Winter camp report

“Friend and I did a ski/winter camp in the Pemmigewasset Wilderness of NH Friday and Saturday.

First, the words of caution. If you use/manufacture a gear sled, spend plenty of time experimenting with it. Ran into significant balance/tipping issues that prevented us from accomplishing our plan.

That said, we got underway 9:30am Friday morning off of RT 302 up the Zealand road . The Zealand Road is unmaintained in winter and had two great tracks running up it, one for snowshoers and barebooters and one for skiers. Right out of the parking area is a long slog up a fairly good incline. Found out in a hurry that a child's plastic sled/tobbogan loaded with 50lbs of gear creates quite a drag on a fanny pack. Pretty soon the pack was hanging below my fanny and my windpants were being dragged down. Lots of periodic readjustments throughout the day for this phenomena.

Question to AmyG (if you are reading this) . . .do your pants fall down when you are dragging your gear sled. . .

Follow up question to AmyG: Wanna go winter camping??? ;-}

Now back to our story. We did fairly well to the end of the unmaintained trail, passing by several groups headed to the AMC maintained Zealand Falls hut. All were impressed with our sleds and skiing prowess (cue ominous foreshadowy music here).

After 3.5 miles the road ends and the trail begins. .25 mile on a old old rail grade (logging 1900, then .5 miles on a regular hilly, twisty mountain trail (not dramatic incline, just not smooth). This is where the wheels came off. My friend's backpack was top heavy in the long narrow sled. It rolled often. We spent 2 1/2 hours on this .5 mile section. It sucked. We finally repacked his stuff. I took the tent, and all his water (I already had all the food, stove, cookware etc). We got back underway and made better time, but in the interim had been passed by everyone we had previously "blown by".

Finally got to the Hut turn off and height of land at 4:15. Flat easy grade skiing as far as we could see ahead. (oh, by this time I had been dragged backwards into a gully by my sled and have a gash behind my left ear).

We start off on the Ethan Pond trail and . . .the trail follows the conture line right across the slope of a hill. The trail is canted downhill. The sleds won't (can't) hold the trail. They roll and roll and roll. I take a bungee cord shot right to the face at 4:30pm opening a small gash in my cheek. Game over. We stop for the night well short of goal (Shoal Pond, 3 miles further on)”

“PArt II

We snowshoe off the trail (4-5 feet deep). My friend starts to dig a pit for the tent. I start to boil water to melt snow to restock our water supply. We alternate shoveling, but he clearly does the bulk of it. The pit is 4 feet deep, 6 feet wide and 8 feet long. We set up the tent in a mini-blizzard (snow jsut DUMPED, covered everything in 15 minutes). Then set up and official kitchen area and boiled water for cocoa and Mountain House meals. Finished dinner, clean up around 8:30. IN tent at 8:40. Two sleeping bags, a closed cell pad and a therma rest for each of us. Very comfortable, even too warm. It was about 0 degrees and very windy. We were well protected down in our hole. Got up at 7:00, 5 degrees. Cold. Oatmeal, cocoa, coffee for breakfast. On trail at 9:45. retraced our steps back to the car. The ski out was amazing. Cold and windy, but sunny, 5 inches fresh powder. Better weight distribution in sleds. What took us 6.5 hours coming in, only took us 2.5 hours going out. Nice downhills with the sleds careening around behind us.

Had to jump in the car and dive down to the Kancamangus highway, Pemmigewaset Wilderness trailhead where my parents were skiing in to meet us (ostensibly on our way out of the woods). Thankfully they had finished their ski and were in the car waiting. Not heading further up the trail looking for us. Mom even had some choco. chip cookies.

The end.

Moral: Shorter, wider, more stable sled, with RIDGID, not thin flexible, PVC pipes.”

“I should add that the scenery was beautiful. The hike into the Zealnd area has always been a family favorite. It was all logged out in the early 1900s, but has since regrown. The logs were carted by rail. So the trail follows the rail grade along river, past beaver pond, beautiful stands of birches etc. With all of the snow it was a lot of fun just to be in there, notwithstanding having not accomplished our goal.”

“For my BSA Klondike we use a wooden sled, that one pushes and 5 pull it. It is very heavy but I just wanted to tell you that so you know where my ideas are coming from.

Make sure that the rungs (skis) are wide so you don?t sink in the snow.

Make sure that the sled is wide and high so that you don?t bump into every rock on the trail, and your sled will pass right over them (or most).


PS, ?do your pants fall down when you are dragging your gear sled?, Lee make sure to practice safe sledding.”

“Sounds like you had a decent trip despite some troubles. if nothing else, it is a learning experience. Thanks for sharing your report. If you have any pictures, please share them, I love pictures.”

“Sorry for being rude, great trip report.”

“To answer your question about AmyG's pants...NO!”

“Good to hear you had such a good trip, and I agree: Please include pictures!

Sad to hear about AmyG's pants, though.”

“Sounds like you need a "outrigger" on your sled.”

“Don't ya just love to suffer during a trip! Makes it much more memorable.
Great report.
But seriously, I hope your gashes weren't too bad.
And, LOL about asking about Amy's pants being pulled down. Very Funny!!!!!”

“Great report. Sounds like fun. As I heard someone else say, "Even misadventure is adventure." Thanks for sharing. :o)”

“suffer?!?!?!?

damn, i'm gonna have to WORK to make you enjoy cumberland isle!”

“I'm gonna wrestle a gator on Cumberland Island. Even if I have to kick him in the nuts to get him in the mood. I'm gonna have a real adventure someday. Backpacking, Rock climbing, caving, etc. That ain't adventure. It's just R&R.”

“ahem
Buddur, is that why you insisted on letting me lead? ;o)

Wow, Lee, sounds like quite the adventure! Sorry to hear that the gear sled wasn't everything you had hoped it would be...
I wouldn't dare try to haul mine whilest ski-clad, because I don't feel that confident in my limited experience there...

My sled worked very well for me, but I was very stable in either snowshoes or spike-boots, while hauling. I think the stability factor is all in the way you pack the thing-
mine had wayyy more than 50 pounds(20 pounds of firewood plus the pack)in it and was fine. I think practice makes perfect here too...going around some hard turns and over streams, etc. took some maneuvering(like a sudden pull to straighten the sled out quickly at times). You probably don't have that kind of flex with skis.

My traces are 1/2 inch PVC pipe...pretty rigid. I opted for the heavier type, so I wouldn't get plowed over on the downgrades(mostly successful). On some of the steep grades, I unsnapped the sled from my belt and hooked back the traces...then just let her fly! LOL
It worked well, really...no balance upset, even.

Buddur wanted to ride the sled down Slide Mt...crazy fooh! =:0

How long is yours? Maybe it's too big for easy handlin'...
>;oP”

“Have pictures still in the disposable camera. My friend very kindly took one of me w/my butt hung over a birch log. I will have to get them developed somewhere anyonmous, not my usual photo store.

AmyG --

Mine is long enough to cause my pants to fall down.

Walkingdude -

Gashes not bad, mostly a bruise on my cheek bone and it is still tender behind my ear. Yes, a certain amount of suffering was involved. It was fun.”

“heh heh, she said "How long is yours?" heh heh”

“"how long is yours" and "pants fall down" should not be in the same thread”

“I bought a great sled last year. It is made for carrying hunting/ice fishing gear. It was available in either blase orange or camo. It is much sturdier and alittle larger than a kids sled. It also has tie-downs all around the perimeter. I recently took it 'packing and found it rather stable and easy to pull.

I bought it at Fleet Farm (kinda like Home Depot but also sells outdoor gear and farm stuff)in Wisconsin - it was about $20.”

“Great trip report Lee and funny too! Sorry to hear about your mishaps but they tend to be a part of real great trips.
Thanks for sharing with us!”