NOBO in Mid-February

[Old Boots]

My hiking partner and I are planning to start from Mt. Springer around the middle of February. I have some questions I am sure some you can answer.

Will water sources be frozen?

Will I need something warmer than rain jacket over fleece over shirt and long underwear?

Will a 20 degree bag with a 15 degree liner and a Thermarest 1 3/4" pad be warm enough for sleeping?

[Chaco Taco]

My hiking partner and I are planning to start from Mt. Springer around the middle of February. I have some questions I am sure some you can answer.

Will water sources be frozen?

Will I need something warmer than rain jacket over fleece over shirt and long underwear?

Will a 20 degree bag with a 15 degree liner and a Thermarest 1 3/4" pad be warm enough for sleeping?

Water sources can still be frozen. It can vary in the south. You can hike in 70 degrees one day then mid 20's the next. Id take some warmer clothing just to have in case. Your bag should be fine, just add more layers to your clothing to compensate for the upper elevations, esp the Smokies. It will probably be very cold there by the time you get there in March.

[Bati]

You may find creeks with ice on top, but you shouldn't have any trouble breaking through to running water underneath. I was out in a very cold year and never had problem with water not running if I searched enough (and maybe got some help from a friendly rock). Once I even filtered running water from the snowmelt cascading across the snowpack on the trail, as I was too scared to go looking for the spring in just my boots.

As for clothing, buy good quality clothes that will last in a storm. This includes a good hat (expedition-weight balaclava recommended), and a wind-proof, water-proof jacket with an attached hood and no sharp closures that can cut your face. Don't forget a pair of liner gloves so you can eat and operate a stove without using bare hands, and a pair of over-mittens to actually keep your hands warm when you're not using them.

While I can by no means claim I was even close to comfortable, I survived a death march in Georgia wearing a gore-tex jacket and pants over expedition weight polypro (with the help of some ziploc bags on my feet). When I had a chance to change out my gear, the only things i added were neoprene-water-repellent overmittens, replacement liner gloves(cheap quality clothing isn't worth it), and another long-sleeve polypro silkweight shirt. Very often, too many layers can constrict bloodflow and actually make you colder. I never encountered anything in TN, NC or VA that compared to Georgia, and I often found that the expedition weight plus an unzipped jacket was too warm when I was moving.

[Slo-go'en]

Keeping warm while hiking is rarely a problem. Keeping warm at camp is another story. A down jacket and pants are popular with many hikers out that time of year. You'll be spending a lot of time hanging around in temps well below freezing on and off for up to 6 weeks.

[The Solemates]

My hiking partner and I are planning to start from Mt. Springer around the middle of February. I have some questions I am sure some you can answer.

Will water sources be frozen?

Will I need something warmer than rain jacket over fleece over shirt and long underwear?

Will a 20 degree bag with a 15 degree liner and a Thermarest 1 3/4" pad be warm enough for sleeping?

you shouldnt have trouble getting water.

i started 1 feb and took a lightweight rain jacket, heavy weight fleece, lightweight fleece, and long sleeve long underwear type top. i also took pants, lightweight rain pants, and long underwear bottoms. I took a pair of convertible wool mittens/gloves, one extra pair of socks, and a pair of fleece socks. I took a windproof hat. If I wasnt hiking, I was pretty much in my sleeping bag. I took a 0-degree bag, and would not recommend a 20-degree bag. I, for one, know I would be cold in mid Feb. Liners have never worked well for me. We had temps below 0-degrees. it never got above 32 degrees at night til mid-March. I only had a ridgerest pad though, so your pad should help....but i still would recommend a warmer bag. i hike in the winter quite a bit, often encountering several feet of snow. we had 3 foot drifts on our thru hike thru the smokies (all roads were closed for over a week).

[Ironbelly]

You may find that you will want something a bit warmer for camp, especially for your torso. I really like the cabelas down long johns for the price, like 60-70$ for the top , and the bottoms are also 60-70$. You probably wont need anything additional for your legs, but then again that varies person to person.

Water sources may or may not be frozen in spots, but should be flowing under the ice. I would be prepared for the first 2 weeks or so to melt a little snow/ice if the weather is colder than expected/a storm rolls in, never a bad idea to carry a little extra fuel in winter. Worst case you have extra to make a few more hot drinks between resupplies.

Your sleeping bag and liner should be ok. What r-value is your pad? Saying the thickness of a pad doesn't neccesarily mean anything unless there is some insulative value to it.

[Old Boots]

Great advice. I knew I could on you all. Thanks

[max patch]

Say goodbye to your azz because you are going to freeze it off. Seriously.

Either get a better bag now while you can shop deals and your own personal preferences or buy whatever bag Wynton has at Neels Gap at whatever price he wants to charge when you get there after 2 or 3 uncomfortable nights.

[Slo-go'en]

I'm only going on 60, but I know the cold hits me a lot harder then it did when I was 20 or 30. Those youngsters can tough it out a lot easier then us old farts. I agree you should have a 0* bag and some seriously warm clothes. Bag ratings are the temp it will likely keep you alive at. Comfort temp is about 20 degrees higher.

People don't realise how cold it can get up at 5-6000 feet in N.C. during March when the jet stream is still directing cold air out of Canada and the mid-west in that direction - along with all the storm fronts. That's why I don't hike down there until a little into April, and even then it can be iffy.

[stranger]

I would invest in a good, lightweight down sweater or light jacket and a Black Rock down hat as well. Your bag may work, it may not...temp rating are merely a guide and cannot be counted on.

Keep in mind if starting in Feb you are going to be spending alot of time in camp cause it will get dark real early. So this is where a warm jacket and cozy down hat will come in handy.

You might also want to consider down booties - worth their weight in gold as far as I'm concerned.

[Sensei]

I started on Feb. 20th and I never encountered a frozen water source. As people have said, remember that days are shorter, so you will be spending a lot of time in camp and temps will probably be below freezing on a regular basis through mid-April (the coldest day of my entire hike was April 5 - crossed the Grayson Highlands in Southern VA in a brutal -10 degree windchill).

I carried a 20-degree bag through the winter months and slept in long underwear every night. On most nights it was fine, but there were maybe ten nights or so that I had to wear all my extra clothes in my bag, and on the coldest of those I was just barely warm enough to sleep. If you're okay with that scenario, you can probably get away with a 20-degree bag. If I could do it over again, I probably would have bought a 10 or 15-degree bag instead.

As for clothing, I brought a long sleeve wool baselayer, a Montbell ex-light down vest, a heavy (20 oz) North Face Primaloft jacket, a driducks rain jacket, and a balaclava. I didn't bring gloves and would have killed for some on two or three days (although my hands were fine as long as I kept hiking). I tend to get cold faster than most, and when it was below freezing I was chilly wearing all that around camp.