Northville Placid Trail / Upper Benson to Piseco 10/30/14 - 11/2/14 First ever backpacking trip!

[Chris183]

Greetings all! We (my wife, pilsburythrowboy and I) recently finished a section hike on the northville placid trail, upper benson to piseco. It was recommended to us by 12trysomething. What an awesome trip, words can't begin to explain how epic of a time it was. It was surreal since it was our first time backpacking. Travelling by day, living out of our packs by night, all on the trail! Enjoy the pics!





Here was my packing list for the trip. Final pack weight with no water : 26 lbs. I have an idea of what I don't need to bring now, so hopefully next time my pack weight will be much lower!




We arrived wed. night on 10/29/14 to the oxbow inn on route 8 around 10:30PM at night with cold and wet conditions outside. The room was clean, had wifi, and had decent room so we decided to do a final gear check. The staff there was friendly and helpful. The banana cake there was amazing, best i've ever tasted!



We woke up the next morning bright and early to leave a car across the street from casey's general store , and to drive to the trail head. The weather was bright, crisp, and cool. We happened to see a rainbow on our way on lake pleasant.




On the dirt road near the trail head. Im not sure why it uploaded as a rotated image.



At the trail head! All signed in and ready to go



You've heard of ultra light class. Enter super heavyweight battle tanker class. 140+ liters. who needs a pack mule?! Just bring PBTB with you! (again not sure why the img got rotated)



My wife and I ready to go!





The entire trail was riddled with water crossings, deep mud, leaves and slippery rocks. We all had salomon 4d quest boots with OR crocodile gaiters. Not one wet foot the entire trip despite sinking into shin deep mud. Priceless gear! Despite the rough terrain the wilderness we saw was absolutely gorgeous. Here are a few pics of the trail towards our first lean-to.














Finally at the silver lake lean to!



We setup our hammocks in the waning daylight. My wife's clark nx250 and my WBBB with HG 0 degree under and top quilts. With a hot nalgene we were toasty. I had a few coldspots in my underquilt...still wrinkling out a few "kinks" in my sleep system.



with dry wood all over the place, we got to processing some wood and started a fire.



15 max images per post, continued next post!!! Thank you for joining us so far!!

[Chris183]

Tools of the trade. PBTB's custom saw, spyderco temperance, and gransfors bruks hunters axe. My fallkniven F1 and my wife's benchmade 162.



PBTB conjures up a fire demon.

That night was a bit difficult to sleep due to the howls of the coyotes. We decided to hang out in the lean-to for a bit while pbtb pulled guard for a few hours. In the end the lure of good sleep pulled us back into our hammocks. It's amazing how down "reflects" heat back into your body. Our HG quilts really pulled through.




Silver lake. The water was calm, and serene. Unbelievably clear!!



From left to right : Dueter 45+10 SL, Osprey exos 58, mission to mars pack ??? liters riddled with kifaru packs.



Goodbye silver lake lean-to!



To those unsung heroes who maintain the trail and provide safe passages for hikers : THANK YOU!!





Canary lake! Unbelievable how gorgeous this spot is. We should have set camp here as suggested by 12trysomething. Maybe next time!!





Mudd lake lean-to reach. This spot is NOT recommended for hammock campers. Not many choices for hang spots. We arrived with only a few spare minutes of daylight so we decided to shack up in the lean-to *gasp*



Underneath all those top and bottom quilts was diana!



Marmot down jacket worked perfectly!



On our way to the next lean-to. The trail was mostly downhill. We went from 2250ft to 1700ft.



There were many streams in which to filter water. We used a katadyn hiker pro with a platypus carbon filter rigged into the output hose. crystal clear water. to think, people pay for this stuff!!

onwards!

[Chris183]

On our way to the next lean-to. Thank god for bridge crossings, those rivers were moving pretty fast! We came across a few hunters on our trip, friendly folk all of them.



pbtb loving the outdoors...maybe too much



Hey pbtb if you hallucinate lets eat the rest!!!



The hamilton lake lean-to was by far the best one on the trail so far!



Great fire pit!



Each lean-to had a log book. THANK YOU EMIL! keep up the great work!



hang site right next to the lean-to.



With impending cold, windy weather, we pitched our tarps low and tight. The sleep was good, as noted before I have a few wrinkles to iron out on my underquilt setup. We woke up the next morning at the crack of dawn with gunshots in the air. It seems that hunters were in the area so we strapped high vis colors and kept our headlamps on during our hike.



Snow peppered the ground. It was a chilly morning with the mercury dipping into the 20s (F)



We came across this beaver dam and decided it was a good place to take in as much as possible on our last day. The hike out was very hilly!



The last couple yards of the hike!



Diana signing us out. We made it!



The trail ended at the parking lot in which we left one of the cars. We proceeded to casey's general store since the oxbow inn was closed at the time. Our eyes have never been hungrier! We ended up totally sarfing every food and snack in site The food there is great!! In closing, it was a good trip. I've gained experience on this trip and learned new things. The beauty of the NPT is beckoning for us to hike the rest! We hope to continue and finish the remaining sections. Thank you all for looking. See you on the trail!

[Chris183]

reserved for continuation of thread....

[DuctTape]

Awesome. Saw some of PBTB's pics over at bcusa. Now that you got the bug, will you do the rest of the NPT? see you on the trail.

[Chris183]

reserved just in case!!!

[Chris183]

yeah absolutely! We'd like to come back in spring!

[12trysomething]

Wowwow great write up, picture selection. I wish I could have spent a bit of trail time with you all! Thanks for sharing!

[Chris183]

Wowwow great write up, picture selection. I wish I could have spent a bit of trail time with you all! Thanks for sharing!

no nono rob, its you we have to thank for suggesting this and your awesome videos! Thank you!

[STinGa]

That was a great way to start my work day. Thanks for sharing your trip.

STinGa