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 In continuing with the plan of getting all the winter
adventures done and out of the way before the baby comes, Jeff
and I did a winter camping trip in the Adirondack High Peaks
the weekend of December 19th. Though technically not winter,
it was still plenty cold and had plenty of snow to be
considered a winter trip in my book.
In addition to going earlier in the season, the logistics
were a little different for this trip as well. Instead of
leaving from my house, we left from Jeff's in Philadelphia. He
flew in from Denver the night before we left, so it was easier
to just leave from there. He got in around 11:30pm Thursday
night and we left around 4:30am Friday morning. We also
changed our destination slightly. Usually we head up to the
Adirondak Loj Information center and hike into the Marcy Dam
area. This time we only went as far as Keene Valley and hiked
into the Johns Brook area. After the hike Mike and I did this summer,
I was really interested to see the area in winter, though a
significantly smaller portion.
The plan was to park at the Garden, hike into the Johns
Brook area via the Phelps trail (#1, 3.1 miles), up the the
Orebed Brook trail to the Orebed lean-to (#8, 1.2 miles), then
climb Gothics, and hike out.
We got to the area around 11am I think. We went to the Noon
Mark diner to fuel up then headed for the Garden.
First task was to boil all our water, so we started with
hot water. We had two gallons of water to boil. It took a
while.
GPS Coordinates: N44 11.342 W73 48.963 Alt. 1559ft.
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Boiling two gallons of water took a while. In the
meantime Jeff did laps around the parking lot to stay
warm.
On one of his laps he ran over to the parking lot
attendants building (only used in the summer season) and found
the thermometer.
A shot back at me in the parking lot doing something
to keep warm. See, we weren't the only ones out
there.
Finally all the water was boiled and we were ready to
head out. I decided to pack my snowshoes. The snow didn't seem
deep enough to require them (8 inches) at this point, but who
knows what it would be like further in.
The hike in was beautiful. The weather was near
perfect - bright and sunny, no wind. 
Crossing the bridge over Johns Brook just south of
the Interior Outpost to get to the junction of the Southside
trail (#3) and the Orebed trail (#8). You can sort of see
upstream.
Here's Jeff crossing in front of me. You can sort of
see downstream. Six years ago when we 
One of the phenomenons I find most beautiful in the
High Peaks are the