Snow Hiking Vermont - Winter Backpacking & Frigid Camping in the Green Mountains

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• published: 28 Feb 2013
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Tired of waiting for warmer weather, I decided to revisit Vermont's Green Mountain National Forest for some winter backpacking and a dose of snow camping. http://www.sintax77.com The specific location I chose was the Big Branch Wilderness area. This is very close (just a bit further North) to the Lye Brook Wilderness, where I filmed my solo hike to the Stratton Pond area. This helped me to be familiar with the general area in terms of driving, but it would be my first visit to the Big Branch Wilderness, in hopes of doing some snowshoeing and getting a different Winter perspective on Vermont's Green Mountains. My general direction taken was the along the Lake Trail towards Baker Peak and Griffith Lake, following and crossing McGinn Brook and eventually connecting to the Appalachian Trail / Vermont Long Trail. At least that was the plan... I also also try my hand at setting up a tent in the snow, which by the way, will be my 3-season tent, so we'll see how that goes too. Oh and speaking of that, here's my backpacking gear for the trip. Gear List: (32lb Base + 7lbs Food & Water = 39lb Total Pack Weight) EMS Long Trail 70 Backpack Kelty Salida 2 Tent (3 season tent, not actually built for winter) Nalgene 1 liter water bottle inside EMS insulated hip pouch. Disposable 1 Liter Water Bottle kept in Pack 1 Liter Platypus Bladder for backup water storage DeLorme PN-60 GPS, Long Trail Map by Green Mountain Club, and Forest Service Print-Outs Brunton Classic Compass Layers of various synthetic clothing (worn plus spares): (long underwear, short sleeve and longsleeve shirt, EMS fleece lined pants) MontBell Ultralight Down Parka - 800FP Water Proof Outer Layer - EMS Thunderhead Jacket and some cheapo synthetic track pants Outdoor Research Rocky Mountain High Gaiters Zero Degree Down Sleeping Bag - Kelty Cosmic Down 0 Therm-a-rest Z-Lite Sleeping Pad Klymit Inertia X-Frame Sleeping Pad EMS Packable Pack - Used as pillow (but it's really a stuffable daypack) EMS 'Altitude' Mittens with fleece inner gloves Regular gloves, knit ski cap, balaclava etc. Garmont GTX Snow Boots Carhartt Sock Liners paired with EMS Mountaineering Socks Kahtoola MICROspikes (ice traction for boots) Alps All Terrian Snowshoes 25" Swis Gear Hiking Poles Large trash bag, paracord, extra assorted zip-lock bags Ramen Noodles, Mountain House Pro-Pak dehydrated dinner, snacks etc $8 Ultralight Canister Stove with small Jetboil Fuel canister 'Light My Fire' Mini Fire Steel, waterproof matches, small lighter Space Blanket 2 ReVive Solar ReStore chargers for video camera, phone, etc PTEC Byte Headlamp & Preon 2 Penlight Tin Can Cookset & Light My Fire Spork Instant Coffee!