Sunfish Pond TR

“Well, 3 out of the 5 people showed up friday night. Scared off by the below zero temps and the snow storm heading our way on saturday. In attendance crazypace (PA), runningbrook (NJ), and gonuts (NY). We met at the Dunnfield parking lot at 7 Pm. It was 8 deg when we started hiking. The sky was crystal clear, we turned off our headlamps after about 10 min. You could see perfectly. That was the first time I ever experienced a night hike with all natural lighting. It was awsome! There was about 3" of snow on the ground with alot of ice underneath. Many blowdowns to go over and around. We got to the backpacker site in good time and decided, since nobody, and I mean nobody was up there or was comming up there, we were gonna camp where ever the hell we wanted. That ended up being right on the edge of Sunfish Pond ! A perfect flat area with an awsome view. We set up camp and made a late dinner. It was 10:30 by the time it was all done. Now the tough part. It was cold, freeeeeken cold. Gonuts & runningbrook bunked up in gonuts 4 season tent with thier 0 deg bags etc.. I had my 3 season tent and my 15deg bag, with alot of xtras to try and keep me warm. like a silk bag liner,2 pair of socks with down booties,
2 layers fleece pants and a fleece layer with my phantom down jacket on top, two polar tech fleece hats. Sound warm ? NOT !!
I wore all that and froze my arse off !! It was down to -10 deg. Lesson learned, If I ever do an insane thing like this again, I will have better gear, as in better bag for sure. Running brook froze too, but gonuts had mountainering gear, lots of it. He could of went for the peak of K2 with the stuff he had. Guy has alot of experience, which I hope to learn more from. He now has this web site address. In case I forgot, both these guys were from the other backpacker site. We woke up at around 7:30am
and had breakfast. Runingbrook had his radio and was getting the weather report to decide if we where gonna push to the next campsite or bail and head back. After much discussion, we decided to bail. Snow and high winds didnt sound to appealing for the 13+ miles we would of had to hike out on sunday. Honestly, I really didnt want another bagnight in that bag anyway. Ofcourse I never brought that up durring the decision making. So we headed back, and got down to the lot around 11. I was home by 12:30. It was snowing like hell. My wife gave me crap about hiking in those conditions. Ah, good to be home !! I took some pics, as did the other guys, will download on monday. Might need some help to do that webshots thing. I see most of you guys post them on there.”

“Nice report and cannot wait to see the pictures.

Webshots is pretty easy. Did you shoot digital?”

“yup. hp camera, but the software is loaded on my work pc.”

“look forward to seeing the pics. that is a really nice area to hike.”

“Now I have a winter pic to compare to my summer pic from the same spot. I will try and post both.
feeling better ? I hear you missed your trip.”

“yeah, I am feeling a whole lot better today, finally.”

“Nice. I'd hate to have been out in the storm we had blow thru here yesterday. I'll be looking forward to the pictures...”

“Nice TR, I was tempted to go on this trip, kinda glad I didn't, I would of froze my a$$ of too.”

“Runningbrook just e-mailed me some pics that I uploaded to the pics page. I'll have more on monday from my camera.”

“Thanks for the TR!”

“I'm thinking about camping somewhere next weekend and Sunfish is one of the spots that I've been considering.”

“What about the hike Pa thing ? If you wanna do something on the AT, let me know. I have to do most everything south of Swatara gap for my yearly goal.”

“Great shots CP, 'Cept Sunfish Pond is in NJ. LOL That's ok.”

“I already did PA this month. I haven't ruled out doing something in PA though. We'll see.”

“Got to get a trip going on the AT. There doesnt seem to be anybody putting one together in PA.”

“lol the last time I think there was a PA AT trail talk trip was Scorchy's Return of the Hawk Mountain Strikes Again Trip last April. That was a fun time. We started at Windsor Furnace and hiked up to Pulpit Rock and then to the Pinnacle and then camped down near Hawk Mountain Road. Pennsy started in Port Clinton and hiked all the way to where we camped, he then backtracked all the way back up to the Pinnacle to find us. He ended up hiking like 50 miles that weekend. The night in camp was a lot of fun, one of the best nights in camp on all of the TT trips I've been on. I'm sure there will be more PA AT trips. You could plan one.”

“I guess when it comes to great trails that PA has to offer, the AT in PA is on the weak end. PA has so many great trails. Trails that blow PA's portion of trail out of water as far as scenery goes. Have you ever been on the Loyalsock Trail? That is an amazing trail.”

“btw, the pics are awesome”

“Think I will. I did Hawk Mt. last year too.
that section has the best views I've seen so far. Mabey do a section, that includes a stop at the Doyle hotel. Have some beers and move on. Or boiling springs. Ohhhhh, now the wheels are turning!! here comes a trip.”

“cool, hope it's a trip I can make.”

“laughing my arse off. Ifn yer gonna go out in tundra like weather, then ya better be prepared.

I like that hike too...been many a year since I was upon that trail. good times...you didn't see my hiking stik topper did you?”

“Nice report and pics. Sunfish Pond looks so different frozen. I think you guys made a wise decision by turning back. A cold night is not a lot of fun, and the prospect of another night in even harsher elements is even less fun. Plus, your Sunday hike would have been real tough without snowshoes in the new snow. Your vehicle on Millbrook Rd would have been buried by snowplows too.”

“More pics just added. Should have even more later today.”