The good thing about winter is that, in general, the wild animals are less active (though my teacher was kind enough to remind me that due to global warming, the bears might NOT be hibernating).

Hibernating is how I like bears best.

Since we are posting pictures: This is a (small) but important lesson I learned
I'd stopped to tie my shoe..I think my hiking partner knew what was coming because he grabbed the camera.
<img src="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14335492@N04/2133691536/">

And when I got up, I realized that my bag was a bit topheavy...
<img src="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14335492@N04/2133692146/">
Notice my gloves are in entirely the wrong place.

lets try:


and



very nice!
looks like youre having fun, anyway.
keep that water bottle closer at hand, or you'll never drink it!

How did you manage that?!

Nice sequence photos! You will also learn to use wide mouthed bottles and keep them insulated in your puffy coat or inside commercial insulators or your winter overnight will be a thirsty one.
Reminds me of watching a friend step off the tent platform we had stomped with our snowshoes. He had just taken his off and felt the call. He disappeared in over 6 foot of snow and I could hardly help him out, even if I weren't convulsed with laughter.

You'll also learn that when you stop moving and exerting yourself and it's time to set up camp at the end of the day, you'll get cold quickly and you'll need something warm and dry to put on. If you've been hiking in your down jacket, you'll also learn that it's now saturated with sweat and has the insulating qualities of wet toilet paper.

Do you mean having the pictures show up?

http://www.gunks.com/ubbthreads7/ubbthreads.php/ubb/faq#image

Thanks for the photo info.

I also did learn the hard way about the down jacket. I found some kind of waterproof shell for it, but it wasn't raining, so I figured I didn't need it. My sweat didn't get to it (other layers underneath) but snow fell on it, and it was rendered useless. Also annoying to drag around.

Also scary: A lot of snow fell on my head. It was welcome at first, because I was hot from hiking but I had snow tangled up in my hair. The snow melted, and then refroze so when the sun went down it was like I was wearing an unmovable ice cap. I've been growing my hair for a long time but I seriously considered whipping out my pocket knife and chopping it all off, just to get the ice away. Had I gotten a little colder, I would have.

Loralee, you sound hard core to consider chopping the locks! Either that or you really hate being cold more than you care about the look.

Wear a waterproof and breathable shell with a hood - Gortex, Enervex, et al over a polyester fleece layer of appropriate thickness for temp and activity. Leave the down jacket in its waterproof stuff sack during the day. Maybe even consider leaving the down jacket at home.


Wear a breathable shell with a hood. And for dog's sake, brush the snow out of your hair before it refreezes. Regularly brush it off your clothing as well.

And wear a breathable shell.

What is a reliable way to check the weather in the Catskills?