VA > Mt. Rogers Winter Hang<January 21-24, 2016<Grayson Highlands State Park

[Home Run]

Thomas Knob hike should be a blast! Forecast is for snow both Thursday night and Friday morning. (Some snow on Wilburn Ridge makes it easier to walk. We will pay close attention to the wind, though.)
Good preparation is required:
For your body, wicking base layer, a couple insulation layers, with a hardshell over. Special focus on hands and feet. Staying dry is paramount. Practice at home. Fleece over face at night. Frost bib helpful.
From a "gear" point of view, especially focus on your tarp. If you have any needs, get them taken care of now. Bigger hardware is an even bigger plus. Practice setting up at home, several times. Cold fingers struggling with a flapping tarp....we may have to do just that. Have the confidence before we hit the trail.
With all that said, the weather is forecast to give us exactly what we all hope for at a winter hang. Some excitement followed by a relaxing fire with good friends and good eats. This is shaping up to be another great time in the mountains.
See you all soon!

[Hickery]

I reinforced all the grommets on Son of Blue yesterday with Gorilla tape. Will bring extra and some foil tape for "reflectix clinic". Have a heap of 2X4 scraps for kindling we can bust up and a bunch of new tales to spin. It's giddy time !

[Rockdawg69]

I reinforced all the grommets on Son of Blue yesterday with Gorilla tape. Will bring extra and some foil tape for "reflectix clinic". Have a heap of 2X4 scraps for kindling we can bust up and a bunch of new tales to spin. It's giddy time !

Hope y'all have some fun chasing them ponies in the snow.

[dimjim]

I reinforced all the grommets on Son of Blue yesterday with Gorilla tape. Will bring extra and some foil tape for "reflectix clinic". Have a heap of 2X4 scraps for kindling we can bust up and a bunch of new tales to spin. It's giddy time !

Thanks hickery, glad that SoB is ready to go I just received a 10-pack of these things called "tarp buddy's" that are basically replacements for grommets. they look pretty bomber, so maybe we'll try them out if it gets windy again or if a few grommets tear out. I'll also be bringing some duck tape for anyone who needs it for reflectix.

Hope y'all have some fun chasing them ponies in the snow.

Rockdawg are you going to the Roan High Knob hang? You'll be missed up at the highlands for sure.


Just an update on what Love Dr. and I will be bringing: For breakfast on Sat AM we'll be serving bacon and eggs, and maybe some muffins (made at home). We'll be bring a propane cooker and large stock pot, cast iron skillet, and cast iron flat griddle. And we'll have a 5 gal Igloo bev. cooler full of water. We'll also be bringing a few disposable cups, plates, utensils that we had left-over from our wedding this summer. BUT I'd like to highly encourage everyone to please bring re-usable utensils, bowls, plates, mugs, cups, etc. It helps reduce trash, recycling, and cost for everyone. And I know y'all have your favorite mugs anyway.

[runningwithscissors22]

I have at least one BIG BLUE tarp I will bring.

If anyone has a top quilt I can borrow for this trip, please let me know ASAP. I haven't yet decided on my dream top quilt and am still saving my pennies for one.

[Buzzard51]

Just signed up. Will be coming with 2 hammockers from work. First group hang for all 3 of us. Looking forward to the weekend. Also the breakfast we cook in a Dutch oven Saturday will be more than 3 of us can eat.

[dimjim]

I have at least one BIG BLUE tarp I will bring.

If anyone has a top quilt I can borrow for this trip, please let me know ASAP. I haven't yet decided on my dream top quilt and am still saving my pennies for one.

I don't have an extra TQ, but I do have a Kelty dri-down 32 degree sleeping bag that I could loan you. If you supplement it with a decent blanket or two it should keep you comfortable to lower temps. Not sure what your under-insulation is, but obviously that will be important as well.

[MarkThompson]

I've signed up myself and my wife -- so you've got two more coming!

A few questions if you don't mind:

1) Park at the Overnight Backpacker's Lot, and then it's a 1.8 mile +/- hike to the group camp?
2) I'm assuming that the Camp Store will be closed, right?
3) I'm going to try and arrive (work dependent) between 3-5pm on Friday afternoon. Will I still be able to purchase some wood?
4) Will water in a cooler in the car freeze? I've never tried it but I heard talk of coolers :-)

Suggestion: Make a list on the sheet of a few things that are needed/suggested for the Pot Luck so we can bring along something useful (and mark it off if we say we'll bring it?).

Looking at the weather for my area (I'm at Sugar Mountain, NC) and if Grayson is anything close, we're looking towards a great weekend of weather!

[DavyRay]

I've signed up myself and my wife -- so you've got two more coming!

A few questions if you don't mind:

1) Park at the Overnight Backpacker's Lot, and then it's a 1.8 mile +/- hike to the group camp?
2) I'm assuming that the Camp Store will be closed, right?
3) I'm going to try and arrive (work dependent) between 3-5pm on Friday afternoon. Will I still be able to purchase some wood?
4) Will water in a cooler in the car freeze? I've never tried it but I heard talk of coolers :-)

Suggestion: Make a list on the sheet of a few things that are needed/suggested for the Pot Luck so we can bring along something useful (and mark it off if we say we'll bring it?).

Looking at the weather for my area (I'm at Sugar Mountain, NC) and if Grayson is anything close, we're looking towards a great weekend of weather!

1) Park at the group site. The people hiking to Thomas Knob on Thursday are parking in the backpacker's lot for just that night. The AT is closer from there anyway.
2) Camp store will be closed. Bathrooms are closed also. We have a porta-potty delivered for the weekend.
3) We usually purchase wood as a group. It's delivered to the group site for us.
4) Depends on temperatures. A spare blanket for a water container might be a good idea. It's fairly easy to heat some water before bedtime, too.

EDIT: Take a few minutes to read the first message in this thread. It's sort of a FAQ. Lots of answers there.

[smopoim86]

4. I had water in a cooler in the car a couple years ago when it hit single digits and none of it froze.


I'm getting excited but the work week is already looking chaotic. I hope to come up Thursday but should be there Friday afternoon at the latest.