Shivers in the Night

[maxNcathy]

Have you ever spent a cold miserable night on the AT? I would like to hear your story if You have.

P.S. This is something I want most to avoid as I hike north March 19th.

Thanks,
Sandalwood

[terrapin_too]

Have you ever spent a cold miserable night on the AT? I would like to hear your story if You have.

Not so much. Muskrat Creek Shelter. If I'd been smart I would have slept in my tent. You're always warmer in a small (dry) tent. Carry a decent down bag, keep it dry, make sure you have a decent pad under it. You'll be fine.

[maxNcathy]

Not so much. Muskrat Creek Shelter. If I'd been smart I would have slept in my tent. You're always warmer in a small (dry) tent. Carry a decent down bag, keep it dry, make sure you have a decent pad under it. You'll be fine.

TToo, At Muskrat Creek Shelter did you get wet?What time of year?What bag did you have and what were the temps? Max

[stickman]

In late October I got quite cold hiking about 16 miles along Iron Mountain, exposed all day to a cold strong wind. I pulled into Iron Mountain shelter an hour or so after dark and couldn't stop shivering. My sleeping bag was marginal for the temperature, and I slept a little cold that night, enough that I woke up a number of times feeling cold. But a couple of the tried and true tricks made the difference between feeling a little cold and feeling really miserable: when I got the shelter I climbed into my bag and cooked up something hot and liquid (even mild dehydration is a big factor in hypothermia), then I boiled a liter of water and brought it into my bag in a Nalgene bottle (make sure it doesn't leak and put the lid on tight!). The bottle really helped keep me warm that night, and in the morning I started the day by drinking a liter of warm water and eating some crackers, cheese, and nuts (again, the dehydration thing and food with high calorie content). As long as you 1)stay dry, 2) can find shelter out of the wind, 3) have something hot you can eat before bed, and 4) recognize early hypothermia before you get too mentally confused to do 1-3, you'll be fine.

Stickman

[emerald]

With a name like stickman, stickman, maybe what you need is a little meat on your bones!

[emerald]

In a recent thread on what sleeping bag to carry on a northbound thru-hike, I mentioned a bad experience I had. I had a 20 degree F Trailwise bag that was likely the best gear I ever owned and to which I should probably credit my being alive today. The incident I mentioned occurred at Muskrat Creek Shelter.

The next down bag I buy will probably have a collar. My Slimline didn't, but it was a great bag anyway. It weighed 2 lbs. 15 ozs. if I remember correctly and was rated at 20 degrees F. I wouldn't want to attempt a northbound thru-hike before May with a lighter bag.

Those cold rains can be nasty. Sometimes it's better to stay put than hike in them.

Before departing for Georgia, spend a night sleeping in your bag you intend to use on the A.T. under conditions that are as cold as you can reasonably expect to encounter on your thru-hike. You don't want to find out you are not carrying enough bag when you are cold and miles from anywhere.

[Spirit Walker]

I only remember one really miserable night - in the Smokies in April of 1988. It had snowed a couple of days before, followed by a drop in temperatures. The guys who were trying to build a fire hadn't managed to get much of a flame. Temps were in the 20's when we went to bed at 7:00. The shelter leaked so we used a ground cloth as a tent/tarp over our section but it was still wet. There was plastic up in front of the shelter, on the 'cage', but it was torn so it flapped all night. I couldn't sleep because I was so cold and the shelter was so noisy. I was carrying an emergency blanket - basically very thin aluminum foil - but it didn't help much. I tossed it in Hot Springs. That was the only really bad night on the AT.

On my second thru we had snow leaving Hot Springs, but it wasn't as cold. There were a couple of section hikers though who were totally unprepared. It was warm when they left Atlanta, so they didn't bring any long pants, long underwear or winter sleeping bags. The thruhikers ended up loaning them warm clothes.

Jim got a bad ice storm in Georgia after two really warm days. He had a tent though and a 20 degree bag, so he was fine. Tents are warmer than shelters, usually.

[emerald]

In addition to my down bag most nights early in my hike I slept in merino wool long underwear, wool socks, down booties, a down vest, wool mittens and a balaclava. I don't sleep at all or not well unless I'm comfortable, especially my feet, which seem to get cold easily. I'm of slight build.

[orangebug]

I've been in a Smokies blizzard back in 2000 with outside temps well below zero, stayed in the Tricorner Knob shelter with a nice dry Western Mountaineering PUMA bag that I previously thought a waste of money. Slept warm and comfy and enjoyed a couple of zero days until the storm lifted. Only time I was cold was on privy trips.

Closest to a bad night was in a tent Nov 05 just before Thanksgiving with Almost There. We had a wet rainy day and night that turned into freezing rain before it changed to snow. The tent really didn't like the weight of the wet snow, but the same bag kept me reasonably comfortable, even while a bit wet.

[Lone Wolf]

Have you ever spent a cold miserable night on the AT?

Cold? Yes. Miserable? No.

[terrapin_too]

TToo, At Muskrat Creek Shelter did you get wet?What time of year?What bag did you have and what were the temps? Max

No, I wasn't wet, just cold. We all were. The shelter was pretty full, and nobody got much sleep. My diary just says, "well below freezing." My bag was some generic three-season down bag, nothing fancy. It was April 11.

[Ramble~On]

Yes, if you're heading out March 19th chances are that you will as well...part of the experience ? maybe the weather will be kind to you.

1996 there had been a couple mornings in a row where the morning snow would turn to rain and then stop around 11.
But (I guess it was early April) there was a morning that it just wouldn't quit and if the snow did turn to rain it was frigid and nasty. Two of us made it into Cable Gap to find a man and his daughter there...freezing...there were quite a few hikers behind us that were colder and wetter than we were so we hiked on to the Hilton. That was a cold and miserable hike and the wind at the hilton made for a cold and miserable night.

[hopefulhiker]

Two days out of Hot Springs in the Smokies in April of 2005. Real Cold Snap including substantial snow fall, couldn't see the trail. air mattress flat, had to zero in a shelter..Bad wind chill. Very cold..

[Tipi Walter]

The Blizzard of '93 hit on March 12-13 which is danged close to March 19. That was a freakish storm though but it'll get cold up on the ridges so expect snow and frigid temps. Winter is the best time to be pumping nylon in my puny opinion as it weeds out the tourists and you never quite know what Papa Nature has planned.

[maxNcathy]

Has anyone had your tent fail in the night?

[terrapin_too]

Has anyone had your tent fail in the night?

No. Doesn't happen all that much. You need to choose your tent site with some care, but it's not that hard. Don't camp on high, exposed ridges. If it it looks like it might rain, consider drainage and don't pitch your tent where water is likely to run or to pool. Any decent tent these days, if pitched properly, will keep you dry in *most* foul weather.

Even so, it's smart to get comfortable with any tent before taking it out on a long hike. Set it up in the back yard, make a point of sleeping in it on a rainy, windy night -- some time before you head for Springer or Katahdin.

[TurkeyBacon]

I look at it this way... The AT is not a walk in the park. Expect it to happen at least once. You will suffer along the AT and being cold at night once or twice is part of the suffering. Mine was a wet night in a overfilled shelter. Not much I could do, I had half a body width of shelter space and was still damp from the hike in and it was real cold.
TB

[Marta]

Have you ever spent a cold miserable night on the AT?

I'm can guarantee a cold night by getting chilled before I get in my sleeping bag, no matter what its temperature rating is. The best way for me to do this is hang around a campfire talking for a couple of hours. At Rock Gap Shelter a couple of years ago, my feet were still numb in the morning, and I was in a zero degree bag, on a 20 degree night.

I did this to myself a week ago at Standing Bear Farm--hung around the campfire talking with Sprocket, then went to bed chilled and shivered for hours.

I'm a slow learner...

[Hammock Hanger]

May 2001, post Trail Days.

I was one of the few people using a hammock back then and even though I had used a hammock for camping for years, I had never camped in COLD weather.

I had a Go-liter par down my pack for me. Bad idea, some of the items I parted with and some of the concepts I was not yet able to fully embrace. Trying to save some postage I let my husband take a these things home with him from TD's vs mailing later from Pearisburg.

It was a very warm May at TD's, however, by the time I was passed Atkins it was cold and wet. I did not have camp/sleeping clothes, which meant staying wet. I had a 40 degree summer bag and no thermarest.

I put up the hammock not far from a brook about a mile north of Knot Maul Shelter. I laid in my hammock for the first time feeling like I was in a torture chamber. I was frozen and I shook and squirmed for hours as the cold blew around and through me. I finally got up in the wee hours and struck camp, figuring hiking was a better way to warm up and I just couldn't bear to lay there anymore and freeze.

By the time I got to Knot Maul Shelter I was a complete basket case and had a by first big hypothermia breakdown. I was in such an altered state of mind I didn't think I would ever leave that shelter....

At the first possible chance I called home and told my husband to mail me back my stuff, dry long johns and my thermarest. I realized one can not just take things out of their pack until they themselves are prepared to suffer the consequences.

[yappy]

I think to worry about getting cold is pointless... cuz you are gonna be cold...and sore ..and tired.. and hungry and ( hopefully ) having a fantastic time ...just get the best gear ya can and be smart.