Pigeon Lake Wilderness, New York

[Ordinaryguy]

Plan A:
Day 1 - Start at Big Moose Lake, pulling my pulk along the West Mountain trail, to somewhere near Pigeon Lake and camp over night.
Day 2 – Bushwhack, again with pulk in tow, north to the trail that goes to Lower Sister Lake. Sleep in the lean-to there (which some of my brethren tell is possibly in the nicest location in the ADK's)
Day 3 – Return to Pigeon Lake area and camp overnight.
Day 4 – Hike the rest of the way back to the car and drive home.

With the full realization that Plan A is VERY aggressive, Plan B was a fall-back position.

Plan B:
Day 1 – Go as far as I could on Day 1 and camp overnight there, where ever that ended up being.
Day 2 – Continue to Pigeon Lake.
Day 3 – Head back, again camping off trail somewhere that night.
Day 4 – Hike the rest of the way back to the car.


None of those other sketchy characters that I normally camp with could take the same time off to accompany me on this adventure that I had available to me. The company I work for has a use-it-or-lose it policy with regard to unused vacation days, and I had a few that I wasn't going to just throw away. Did the same thing last year, too, and did a solo winter trip then, just as with this year. No matter, if it's a solo trip again, well, that's just what it'll have to be. No complaints about my snoring this way.

Other than the first half mile or so, I had no first hand knowledge of the West Mountain Trail. Nor did I have any good/recent intel on the snow depth in the Big Moose area. All I knew I gained from scouring old trip reports (none in the winter, of course), the NOAA Snow Depth Map, and the weathercam that Big Moose Inn makes available on their website. That's not really much to go on, but I was rolling the dice with it regardless.

Driving up Big Moose Road, it looked like fair snow coverage in the woods. The snow pile along the edges of the road weren't that large, indicating they hadn't had a ton of snow. Still, the woods looked “smooth” on the ground, the dead fall was all covered, the bowling ball rocks didn't seem to be protruding upwards. Sure looks “pulkable” to me.

Solo camping in the winter, especially for multiple days, generally means packing a decent amount of gear. Enough clothes to change a few times as a dictated by sweat and creek crossings, two of everything really important like saws and stove fuel, and extra food on the outside chance that 4 days unexpected turned into a few more. Who knows what I might have to get myself out of? Anyhow, all this gear gets to be pretty weighty.

As “smooth” as the woods looked from the car while driving up Big Moose Road, the reality is that there was really 8 inches of nearly weightless fluff on top 3 or 4 inches of base. Wow, was it hard going in that. Every dead fall, brought me to a dead stop when the front of the pulk hit it, the pulk ground its way over every big rock. This was a battle more than a hike. ( At the end of the trip I actually found a spot worn through the bottom of the pulk from being dragged over all the rough stuff!)

After just over 4 hours of hiking, I'd managed to cover something around two and half miles. I was soaked to the bone from sweat, my glutes were crying, and the will to move one more foot forward evaporated. This, this exact spot (well, not right on the trail) was camp, at least for today. I found a reasonable, somewhat flat, spot off in the woods a little ways and called it home.

After a change of clothes, a warm dinner of Rice and Beans mix with a cut up Andouille sausage tossed in, a cold beer, the map came out. It was time to reconsider what was possible. Today's progress had me going roughly a half mile per hour. Pigeon Lake was approximately 5 more miles from where I was. The simple math, at today's rate, said it would probably take every minute of daylight to get there. And there was the almost overlooked fact that I'd have to do it all in reverse to get back. No F'ing way kids, this is the end of forward progress, right here.

It was a few minutes before 11am when I finally woke up the next morning. Guess I was more tired than I thought. Today would not be a crazy, pulk pulling, trail wrestling day. Today would be all about firewood. And so it was. A large pile was gathered from all the fallen spruce in the area. When spruce fall, the branches that were once horizontal on the living tree, now stand upright, protected from the rotting moisture on the ground. They're also pretty easy to saw through. Unfortunately, they also burn really fast, so a lot has to gathered up. Luckily, this area is littered beyond belief with fallen spruce.

And it was a grand fire... And there was beer.

The following morning, over my 2nd cup of coffee, I got to thinking, “What the heck, I can gather firewood all day today again, or fight the trail and head home a day early. Besides, if I get home in time, I'll be able to catch me daughter's concert at school tonight.” Easy decision, and yes the concert was good.

No, I didn't complete Plan A. Plan B, the fall-back plan, also eluded me. Plan C, the unplanned plan, turned out to be the winner. I still got to get out camping, had a great campfire, and spent a few days away from “it all.” That's success by any measure.


Ordin

[adventure_dog]

Sounds like a winner to me, despite the setbacks.

I didn't catch how you were travelling: ski, snowshoe, or boot? Did you happen to take any photos?

[Ordinaryguy]

Originally Posted by adventure_dog

Sounds like a winner to me, despite the setbacks.

I didn't catch how you were travelling: ski, snowshoe, or boot? Did you happen to take any photos?

Travel method originally intended? Snowshoe
Travel method most effective based on snow depth? Boot.

On solo trips, taking pictures isn't usually something I even give a lot of thought to. However, I did manage a couple.

At the end of day 1, I wanted to see if I looked like how I felt after arguing with that trail for 4 hours... I did.



... And there was fire!



Home among the Adirondack spruce.



It's not a big hill, and this picture doesn't do a great job of capturing it, but all the trees were coated in ice. Mother Nature has a way of creating things that are just so beautiful they cannot be captured by any other means than actually being there.



Ordin

[russb]

Hopefully I will be able to join you on the next go-round. It will cut the firewood collecting in half.

dT

[Ordinaryguy]

Originally Posted by russb

Hopefully I will be able to join you on the next go-round. It will cut the firewood collecting in half.

dT

... Or we can just have a fire twice as big! You know me, I like fires big enough to show up on Google Maps.

Before this winter is over, D'Tape, we'll just have to make time to camp together again.

Sorry our paths couldn't cross this time.


Ordin

[tonto]

You got it right.
It's not about the miles...It's about being there!
I've only been in the ADK once and it was great.
I'd like to do it again...if you pack in all the beer!!!
A great report, thanks!

[Questtrek]

Nice report ... Love that Fire! ... Thanks for posting.

[PBF Support]