NOW WITH PICTURES!!
For the latest installment of the NORSA Insane Cold-Weather Excursion (ICE), a team of four NORSA veterans braved the icy waters of Ramsey's Draft on January 26, 2013. Unlike the previous trip to Ramsey's Draft in November 2012 (an unrecorded NORSA expedition lost in time), Mike, the Steves, and I found the actual trail and, instead of hiking straight up to the ridgeline, decided to tackle the dozens of stream crossings along the main trail.
The trip began smoothly enough with a stop by some remarkable ice formations near the trailhead for a photo op. Then the first stream crossing was upon us. Wasting a good 15 minutes to find a good spot to rock hop across without getting our boots wet, we realized that the hike would quickly become an 8 - 10 hour ordeal if every stream crossing took the same amount of time. So, we got a little less dainty with each stream we crossed, and, by the end of the trip, we were essentially wading through any water ankle deep or shallower. As it turned out, everyone's boots were sturdy and the waterproofing held up wonderfully. However, Steve L. demonstrated exactly why cotton is a killer in the cold when we finally reached our campsite. When he changed into his synthetic clothing, his jeans were frozen into two solid tubes of ice.
The valley hike itself was beautiful, with the once-mighty hemlocks both towering above us and laying on the ground, the forest was surreal. It's a shame that the bulk of the hemlock trees have become victims of the Wooly Adelgid and this NORSA expedition will likely be one of the last times humans see the forest as it was before a more resilient, but much younger tree supplants the hemlock as the canopy of the wilderness. However, the felled giants often provided a makeshift bridge for some of the stream crossings, and the stream crossings themselves lent their own air of natural splendor to the trip, as well. Additionally, the hike was made even more pleasant since no one else seemed willing to withstand the single-digit temperatures and not a soul was seen on the hike out to camp.Once at the campsite in the shadow of the mountaintop which is home to Hiner Springs, the source of Ramsey's Draft, the team immediately felt the bitter chill of Mother Nature's bitchy side. Firewood was collected immediately and getting a blaze going was first priority. Once we had a solid, life-sustaining fire going, then it was time to set up camp. It was so incredibly cold that Steve L.'s ground tarp disintegrated at its first exposure to the cold air.
Following a hearty dinner of disparate cuisine ranging from soup and sardines to compressed nut health bars and spirulina snacks, we participated in the traditional NORSA ICE rituals of drinking around the fire, telling stories, and making fun of our friends not brave enough to endure the frigid weather with us. Then, it was time to hit the sack. Literally crumbling apart in brittle sheets, Steve L.'s tarp barely kept him insulated from the ground. Meanwhile, Steve S, Mike, and myself stayed in tents with many layers of insulation between ground and body and still felt the heat sapped from us once the snow's natural insulation melted out from under us. The night's chill was probably even colder in the dawn hours, but the coldest recorded temperature that any of us noted was 8° Fahrenheit.
The next morning, a hasty fire was built to return life to our extremities, retire the consumable trash, and de-ice our water bottles for the return hike. Following a quick breakfast of trail mix or whatever else was handy, we set out upon the trail in the light of the breaking dawn (which came so late given our position in a valley). The trip back went much faster than the trip out since we now thought nothing of crossing a stream and trusted wholly to our boots' waterproofing. We did see another troupe of campers near the trailhead who were either setting up camp early to do some fishing or who may have also braved the night with us. Then, back at the trailhead, another successful NORSA ICE concluded with little ado and the long ride back to civilization.
