The Great October Winter Storm of '11

By next morning much of the snow in the valley had melted, so I headed north on the AT on a clear crisp morning. Little did I realize the extent of this storm (knocked out power to 100s of thousands of folks in PA, NY, CT) or how much snow I would encounter on the ridge. This early storm had several factors compounding the difficulty: it was a very wet, heavy snow; being so early most trees still had their leaves so there were blowdowns every 100 yards or so.

I was the first one out, breaking trail for miles on end with wet snow raining from the trees. I must have lost the trail over a dozen times--the blowdowns were so extensive in some places that the trail was totally obscured. It was one of the most difficult days of hiking I've ever experienced. I was soaking wet and overheated, but if I stopped for more than a few minutes the temps were only int he 30s so it was cold.

My brother Joel met me at the Rt 7 crossing but I was several hours late, it was such slow going. We had a snack and chat but I had to move on as dark was approaching. I ended up hiking 2 hours by headlamp to find the shelter that night. I can't tell you how glad I was to find the shelter, exhausted, wet and becoming pretty scared. Even though it makes for good stories I wouldn't want to repeat that day.