off allowing his wild side to rule and keep his distance from the hikers and their food.

To read about Day 2, CLICK HERE

First Bear Cub Rescue of 2015

I have never done this before, but I think it's important that you get this story directly from those responsible for saving these two beautiful black bear cubs this weekend.  The following has been cut and pasted from their original Newsflash posted on the Facebook page of Appalachian Bear Rescue. Enjoy and follow them on Facebook to watch the progress of these two little beauties.  Please consider making a donation to help them in this important work. Their donation link is at the end of their article.

ABR Newsflash! April 4, 2015-Cubs#202 and #203 arrive! (4 photos)

Late last night, we got the call we’ve been dreading and anticipating. A dispatcher from the North Carolina National Park Service reported her office had received multiple reports all day from concerned citizens regarding two cubs, apparently alone, seen on the side of a road. There was no sign of the mother and the dispatcher wondered if ABR could come to investigate. Yes, we could!

Curator Coy and Curator Janet, chauffeured by ABR President, Dana Dodd, left the ABR facility at 1:15 am to make the 2 1/2 hour trip to the dispatchers office at the Blue Ridge Parkway Headquarters in North Carolina. The two sibling cubs, one female and one male, were in reasonably good health considering they’d been alone for many hours. They are 2015 bears, meaning they’re about two months old. Coy and Janet went right to work: the male cub appeared lethargic at first, but responded with huffs and blowing when picked up. Good wild bear behavior! The cub took to his bottle of apple-flavored Pedialyte instantly. The female had to be fed by syringe.

The cubs were loaded into a single carrier for the trip back to the ABR facility, arriving at the Cub Nursery at 7:30 am.

Curator Janet reports:

#202 - Female
3.30 lbs.
Syringe fed by Coy at 4:30 a.m. (19 ml)
Took bottle successfully from Janet at 7:50 a.m. (14 ml)

#203 - Male
3.59 lbs.
Bottle fed by Janet at 4:30 a.m. (15 ml) and again at 7:40 a.m. (15 ml)

“The male is gentle and calm, but will huff and blow at curator when approached.
The female is feisty and smacks and blows at curator when approached. She is also a biter, but thankfully, doesn't have her big girl teeth in yet! The cubs have natural, wild, instincts that tell them to be wary of humans. We don't know what happened to their mama, but she did a good job teaching them to be wild little bears. Coy and I will make sure that we do not do anything to compromise that.

Both cubs are resting together, snuggled up to a stuffed bear cub in the Cub Nursery. Since they have had two feedings of Pedialyte thus far, they will be left to rest and settle in to their new environment for the next few hours. I will be watching and listening via the baby bear monitor.”

We’re naming Cub #202 Bonnie Blue, and her brother, Cub #203, Ridgeway in honor of the place where they were found.

We thank the citizens who first reported their concern without intervening directly with the cubs. We thank the person who stayed until the Park Ranger arrived. We thank the Park Ranger who went out late at night to secure the cubs for us. We’re grateful to the Park dispatcher who called us and remained at her post for hours after the end of her shift to make certain the cubs were safe. We thank the various Wildlife Offices and agencies who agreed readily to wave protocol on a holiday weekend to ensure that these cubs might be saved. This is what compassion look like. This is the form it takes: good people doing good things! Thank you!

http://www.appalachianbearrescue.org/donations.htm

Wonderland Hotel via a Winter Wonderland

The snow stretched out undisturbed in front of us as we put on our microspikes and approached what would be our trailhead today. No trail sign greeted us and asked for our obligatory trail sign photo. No longer really a trailhead, this unnamed manway we were about to walk runs from near the Laurel Falls parking area over to the Elkmont Campground area in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  We had noticed the trail several weeks ago and promised ourselves to explore it when the time was right. Today, the time was right!


Winter storm Quantum had just dumped another 8 or so inches of fresh powder over the trails of the Smokies and many roads remained closed, so as has become a frequent occurrence, we could not reach trails that would give us "new" miles.





The unmolested manway which stretched out in front of us then provided the perfect answer. Knowing only what a ranger had told us several weeks ago when we asked him about the old trail we had seen, that it would lead us back to Elkmont, we stepped into the virgin powder and meandered through the woods watching tracks of woodland creatures who also like to use this old trail.

Since this time-worn manway is no longer a maintained trail, we scrambled under, over and through several blowdowns. It was amusing to see the paths the creatures had made in and around those blowdowns, trying to guess by their path of choice how big they must have been based on whether and where they went under the tree or brush.



At one moment we were surprised to see a well-maintained sign marking the Old Elkmont Cemetery near a former traffic circle on a dirt road (well we assumed it was dirt underneath all of the snow!

We were drawn into the cemetery through the path that led up through the entrance sign, but once at the top of the little hill were so mesmerized by the beauty of the place that we were unwilling to mark the snow of this reverential spot with our footprints.  Tracks of forest creatures were the only breaks in the smooth surface of the fresh fallen powder and that was also how we left it.  

Bearing left on another trail here as opposed to walking down the road toward what we assumed would be the Elkmont Campground Road, we continued to follow a footpath which we felt might be leading us onward toward the Wonderland Hotel, a well-known, deteriorating structure of the Park's former days which none of us had seen. Another triangular intersection presented itself and we had to choose our course. Following antiquated power lines, we veered off to the right and wound around behind and between some of the old Elkmont village homes that I didn't even know existed in this location. Shortly the path opened up and, nestled in the woods, we saw the remains of Wonderland Hotel.

We laughed to ourselves as we remember the internet article which went viral this past year about the hiker who had "discovered" an old abandoned town in the Great Smoky Mountains because it seemed that we, too, had discovered just such a treasure!  We wondered about the free-standing steps that were out in front of the hotel. Could those steps have led to a structure that no longer stands? Could it be that they were used by ladies to mount onto horses or climb up into another mode of transit--buggy or even train or some such thing? No idea, really, but they were beautiful covered in the somewhat diminishing snow.

The back side of the hotel where the deck once stood.

After circling round and exploring the exterior of the old Wonderland Club, we returned to the triangular intersection and continued to follow the road not taken.  Eventually, this path comes out at the Elkmont Campground.  Through the trees, you can see the river as it runs up to the campground as you walk the manway, but there was too much interference from trees and underbrush to get a good picture, until that is, we returned in our vehicle to see from the Elkmont Campground Road where we had just walked.  

Little Pigeon River and the back side of Elkmont Campground

Once we had explored all the way to the campground, we simply turned around and followed our tracks back toward Laurel Falls. The entire trip was only a little less than 3.5 miles but the deep snow made the walking a little more difficult than usual. When we returned, reluctantly, to our waiting vehicle the temperature still read only 23 degrees.  Yes, it had been a cold day on the trail, but the winter wonderland held us in awe no matter the temps.

Not Sure When, but Spring WILL Come!--65th Annual Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage

Dwarf Crested Iris

As I look out at the snow in my yard and see a daunting forecast of even more snow to come tonight and tomorrow, I must remind myself that yes, Spring WILL Come--eventually! When I think about Spring in the Great Smoky Mountains, I always think about the Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage, a yearly event celebrating the flora and fauna of this special place. Buried underneath this week's (and last week's too) snow are the roots of the ephemerals which lay in wait of brighter sun and warmer temperatures before peaking their tiny heads out to shine for us.

Sweet White Trillium

I attended my first Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage probably 15 years or so ago with my daughter who would have been about 8 years old then. We enjoyed a guided hike to White Oak Sinks while it was in full bloom, and that set in motion the beginnings of a love and passion shared between mother and daughter which we've enjoyed almost every year since. Work and school schedules interfere most years now with us participating in the pilgrimage itself, but almost without fail, we make it into the mountains bearing camera equipment and wildflower identification books, stopping to appreciate these often tiny blossoms that many of the Park's visitors never stop to notice at all.

Pink Lady's Slipper

I will always be thankful that in the years when we had the opportunity we took advantage of the many programs offered by the event. This year's 65th Annual Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage takes place April 21-25 and offers walks, talks, and workshops on birding, bears, salamanders, natural history, ferns, mosses, photography, sketching, and of course wildflowers. Online registration is going on now at the above link, but on-site registration will also be available during the event.

Trout Lily

You do not have to attend the pilgrimage in order to enjoy the wildflowers though. Beginning usually mid to late March, wildflowers will most-assuredly make their appearance.  Here are some wonderful trails and reference books for you to check out if you want to simply explore on your own:

My Favorite Wildflower Trails:

• Chestnut Top Trail
• Porter's Creek Trail
• Cove Mountain Hardwood Trail (at Chimney's Picnic Area)
• Bud Ogle Nature Trail
• White Oak Sinks (not really ON a trail, but easy to find)
• almost any trail in the Smokies has some wildflowers on it

My Favorite Wildflower Reference Books:

Great Smoky Mountains Wildflowers is organized by the season or time you will find the flowers in our mountains. So, from front to back, you can see the progression of the bloom that will take place in the Smokies from early spring to fall. This book provides pictures and descriptions as well as locations where you can expect to find particular flowers and the approximate dates of their appearance.

 Wildflowers of the Smokies is organized by bloom color, so if you are looking at a flower and are unsure of its identity, you simply look in the pages which carry the appropriate bloom color tab until you find the one that matches what you are seeing.


I carry both of these books with me when I go looking for wildflowers. Each is useful in its own way and not all flowers you will find on the trails are in either book. The diversity which we enjoy in the Smokies is just too vast to be housed in any volume small enough to carry on the trails.

Happy wildflowering (or for now simply dreaming of wildflowering!) Just remember, Spring WILL Come! And when it does, you'll find me enjoying the ephemeral beauty of the tiny jewels in which Nature clothes the Smokies.

Winter hiking...do not go unprepared!

On the Appalachian Trail near Mt. Cammerer 

After having read the terribly sad article about the death of Kate Matrosova this week in the White Mountains, it made me thankful that the mountains in which I hike, the Great Smoky Mountains, are not quite so unforgiving. You can read that article HERE and you will probably wonder, as I do, why in the world she ventured forward in the face of numerous warnings and horrific weather forecasts. She paid the ultimate price for her mistakes and that is such a terrible shame.  Although the Smokies do not boast some of the worst weather in the world as does the Presidential Range, it is important to respect them and how quickly conditions can change if you venture into the mountains during the winter.

So how does one prepare for winter hiking in the mountains of the Southern Appalachian range? Firstly, if conditions are forecast to be extreme, I simply do not venture out! But by the same token, I do love a good hike in the snow if other conditions are favorable!  So what are some gear that I include in my winter pack or on my person? Here are some of my old faithful gear friends for winter hiking:

Katoohla Microspikes--I used to try to hike in the snow without these, but was always worried about falling and getting hurt which would interfere with this obsession with hiking that I currently have. These microspikes have solved that problem, that's for sure! They simply pull on over my Keen boots and I'm ready for pretty much anything the trail can throw at me.  At first I worried about using them on those days when some stretches of trail were covered in snow but other stretches which lay in the sun no longer had snow cover.  I don't worry about that anymore. These spikes are tough!

Mountain Hardwear Soft Shell Jacket--This is the most versatile jacket I have ever owned! I can wear this jacket from early fall through spring, and it has never failed to keep me warm and with rare exception, dry.  This jacket is warm, but not too warm, water resistant, and I bought it big enough to allow for adding layers, even down if necessary, underneath it depending on conditions.  The only time it did not keep me dry was one day when we hiked for hours in an absolute deluge and I didn't put a poncho over it.  It finally soaked up enough water to override the water resistance, but that was entirely my fault.  I was afraid I had ruined it, but no! I simply bought a water resistance treatment at the local outfitters, ran it through the wash cycle in my washing machine, and it is once again good as new! I think I've had this jacket now for going on four years.  The hood and high neck zipper feature allows you to zip up and tighten down the laces of the hood until only your eyes show and are exposed to the weather.

Thermolite Reactor Sleeping Bag Liner--I put this lightweight liner in my pack beginning in the fall when temperatures in the mountains can plummet at night just in case anyone in my group takes a spill and has to wait for help to arrive. I have a healthy respect for hypothermia and easily feel that the few ounces that this adds to my pack weight are more than worth it if anyone ever really ends up needing it. I certainly hope it is never needed, but if something happens it might make a huge difference.  I just put it in my pack and forget about it. I never even know it's there it takes up so little space.

Mountain Hardwear Phantasia Sleeping Bag--Once winter really sets in, even for day hikes, I add my sleeping bag to my pack for the same reasons I carry the sleeping bag liner in fall and spring.  It only weighs 1 lb 5 oz and might be the thing that saves someone's life in case of a true emergency. You just never know when someone in the group might fall and get hurt. Hypothermia can set in very quickly in the winter when you stop moving, especially if the hike you've been on is strenuous and therefore, you've been sweating underneath all your layers of clothing.  Even if you wear wicking fabrics, and I hope you do, coming to a stop on a really cold day can get you very cold, very quickly.  This is just one piece of insurance that I carry in case of an accident that makes it impossible to keep moving.

Another secret for winter hiking is to dress in layers--moisture wicking, insulating layers.  Many kinds are available, and you will need to search out the ones that feel the best to you.  My husband swears by the Icebreaker wool base layers, but I simply cannot wear them.  I have found an REI-brand base layer that works great for me. They are so soft and feel so good, I've tried sleeping in them at home, but they're just too warm! My top has a 1/4 zip feature at the neckline which enables me to unzip it on the trail if I need a little air. I do love that feature.  The thumbhole feature is great too, making it easy to put my gloves on without exposing my wrists to frigid temps.  Carrying extra layers in your pack including extra wool socks is also a good idea.  The little hand-warmer pouches are always in my pack too, although I've never had to use them.

However, the story of Kate Matrosova proves that gear isn't everything when considering winter hiking and neither is physical or even mental conditioning and/or keen determination.  She had ALL of that! Sometimes you just have to know that the mountains rule and realize that there are times they will not be conquered! Sometimes the best decision is just not to hike at all.

What are some items you won't hike without during cold weather?  I know some of you are much more adventurous than I, so what things are your "safety blankets" when planning your wintertime hikes?