Trip Report

Pharaoh Lake Wilderness, Adirondack Mountains NY

By dirtbag

January 22, 2022

Country	United States
State	New York
Area	Adirondack Mountains, Pharaoh Lake Wilderness
Trip Month	(01) - January

Report / Notes

Bob and I Ventured up to the Adirondack Mountains into the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness to snowshoe up Pharaoh mountain and spend the night in 15° below 0°F. I slept in my MLD eVent Soul bivy with a 0° 950 down quilt and an MLD FKT quilt, using a neoair X-Therm pad inside the bivy. Slept toasty cozy warm for 13 hours! My Soto Windmaster stove worked well with his Moulder strip to boil water and melt snow, though in the morning Bob had to use the water in bowl trick to get his cannister flaming. It was so frigid.. but we were able to get some video…

Discussion

This topic has 22 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 2 years, 1 month ago by karl hafner.

Viewing 23 posts - 1 through 23 (of 23 total)

Author

Posts
Jan 22, 2022 at 5:12 pm #3737744

dirtbag
BPL Member

@dirtbaghiker

Companion forum thread to: Pharaoh Lake Wilderness, Adirondack Mountains NY

Bob and I Ventured up to the Adirondack Mountains into the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness to snowshoe up Pharaoh mountain and spend the night in 15° below 0°

Jan 23, 2022 at 7:09 pm #3737860

Kevin Babione
BPL Member

@kbabione
Locale: Pennsylvania

As always, thanks for posting. It was good to see Bob again. I’ll have to try to catch up with him the next time I’m at my in-laws. I enjoy getting out, but between the snowshoes, the elevation gain, and the temperatures, I’m not so sure that was a trip for me. Better for me to live through your videos in the winter months…

Jan 24, 2022 at 6:22 am #3737873

dirtbag
BPL Member

@dirtbaghiker

Lol @kevin. It was bitter bitter COLD. Luckily we had a good intuition and cut the trip short, as the second night the temperatures dropped to minus 30°F!! Originally the forcast , when we headed out , was calling for minus 18° F on the 2nd night..

Jan 24, 2022 at 8:31 am #3737886

Jeff McWilliams
BPL Member

@jjmcwill
Locale: Midwest

I think the coldest we’ve slept outside in Michigan winter was -7, so kudos for -15.

Thermo-regulation is tough in winter. I constantly struggle with over dressing at the start of a hike or run, and it looks like you were having the same difficulty at the start.

Please don’t obliterate the cross-country ski tracks with your snow shoes when possible. Your fellow XC skiing outdoors-people will thank you.

Good call bailing on the 2nd night.

Thanks for making the video and sharing.

Jan 24, 2022 at 9:13 am #3737898

BlackHatGuy
Spectator

@sleeping
Locale: The Cascades

Went up to Pharaoh as a kid with my father and siblings. But not in winter. :-) Do they still have the wooden lean-tos up there or did NY governor have them all torn down (I thought I read he did somewhere).

Jan 25, 2022 at 5:03 am #3738053

dirtbag
BPL Member

@dirtbaghiker

Yes i was sweaty in the beginning.. though I will say, even had I been ass-naked I would probably still have broken a sweat. I am an internal furnace, lol. Eventually I did settle in and had only my base layer top on.. and overall I was just fine. No we did not snowshoe on the ski trails.. definitely left that side for them. At the trailhead when we were getting ready to head out, we spent a few minutes talking with the forest ranger, as he was putting his skis on.. really nice guy and we all exchanged some thoughts and info.. our first day snowshoeing up Pharaoh we were lucky because 2 day hikers left about 20 minutes before us and broke trail.. so that was nice because there was about 8 inches of fresh snowfall. Day 2, descending Pharaoh from the other side down to Pharaoh Lake? Well for that, we had to break the trail and do some navigating to get down. There were no shelters on top of Pharaoh, hhowever according to the maps there was one or 2 down by the lake.

Jan 25, 2022 at 6:41 am #3738058

Jeff McWilliams
BPL Member

@jjmcwill
Locale: Midwest

Whoa, something weird happened with a lot of blank lines in your comment.

I’ve visited a lot of the Eastern High Peaks region plus areas up near Whiteface but never Pharoah Lakes. I’ll have to put it on my “todo” list. Coming from SE Michigan, our driving route usually takes us across Ontario to cut driving time. With Covid making border crossings more tedious we haven’t been to the Adirondacks area for several years. Hoping to get back there soon, though.

Jan 25, 2022 at 7:29 am #3738060

dirtbag
BPL Member

@dirtbaghiker

Yeah that sucks. I tried to edit that but would not happen. No idea what thats about

Jan 25, 2022 at 7:32 am #3738063

Jeff McWilliams
BPL Member

@jjmcwill
Locale: Midwest

Is it something on your end? Seems to be happening with your comments but mine are fine.

Jan 25, 2022 at 7:37 am #3738064

dirtbag
BPL Member

@dirtbaghiker

Apparently.. not doing anything different then usual.

Jan 25, 2022 at 9:29 am #3738076

BlackHatGuy
Spectator

@sleeping
Locale: The Cascades

I’ve encountered the same issue with some links that another member posts. It’s nothing but blank space for me, though others see/use the links just fine. Some weird glitch that seems to affect me but not others. Though this one seems to affect me, Jeff and dirtbag, who made the post (it also appears as blank space to me as well).

What is supposed to be there dirtbag?

Jan 25, 2022 at 12:48 pm #3738104

dirtbag
BPL Member

@dirtbaghiker

It was me. Not supposed to be there. No

Jan 25, 2022 at 2:27 pm #3738105

Kevin Babione
BPL Member

@kbabione
Locale: Pennsylvania

I thought it was a close-up photo of snow ;)

Jan 25, 2022 at 3:07 pm #3738108

dirtbag
BPL Member

@dirtbaghiker

@Kevin.. HAAAAA!! Yeah really.. Straight up frozen snow, lmbo

Jan 28, 2022 at 10:50 am #3738383

Mark B
BPL Member

@markabrennan

Really enjoyed the video and report – thanks. Such beautiful country. My son and I hope to do some ADK peak bagging in the Spring. I really have neither the skills nor gear for intense winter backpacking, but maybe someday – your video was certainly inspiring. Thanks again.

Jan 28, 2022 at 11:00 am #3738384

dirtbag
BPL Member

@dirtbaghiker

Well thank you for the kind words. It is beautiful country for sure. Hopefully you and your son do get out there and bag some peaks!! As for the experience part.. You will get it as get out more.. Don’t be afraid to try new things and different places during different times of the year.. Honestly that would probably be my limit.. -15 below 0.. Lol. Thankfully we bailed and did not have to suck up 2 more nights where the temperature hit 30 below 0.. Cause that would have been miserable. So that was definitely the coldest overnight trip I have done in all my years and now that I tasted it, I can say it would be my preferred limit, lol.

Jan 28, 2022 at 4:32 pm #3738413

AK Granola
BPL Member

@granolagirlak

Nice video. I can’t imagine camping in a bivvy at minus whatever. A hot tent with a woodburning stove would be optimal. At the very least, 3 mattresses beneath you. I guess you got to test your toughness! Pretty country.

Jan 28, 2022 at 4:52 pm #3738416

dirtbag
BPL Member

@dirtbaghiker

Lol @ Karen!! Thankyou! Yes a hot tent with stove would have been optimal!!! Also if I had some one to carry it for me!! Lmao.

Jan 29, 2022 at 10:16 am #3738459

JCH
BPL Member

@pastyj-2-2

Dood! -15F? In a bivy? On 8″ of snow??? You got some serious huevos. I see Bob made a somewhat more sensible shelter choice :)

Big question is…would you do it again, in exactly the same way?

Jan 29, 2022 at 10:24 am #3738460

dirtbag
BPL Member

@dirtbaghiker

Yes I would. EXCEPT.. and I mentioned this to Bob yesterday.. I should have bivied out on the ledge near where we were.. and could have caught a beautiful sunrise without getting out of bed. I was warmest and most comfortable while I was laying in my bivy!!

Jan 29, 2022 at 10:27 am #3738462

JCH
BPL Member

@pastyj-2-2

You are a tougher man than I, Mr. Dirtbag.

Jan 29, 2022 at 10:29 am #3738463

dirtbag
BPL Member

@dirtbaghiker

The bivy was a smart option in my opinion. It took me seconds to set up and quicker to pack up. Where as Bob took a little more time both ways. He also was having trouble staking out because it was light powder over solid ice!! Lucky for I him, I carry my MSR hammer lately in serious winter conditions.. He was ecstatic when I pulled it out for him, so happy. If I’m not mistaken, the first thing he did the day after we came home was order himself one! I carried it just for that reason and also figuring we may need to break ice to melt for water or to get to water.. My advice to anyone in serious winter conditions? If you not carrying your ice ax, definitely worth carrying the MSR hammer!!!

Feb 27, 2022 at 5:29 am #3741781

karl hafner
BPL Member

@khafner
Locale: upstate NY

The leanto’s still exist. Most have been moved further back away from water and trails. While the state supplies materials to repair them it is a private organization that does free labor to maintain. The leanto’s are a real treasure. My goal is to stay in them and take the smallest tent for emergencies only.
Author

Posts