Panther Mountain, NY Trip Report

“This trip was full-on buttkicker, and a blast. However, the conditions were really rough, so we cut it a day short. However, we did complete the full route...

Anyway, I got out of work earlier on Friday than I thought I would and traffic was light, so I made it to the trailhead early. Temperatures were already darn cold, about 10 degrees then, and would drop to 5 degrees that night. I took a nap in my car while waiting for Corporal Nasty, Twinkle Toes, and WarrenNYC to arrive. About an hour later they did, and after shuttling some cars, we were off, and iked in about half a mile to the lean-to. We all stayed up until about midnight, chit-chatting and goofing off then hit the hay.

My new sleeping bag, a North Face Ultralight 0 degree bag, performed very well. The zippers are really hard to snag, so that's a big bonus. ;-) I was a bit chilly, but had I put a hot water in my bag I would have been fine.

Anyway, we woke up the next morning and Pennsy Hiker and MSilver and his wonderdog Sparky arrived, and we were off. Well, excpet for Twinkle Toes and Corporal Nasty who BAILED!!! Okay, in all fairness, Corporal Nasty was going to leave that morning anyway, so it was really just our fearless trip leader, Twinkle Toes, who bailed because it was "too cold." :-)

So we trudged on, making the long, steady and steep climb up Panther. The first few miles were very manageable; wide open trails, little blowdowns or iced-down trees/brush, ect..

Man, how that would soon change.

After climbing up to the first of three false summits, the trail was unbroken. There was probably a good reason for that, since the blowdowns, iced-down trees, and brush were dense. Very dense. And blocked the trail every 10-20 feet. Making things worse, those conditions made it nearly impossible to find the trail markers. We were probably off trail for more than half the trek between the first false summit and the peak of Panther (perhaps two miles, though it felt like 20).

It was insane. Progress was very slow, and morale was sinking fast. Still, I knew I'd look back fondly on this trip, these are the kind of adventures that you remember, and though you may feel miserable, in actuality you are having a lot of fun, though you may not show it. At least that's my take on it.

Anyway, to add to the misery factor, WarrenNYC's water bottle/bladder leaked inside his bag, soaking his jacket and some other gear. Felt bad for him, since the high temperature didn't get above 20 degrees the entire day, but he had enough other layers and his jacket eventually dried out pretty reasonably and fast, if I remember right.

Darkness was approaching quickly and we were finally close to the summit of Panther. We began kicking around the idea that it might be a good idea to night-hike the entire route and get to our cars, rather than camping out that night. This was MSilver's plan anyway, so the rest of us decided to join him.

Finally, we reached the top!!! And better yet, the trail was now broken for the rest of the route and easy to follow! Elated, we all hiked pretty quickly the remaining four miles. We all took off our snowshoes, except for Pennsy Hiker, and opted for crampons or just bare boots instead, since the trail was nicely broken in and the snow was packed down really good.

Finally we reached the end of the trail a little after 8pm, if I remember right. We had hiked for 10 hours, with half of it being those time-consuming, insane bushwhacking conditions, and we were exhausted, and we all went our seperate ways home. It was a great time, and an awesome work out. I'm one soar mo-fo.

Big thanks to WarrenNYC who gave me a practically brand new pair of Vasque hiking boots that will be perfect for when the weather starts to warm up, that was very cool of you.

I'll post my pictures in a bit. I didn't take as many this trip as I usually do, but there are some good ones.”

“Check'em out. The pics taken from the top of Panther Mountain while the sun was setting came out great.

Panther Mountain Pics”

“Whoops. Not sure if had the right URL in that last link..

Try this link instead”

“Very nice, Artex. That's about what UK and I saw on top of Saddleback Mtn yesterday. You know that is part of the AT....BTW we were skiing(but of course) :)”

“How is the first picture of twinkle toes when she wasn't there

the mystery starts.........................”

“Do you need new glasses, Sirpete? Read again, she was there for Friday night, but bailed the next day. :-P”

“Those are some very nice pics, especially the sunset. I love the textures that come out.”

“Glad I left early! Nice trip report and pictures Artex.

Here's my trip report....

After freezing my butt off Friday night and getting the total of one hour of sleep - I crawled out of bed totally pissed off at winter - quickly made oatmeal and hot chocolate to help defrost Corp' - who had woken up with frozen feet, hands, and face - debated for the total of a minute as to whether to continue or not - then bailed - sorry guys - Friday sucked more than the frozen toes incident at Harriman!

Corp and I headed out to day-hike up Giant Ledge - got lost two times before coming across another lost day-hiker who was trying to find his way to Slide - he followed us in the car over to Slide - Corp and I hiked half-way up Giant Ledge and then decided to bail out on that plan too! We were both so tired that Corp' actually fell asleep at the wheel of the car for a second on the way home - yikes! - needless to say - I took over the driving until we could get some food and coffee.

The only highlights of this weekend were a sleeping bag experiment (just think double-stuffed human twinkie for the bears) and a new butt-sliding game to add to the Winter Trail Olympics!

It was cold.

Half the fun of bp'ing is the challenge but there are times when bp'ing just kicks your butt so hard that you finally just say "to hell with it"!

I learned that bp'ing in winter when the temperature is below 20 is not fun - and that I will not, intentionally, go bp'ing when the temperatures are below 10 degrees.

I think that I'm only game for some dayhikes and skiing for the rest of this winter - whohaaaa!!!!

It was nice to see Artex, Pennsy, and Warrennyc again and a pleasure to meet MSilver and his doggy, Sparky - see ya on future hikes!”

“oh”

“Great trip report and pics Artex!

Hey Twinky - don't feel bad about getting lost. Artex parked at the Slide parking area instead of the Giant Ledge parking area. That would have added 2+ miles to the hike if M_Silver hadn't parked at Giant Slide. The sad thing is that Artex Park-tex knew the areas.

It was a darn good trip even if we didn't camp Saturday night. I might disagree with Artex about the sinking morale. Sure, it was extremely difficult fighting the trail and the conditions, but there was always laughter (well, at least I was laughing).

I thought the Catskills hike 2 weeks was difficult, but I'd have to say this was harder. The funny thing is that in the first miles, I was commenting how RichB should have came on this trip instead of the one 2 weeks ago. It was great; well broken trail, wide open forest with no blow downs or drooping brances.

After the hike my shoulders were sore. I've done longer hikes with heavier loads without any shoulder soreness, but all the bending and literally crawling to get under branches took it's toll.

Quite an adventure guys. When is Spring? ;o)

Here are my Panther Mt pics”

“cool shots guys. yeah Artex, I guess I was reading but missed that whole first paragraph.

New glasses Tomorrow!

See ya's this weekend”

“They all bailed out! ...brought their full winter backpacks only to impress each other, filled with down bootie-shmooties, goofy-looking tents, useless ice axes, sven saws, leaky water bottles, some kind of stupid thermometer with rectal probes, fancy-shmancy sleeping bags with no-snag zippers (I guess you couldn't use THAT excuse again, eh Artex?!) And what's with that red head girl... "I'm cold, I wanna go home ...Waaaaaaaa!" And what's this mumbo-jumbo above from Zipperman "though you may feel miserable, in actuality you are having a lot of fun"... Man! talk about putting a spin on what amounts to "Waaaaaaaaa! I wanna go home and play video games!" ...but what else would you expect from some dolt who can't even tell the difference between the Slide Mtn parking lot and the Giant Ledge parking lot?! ...and then says, "Oh I just wasn't thinking" ...What a dork. Geeez! ...at least I had the honesty to admit that it was gonna be a dayhike right from the start. Some people! Pffft!

Hey youans I'm only kidding, okay?! Despite some serious butt-kicking, it was still fun and I'm glad I came. Even as we were slipping up along the steeps, plowing through the ice-coated trees, breaking through the spruce traps, and crawling under the overhangs up there on Panther (sure glad I had only a day pack!), I was thinking along the lines of Artex's comments above... that these are the times I will surely have the fondest memories of. I'll especially remember the song of jingling ice-coated branches as we'd plow through them; the sense of relief at finding the trail over and over again (then losing it again and again!); the exhiliartation of owning the sublime winter views from the summit's vistas; the eerie sight of the lights from your headlamps floating through the woods ahead of me after dark; the laughter and joking despite the trail's challenges; and just the sense of joy at being fortunate enough to enjoy God's creation from such a unique perspective.

Twinkletoes, I'm the same way when it comes to sub-freezing backpacking trips ...I love them, but my body doesn't, and I finally had to reluctantly admit that the only way I can enjoy my passion for the trail during winter is via dayhiking only and car-camping trips.

It was so nice to hike with old friends (Artex, Pennsy) as well as to make new acquaintances... Twinkle Toes and warren, once again, it was a pleasure to meet both of you. I hope and expect - and would be honored - to see all of you on the trail again.

Hope this works... Here are my pictures...
”

“Okay I'm a total idiot. Just try this...
http://community.webshots.com/album/63171184tFqihj”

“Oh yeah... I almost forgot... Corporal Nasty! Nice to see you again too! :-)

Too bad you and Twinkie didn't get to Giant Ledge ...the views were great! ...too bad we didn't get to see 'em either ...got there well after dark. :-(”

“Good shots.

"Zipper Man" Thats a great name.”

“Artex, Pennsy... Great pictures! Thanks!

I vote for both of you as "Catskill Mountains Photographer of the Year." BTW, I hear that NY State DEC wants to hire a couple of good photographers to bushwack up Panther Mtn next weekend from the east or west slopes ...interested? ;-)”

“Nice pics fella's, and a great trip report. I hope we can get some views like that next weekend. Ar you coming MSilver? It would be an honor to meet you.”

“Great pics Pennsy Hiker and Msilver.

Man, I'm still soar. :-)”

“sore (Spell Check is complete)
;-)

Buddha Bear... Thanks for your kind words. It would be nice to meet you too. But lemme answer your question this way...

Forecast from Saranac Lake, NY...
Friday: Low 25 below to 35 below and high 5 to 10 above.
Saturday: Low 5 below to 10 below and high in the upper teens.
Sunday: Low 15 below to 20 below and high in the upper teens.

Any other questions? :-)”

“It will be warm by the fire!”

“Great Pictures and Trip Reports!

Everybody must have sore butts after all the butt-kick'n trips this winter!”

“Great pics Mister M. Looking at the pic where I was stuck, I'm trying to imagine how I got out. I really enjoyed the captions with the pics, but I especially enjoyed the first paragraph of your trip report. ;o)

Thanks for fixing Artex's spelling errors. Soar?? However, in his defense, he has been talking to Ice Tea a lot lately.”

“HAHAHAH”

“Dang muscle relaxers!”

“Hey Spelltex - did you have a previous job with the NYS DEC?”

“Looks and sounds like another butt kicker hike. I wasn't sure I was going to like the trail conditions so I went cross country skiing and snowshoeing in PA. instead. I was hoping to hear a field report about the new Akto.”

“You'll get one for sure next week Rich.”

“M Silver, Artex, thanks for the trip reports. Enjoyed the photos too. 8)

Twinkle Toes / Corp., - Winter backpacking can be an acquired taste. It seem's there's winter backpacking, and then there's backpacking in Winter. If you know what I mean. That's pretty cold and there's no sense in having a rougher go of it than necessary. And that may not be what you're out there for. Sometimes it's best to jump ship and then get back out there again, if or when you're up for it. So, congratulations on your learning experience. In time, you'll have considerable experience and your growth will serve as an inspiration.

Cheers!”

“Pennsy- Again, I especially appreciated your pics. You've got a great sense of composition.”

“Wow, great pictures, folks! It looked like an incredible place up there. My hat's off to you guys. I don't think I would have stood a chance on something like this, but you have some great memories in those photos, I see. Looking forward to spring myself. Hoping the foot is ok and I can get out there with you guys.”

“tekdude - considering your outstanding website and photos, I'm especially flattered by your compliment. :o)”

“Man, my *%!$#@ browser ate my damn log-on cookie and now it seems to have spit it back up. Anyway...

It was a great trip, especially considering the early out and that my muscles didn't complain much after Sunday. Still, I wish I had a day pack for it instead of the snag monster I dragged over, under, through, around and between about every form doubled over, iced over, snow packed vegetation imaginable.I'm proud to say upon arriving home everything in my pack was damp or wet from the great dragging, except my sleeping bag. Tip of the hat to TT for the choice of route.

Artex, Pennsey I had said I might drop by rock pond this coming weekend...after talking with Brad we are not going to Pharaoh this coming weekend. He's going to save money and I'm going to buy a computer instead of yet another sleeping bag. We will be heading to the Catskills for a night or two (and 20 extra degrees) instead, likely to a trailess peak or the Escarpement. We'll be base camping it this time.

If either of you wanna play sometime in March in the High Peaks and actually have a use for the ice axes.....

And Artex, thanks so much for the ride.”

“Great stories and pictures. I grew up in upstate NY, so I love to see pictures of home.

It is true - you always remember the difficult trips with a smile.”

“wow, I finally got to reading this and seeing the pics! Awesome...you guys are gluttons for punishment! ;)

I guess you're all set for FYAO this weekend.

Holy chit, this weekend!!! Whoohooooo!!

>:D”

“but your're still all dorks”

“Just trying to do the hyperlink thingie again...
Panther - Giant Legde Pix”

“Whew doggie!
It worked.”