Sunny 46

At first, I'd just planned on doing a First Hike with Quinn. I toyed with the idea of hiking Cat Mt. with the ADK Glens Falls Chapter, but I wondered about Quinn's pace and figured we'd end up hiking alone anyways. Instead, we met with our friend, Dan, at the Rotary scout camp. We hiked the Red trail loop (about 4 miles), then took a tour of the rest of the facilities. It was a brisk day at about 15F and windy, but it was still a great walk in the woods. The day was made even better thanks to the refreshments made available by the scouts after the hike.

Still, I was craving a grownup hike. Jay was on vacation up North with his family and one of those days the kids would be skiing and he'd be hiking, so he invited me up for a hike. After coordinating with Grandma & Grandpa for Quinn to have a fun sleepover, I fucked off from work and agreed to a hike up Jay Mt. If you recall from our hike earlier this year, I'd been wondering how awesome this hike would be in the Winter, so I jumped at the chance to find out first-hand. 

We arrived at the trailhead promptly at 8am and took our time getting ready. Jay is normally patient with my long preparations, and I appreciate that. In the Winter especially, I want to make sure I don't forget a single thing. For the record, my winter gear currently includes: 

• medium sized Osprey that Jay gave me years ago
• Mountainsmith fanny pack
• my usual "Essentials Ziploc" which has most of the usual stuff you bring but only use when you absolutely need to
  • fire starting kit
  • medkit
  • zip ties
  • hot hands
  • boot laces
  • emergency bivvy
  • backup charging cord
• clothing
  • ski mittens
  • 2 pairs of gloves
  • full-head hat
  • backup hatpuffy
  • windbreaker
  • REI gaiters Wendy got me for Christmas
  • Base layer top & bottom
  • Simple hiking pants and shirt
• ingestibles
  • nalgene full of hot water and thermos filled with very hot water
  • snacks
  • sammich
  • IPA
• hot hands
• tylenol
• headlamp & batteries
• charging brick & cord
• notepad and pencil
• do-rags (mainly for cleaning glasses)
• sunglasses
• extra socks in Ziploc
• hot hands
• microspikes (full pair plus a backup single, all freshly-sharpened)
• snowshoes
• poop kit

Sunny's gear includes

• Ruffwear Front Range Day Pack
• Ruffwear 7.3-11' Roamer bungee leash
• Ruffwear Quencher packable bowl
• Musher's Secret
• extra short leash
• poop bags
• aluminum trowel (mostly useless in winter)
• big Ziploc (empty)
• Fido Pro Airlift rescue harness

Sunny was quite impatient with me at first, but I wanted to make absolutely sure I applied the Musher's Secret generously on his paws today. Temps at the trailhead were zero degrees Fahrenheit and it would only get slightly warmer as the day progressed (and probably stay the same on the ridge, actually). I'd had to bail on a hike a few weeks ago because I had forgotten to order the Musher's Secret and I didn't want to repeat that today if I didn't have to. Obviously, I was still prepared to abort if necessary.

For my part, I still started the hike without the puffy on. I knew that, even at temps well below freezing, I'd still be sweating with that thing on. I did don my mittens rather than regular gloves, however, and slid a pair of hot hands in my pants pockets.

We were absolutely dubious about snowshoes from the get-go. We'd had icy, packed conditions the past two hikes and judging by the conditions down below, we figured we'd have the same all day. Still, the High Peaks were all covered in deep snow and we had no reason to believe the top of Jay wouldn't have a decent amount on it, so we strapped on our snowshoes.

I didn't even bother holding Sunny's leash from the get-go. I wanted him to be as warm and happy as possible for the entire hike. Hunting season was all but over and there was nobody else on the trail yet, so the risk/reward leaned heavily on letting him do whatever he wanted. Sunny was a blur for most of the hike up the mountain.

The ascent is fairly gentle over the first ridge, then down into a little valley. Jay caught this shot of Sunny and me hiking up over that first hill.

As we reported in our last adventure up Jay, the climb from the trailhead to the top of the ridge features loads of switchbacks. I may have made some inappropriate jokes that implied this was like hiking with training wheels on.

However, due to the switchbacks, I did have to recall Sunny a lot on this adventure. Normally when he ranges ahead chasing ghosts and chipmunks on the lower elevations, I can feel reasonably certain he'll cross our path eventually. However, when we came to each bend in the switchback, I had to recall him so that he'd continue back on the trail going the opposite direction. 

Korra and Zuko are built for this. They were literally in their element. Zuko made sure to go around a different tree from Korra every once in a while just to keep Jay on his toes.

We made quick work of the hike into the woods over the first rise. As I pointed out in our adventure up Catamount, the Winter-time is particularly obnoxious because you can see how far away the mountain is through the bare trees. This must be what it's like hiking out West.

We took a few short breaks climbing up the numerous switchbacks up the main ascent, but we chewed up ground quickly. Once again, I forgot snacks for Sunny and Jay provided. I really need to do a better job of keeping his dehydrated chicken at top of mind. 

Sunny still had a great amount of energy as we approached the first lookout. The sun smiled down on us as we tromped through an open deciduous shoulder of the mountain. The trail continued to be either ice or packed snow. Sunny, Jay, and I were all developing excellent ice beards at this point.

We arrived at the junction between the first lookout and the ridge at 10:00am on the button. 2.2 miles and 2000' of elevation gain in an hour and a half over icy trails is pretty good in my opinion. Jay checked out the overlook real quick while I took a break and grumbled about how my phone had missed tracking several hundred feet of elevation.

On the ridge, we found the conditions to be about what we'd expected. We kept our microspikes on for the remainder of the hike.  The wind had been blowing most of the cold, dusty snow from the bare rock and the paths through the undergrowth were well-packed. There was very little wind now, however, and the sun was shining. A such, although the air temperature was 5F, it was still an incredible morning for a Winter ridge walk.

The slabs were not nearly as icy as they'd been on Catamount. We stopped to take in the views many times along the way. Distant Whiteface remained shrouded in clouds and/or snow squalls for some time.

As usual, once we were above tree line, Sunny was all business sticking to the trail and sniffing out the path. He did a better job than me half the time, honestly. We were following some old boot tracks, but they were fleeting.

The sunshine glistened off of everything, especially all the ice-encrusted foliage. I believe this spot is what an old map I have calls "Grassy Notch". I think it's around here where the old trail used to come up from the original trailhead. I'd need to look at a more detailed map to be sure.

From the next peak on the ridge, we were rewarded with the usual expansive views to the North and South. The next peak loomed in the distance.

We couldn't have asked for a better morning. The Huskies were loving it. Jay had his goggles on and I would soon don my own sunglasses.

Sunny was still in pretty good shape. He wasn't favoring any of his paws and I'd only had to remove a few very minor snowballs, all of them external. The Musher's Secret seemed to be doing a great job between his toes.

We found deeper drifts of snow in the col between the 2nd peak and the big third peak. I was extremely thankful for the REI gaiters Wendy had bought me for Christmas; we had to pick our way around a bit to find the correct path up in some places. Still, it was only about 20 yards of drifts and absolutely not worth dicking around with snowshoes. Sunny did a great job finding the best way most of the time, but there were still a couple of places that were perplexing even for him. 

The rough rock on the approach to the 3rd summit had great grip to it, but I found myself walking on the ice instead where it was available to save my freshly-sharpened microspikes. Despite the difficulty reaching the summit, it was impossible to be too frustrated with all of these incredible views. As we climbed, the wind slowly started picking up, but it wasn't too bothersome.

We achieved the 3rd summit at just past 11:30. It had taken us about an hour to make it here from the junction. The wind had really picked up, but the day was still clear. This third peak reaches an elevation of just over 3500'. The 4th summit beyond is 3599', but we were quite done for today. The views would honestly not get much better and we were satisfied with the day we'd had.  

We descended back down into the col, sat on our packs, and had lunch. Jay shared some hot chocolate he'd brought in a thermos which I accepted with gratitude. I shared my sammy with Sunny as usual (and enjoyed my IPA) while Korra and Zuko watched on with rapt attention. I took the time to pull a few small snowballs from between Sunny's toes and re-apply the Musher's Secret. 

Even down in the col with very little wind, the time spent either bare-handed or in light gloves caused my fingers to burn with early frostbite. After packing up, I immediately put the hot hands into my mittens and stuffed my hands in them. Also while sitting, my feet started to get chilly. Once we got walking again, it only took 10 minutes for them to warm back up again. I think the boots are good, but when it comes to sitting around, I think it would be better if I had a hard synthetic outer layer. 

I've also seen hikers slip puffy-style booties on their feet during breaks in the Winter. I'd love to get a pair of these, but it would also mean taking my microspikes off which I do not relish. Ostensibly, we should be wearing snowshoes most of the time rather than spikes, but these lowpeaks have been weird so far this year.

We flew down the 3rd peak fairly easily now that we knew the proper route. We were actually surprised to come across a single group of folks as we crested the 2nd peak. We gave them some advice on the way forward and exchanged pleasantries before going our separate ways.

Jay noticed that the day was starting to grow dim with slate-gray clouds. Some weather was coming in. We were happy that we'd started at the time we did; I think we genuinely had the best conditions of the day.

We arrived at the ridge junction before 1:30 where it was a balmy 10F. We danced down the mountain made it to the car by about 2:30. I'm not completely sure on the time because my phone had died a mile before we reached the trailhead. It seems I really need to keep better attention to my phone in the winter; the Pixel seems to react to the cold in ways that the Samsung, at least to some degree, didn't.

So, another awesome day in the woods and on the mountains in the books. I was glad to return to Jay Mt. and it absolutely won't be the last. I do still plan on wrapping up our 6er and 9er this winter, but I also know I want to have a go at some High Peaks. 

Constant readers will know I've been dubious about Sunny on the High Peaks in the winter. After today's hike, I feel confident he can, at least this year, handle up to 8 miles in temperatures ranging from 0F to 15F as long as I'm cognizant of his paw treatments. I'm sure that his high-energy hiking breakfast also helped today and that's something I'll absolutely continue to do. If we do bring Sunny on any High Peaks this year, I'll also bring a packet of his food on the hike and mix it with the hot water from my thermos. This will be in addition to sharing my sammich, of course.