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chicote
02-03-2006, 12:17
Anyone live near here? Go here recently? My wife and I are planning on going for an overnight stay this weekend and were wondering if there were any cool spots to camp or must sees etc.

Thanks

Almost There
02-03-2006, 13:23
If you actually want to camp on Mt. Rogers near the shelter. there is a small trail just to the left of the privy as you face it while standing on the AT. Nice secluded camping spot with a fire pit. The trees make an excellent windbreak for the spot too. Oh yeah, and it's closer to the privy than the shelter is.

Lone Wolf
02-03-2006, 13:26
Supposed to be windy, rainy/snowy this weekend.

chicote
02-03-2006, 13:30
Thanks Almost There

L.Wolf yeah i read about the weather this weekend. It'll be great for my wife to test out here new Marmot Precip rain gear and the new MH phantom jacket I got for her yesterday. I also want to see if I can make this alcohol stove work in the cold. I consider it a testing weekend.

Almost There
02-03-2006, 14:04
LW, why don't you join them, I know you love the snow and rain!!!:D

fivefour
02-03-2006, 17:04
Mt. Rogers is a beautiful area. It's very open in places though so be ready for wind ! The ponies are very cool too. I can't remember the names of the shelters but one is near a creek and there are some very nice campsites on the other side from the shelter. A nice foot bridge crosses then the campsites are down the creek on the left and another a ways farther down. Be prepared to encounter car campers at scales ! There was also very little water while we were there.

chicote
02-06-2006, 11:45
Got back Sunday from Mt. Rogers. Kel and I didn't make it very far but we did see the ponies and camped in a nice wooded area (talk about lots of choices for campsites). It was definitely windy and cold and rainy and snowing and all of the above except for warm and sunny.

Saturday started in the 30's with driving wind and rain which turned into hail and snow early afternoon. We forgot to bring heavyweight gloves and just had liners so our hands while setting up camp became numb within minutes. Thank goodness for down jackets and down booties and hot chocolate! Everything got better with warm food. We bunked down early and were swearing we'd never go out in the winter again.

Sunday came and we packed up and headed back towards the trail head. This time the weather was nice cold snowy and windy. All the rivers we hiked in became solid ice and the trail was a little harder to navigate on the way back. The best part was that we used our Down Booties for gloves and the cold became less of a factor. We passed some day hikers on the way back and I'm sure they were wondering what we were doing with those funny things on our hands. On the car ride back we were like "that wasn't so bad, I'd do that again as long as I have gloves."

Anyhow I'm impressed that we kept our pack weights just at or below 30# for the overnighter. We had enough food and fuel to last us two nights if need be. With revision to some gear I think we can have close to 25# packs for our thru in 2007.

minnesotasmith
02-06-2006, 12:40
Look up www.thepacka.com (http://www.thepacka.com).

chicote
02-06-2006, 12:55
While I have looked at the packa many times. I am not sure that it is for me. My rain jacket acts as my wind jacket and I don't usually keep my pack inside the tent or vestibule over night so I like to leave the pack outside with the rain cover on. I wouldn't rule it out, however. I do like that when you use it while raining no rain gets in between your pack and your back. I think I could solve that with a liner in the pack though. My biggest weight factors now are the backpack (6-7 pounds Gregory Shasta) and my Sleeping bag (3.5 pound Mountain Hardware 10 degree bag with Conduit shell). I'm looking at a Montbell Sleeping bag to get that under 2 pounds and a 3 pound backpack.

Can't wait to go outside and play again.

orangebug
02-06-2006, 13:10
Winter hiking can be great fun, especially when you are with another. I'm glad to see that you learned how to improvise gloves/mittens with other gear. You were in a beautiful section of the AT.

chicote
02-06-2006, 13:25
That improvisation credit goes to my wife. I think we make a great team. We can double check our decisions and reason with each other w/o conflict.

And talk about beautiful! I can't wait to see what that section of trail looks like in the other seasons or just when it is clear out. We are definitely going back there again for more trips.

jlb2012
02-06-2006, 13:43
Mt. Rogers is a beautiful area. It's very open in places though so be ready for wind ! The ponies are very cool too. I can't remember the names of the shelters but one is near a creek and there are some very nice campsites on the other side from the shelter. A nice foot bridge crosses then the campsites are down the creek on the left and another a ways farther down. Be prepared to encounter car campers at scales ! There was also very little water while we were there.

That was probably the Wise Shelter - in theory no camping near the shelter but across the bridge and you are in FS land and there are a lot of good campsites there.