Snowshoe to Nine Corner Lake

Hello All,

With fresh snow coming down, this morning I decided to take the dogs on a jaunt up to Nine Corner Lake. I haven't been on a real hike in 3 months, and I wanted to test out my brand new Jetboil Minimo in the cold and snowy conditions. I know this trail gets a lot of snowmobile use, but I was hoping many would choose to stay home today to prepare for Stupidbowl parties. I only encountered two groups of snowmobiles and they were very friendly and courteous:-) The trail had a couple of inches of fresh snow on top of a hard packed base. Once we got to the lake, I broke out the stove and cooked some breakfast. It was about 20 degrees with blowing snow, and the stove worked great. I had piping hot cup of oatmeal in about 3 min.
After breakfast we headed out onto the lake. The snow was deeper out on the lake. It was really snowing and blowing. At times it was nearly a white out. I had hoped to explore the entire perimeter of the lake, but I just wasn't quite fit enough and the conditions really reduced the visibility. So, I spent about an hour out there before heading back. My tracks going out on the lake had already been obliterated by the blowing snow.
Altogether a wonderful outing for me and my canine buddies. Here is a link to my facebook photos of the trip.

https://www.facebook.com/kathleen.po...62?pnref=story

Alpine Falls-Loyalsock State Forest

https://endlessmountains.wordpress.c...-state-forest/


An 8 mile hike to scenic, and frozen, Alpine Falls over New Years. This hike features vistas, hemlock forests, and a couple waterfalls. It also makes for a nice overnight backpack with great camping below the falls, and along High Rock Run.

New to the Adirondacks, Looking for first hike suggestions

I am trying to plan my first long weekend hike of the year (hopefully early spring). I will be with one other experienced hiker. I am new to the Adirondacks (I have not hiked it yet, but my partner has). I am looking to climb high peaks. Any suggestions on where is the best place to start?

Water Filtration

interesting read. It's an old topic but still one that deserves more study.

https://slate.com/technology/2018/02...necessary.html

One thing I'm not clear on: We are always warned about "toilet" hygiene and the risk of hand-to-mouth contamination, but how is it possible to infect yourself? If Giardia were present when you relieve yourself, wouldn't you already be infected?

Basic Hunting Questions/your opinions

I finally found out where we are moving after it being up in the air for a year. Burlington VT. The hunting there doesn't sound amazing, but I'm going to really like the Adirondacks. My girlfriend is excited because she spent a lot of time there in the past.

We might buy an acerage, so I'll probably dink around there with a bow. We'll be around long enough to justify buying a place.

I'm early 30's and have worked/lived/hunted all over the west. I'm from a ranch in Nebraska. A crusty old rancher near Patagonia AZ once told my ex girlfriend (he was a family friend), "That boy doesn't belong anywhere east of the Mississippi River. Hell, the Missouri River!" Which is hilarious. I'm an ecologist, but moved to my home state a few years ago for personal reasons.

Anyway, I'm excited to explore a new part of the country. This is all new to me.

After looking at the seasons, etc, I think my big hunt I will look forward to each year will be the early muzzy season in the Adirondacks. If I want meat, there is land in Litchfield County CT I can hunt. It's got a lot of deer. I'm also going to hunt a deer camp in southern Maine every year. It sounds like more of a social thing to be honest. I'm excited to experience it. They don't get many deer. There are also a few large for the areas suburban (I'd call them that) properties I can hunt near Albany and outside of Boston. 20-80 acres each.

I was wondering how all this would play out and what I should take. Some of what I have now I'm leaving at my parent's because I won't have a use for it. Keep in mind, this is a common thing for me after doing seasonal/term jobs for a long time. My dad just likes all the toys I leave. I don't even know who owns what with some of the things. My little brother does the same thing.

I take my hunting very seriously. Because of the move, I took this fall/winter off and just hunted. My girlfriend talked me into it. It was awesome and highly recommended. I got all the western hunting out of my system. I hunted elk, mule deer, whitetails, sharptails/prairie chickens, and guided for antelope. Best time of my life. I didn't even tag out on a single big game animal either.

For optics, should I get a nice pair of small 8 power binos? I have a pair of Swaro big eyes, a pair of 10 power slcs, and a Leica spotting scope. That all sounds pretty useless in the east. I might take the slc's just because, but they're kind of heavy for actual hunting if you don't need them.

For rifles, I'm taking a 6mm Remington Ruger M77 II, a Remington 760 in 3006 (just bought it...had to buy something silly for the move), and maybe a pre 64 model 70 featherweight in 308...that's my dad's but he's told me to take it a few times.

For a muzzleloader, I'm leaving my smokeless NULA. I'm taking a lyman great plains and a CVA accura.

I bowhunt too, so I'm snagging my favorite long bow (a reeeeeaaaaalllllllly good shooting thunderstick mag), and my old compound.

I want to get into bird hunting again. I'm guessing for ruffled grouse you need a pretty short handy gun. I have a silver snipe for that (I'd rather not take it because my dad loves the thing), and a long barreled 11-87 for ducks and turkeys).

A big concern of mine is game retrieval. Usually, I quarter them out and pack them. I have lots of packs, but my favorite right now is a KUIU. I have a feeling it will be noisy in the trees. What do people do or use? I'm not stout enough to drag a deer out 3 or 4 miles solo.

I think I'll kayak in for access. Is the weather usually pretty OK for that during early muzzy? I looked at the climate data and it seemed like it, but my girlfriend was talking like it depends a lot on the elevation.

Any other thoughts? Advice? I'm super excited. I've always wanted to hunt that part of the country. Sorry to word vomit on here, but I'm starting to sort though my stuff and want some advice. I fish a lot too. The fishing in VT sounds a lot better than what I'm used to.

Thanks!

Dry Curing

This may not be the category to ask this question but it is related to hunting in it's own way. I want to dry cure a venison quarter and would like some ideas or recipes for it.

If you have anything you would like to share please do?

Limekiln lake, ny

Is there going to be camping this year at LIMEKILN LAKE state campsites?