New backpacking post

Winter backpacking trip proved to be more wet than white, took refuge in XC ski warming hut

My friend Dylan and I made a winter backpacking trip Dec. 27-28 and had a blast. We hiked a portion of the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail from the Rt. 31 parking lot north with intentions to reach the turnpike shelters, but we did not make it.  Find out what happened by checking out the story and photos from the trip under the backpacking tab. From flat tires to terrible weather we survived the worst of it.

For winter break I wanted to get out backpacking at least once, regardless of the weather.  Well on Tuesday Dec. 27 my friend Dylan and I trekked our way up to the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail and parked at the Rt. 31 parking area and headed north on the trail following the yellow trail blazes towards the turnpike shelters (7.5 miles).  It rained all day.  From the moment I woke up in Greensburg until the precipitation turned to snow sometime during the night, the rain soaked us to the bone.  Take a look at the conditions before we even set foot on the trail:

                                     

Me (top) and Dylan were decked out in full rain gear for this one.  We had the yellow ponchos on because we could not remember if it was bear season or not and we did not want to take the risk. Temp. was about 39 degrees when we started.

We got a very late start to the day not hitting the trail until a little after 2 p.m.  The main cause for our delay was waking up to rain and debating what to do, and a few stops we had to make on the way up for food and supplies.  The going was not that bad surprisingly considering the mud that was on the trail.  At points we were hiking up streams that formed in the trail.  About 2.5 miles into our hike we come across a warming hut used by cross country skiers.  Since there was no snow on the ground however, the place was empty and well stocked with firewood.  We took a short rest here and continued down the trail bound for the turnpike shelters.  Here is a look of the shelter:

The shelter was complete with a wood burning stove, freshly split wood, two picnic tables and even warming racks.  It was the perfect building to find after a wet, muddy hike.

We get down the trail another mile and a half or so and get the map out to check our progress because it was starting to get dark.  To our astonishment we still had three miles to go!  We had accidentally used the wrong mile marker to check our progress up until this point.  With darkness setting in, we figured our best bet was to hike back to the shelter to spend the night.  The luxuries of the little cabin were also a determining factor because staying in the shelters would have required hours of wood carrying, wood splitting, tarp installing just before we could get a fire started, let alone a much colder night.  We arrived back at the warming hut by headlamp and had a fire going within minutes.  We relaxed the rest of the night as our clothes dried above the wood burning stove and the wind howled outside blowing the door open once and giving both of us a bit of a fright before we realized what had happened.  Take a look at the inside of this shelter:

You can see why we decided to stay in here compared to the shelters.  It made for a much more peaceful and warm night.

We awoke to find about an inch and a half of snow on the ground coupled with the sun peaking in through the tops of the trees.  It made for a very pleasant hike out on the now frozen muddy ground.  All in all we had a fantastic trip and as Dylan exclaimed later it was "just what I needed," despite getting a flat tire on the way back (pictures below), but I couldn't have agreed more. We saw no one else during out two day trip, however there was another car in the parking lot when we got back, so kudos to the other person out there on Dec. 28. Nothing like a walk in the woods to clear one's mind and view life with a bit more optimism.  Check out some more photos from the trip:

We found a lot of tracks on our hike out in the snow.  We think this one was a fairly large deer that had jumped the trail.  On the way in we saw what looked like bear tracks in the mud, but the tracks were not that fresh and it was hard to tell.

This is what the lean-to's look like.  As you can see they are much smaller than the warming hut we found, and they are open on the two ends.  This is a picture of the shelters at Rt. 31 that we passed on our way out and in.

As you can tell on the way out the scenery was much more inviting and beautiful.

Halfway home, Dylan hears a rumbling noise over the music as we are passing through Norvelt. Turns out my front right tire was the culprit and we had to change it in decently cold temperatures on gravel.  Oh well, just a bit of bad luck, but a funny and interesting way to end out trek out into the wild.