Desolation Shelter, Wilderness Trail
Where: Desolation Shelter via Wilderness Trail When: 1986/87 Winter With: Chip I'm not sure how it all came about, but there we were, Chip and I, standing in the snow at the beginning of the Wilderness Trail with backpacks and skis. Somehow, we decided to take another shot at winter camping, now that three years had passed since our last attempt . Funny, we couldn't convince Dave to join us this time. We decided to head in on the jeep road on the east of the river, rather than on the Wilderness Trail itself on the west. It began to snow and we stood on a bluff on the river, marveling at the sight of the falling snow and the mountains and proclaimed, "Those bums!" Our friends were missing a great hike. We crossed the river at Franconia Brook, taking longer than expected but making it, and then headed in further, recrossing the river on the suspension bridge at Cedar Brook. It was the first ski of the season and the lack of conditioning started to show as the tr...