Happy Birthday Justin! -Puffer Pond

For my good friend Justin's birthday weekend I decided to join him on what was supposed to be an easy short backpack into Puffer Pond in the Siamese Ponds Wilderness. Justin went in on Friday, and I was joining him on Saturday. I arrived at the parking area at a quarter to ten. I paid the parking fee, put on my gear and signed in. It was only 2.4 miles to Puffer, but mostly uphill. I started without snowshoes, but soon changed to them. The trail was easy to follow as Justin had broken it out. There were also ski tracks.

It wasn't long before I hit the state land boundary. I was breathing hard and sweating due to the uphill, even though it wasn't very steep. The beaver meadows and snow covered trees were beautiful. The woods were silent except for the crunch of my snowshoes and heavy breathing. I felt very out of shape. As the steepness increased, the trail also became a little rougher. I found myself taking 20 second rests every so often just to catch my breath and cool down. At the crossover junction to John Pond, I still had a few hundred feet in elevation to get through the draw. At least Puffer was less than a mile away. I spotted certain points on the climb to which to push myself for each rest. The entire time I was telling myself, "I am so out of shape". Strange how two weeks ago I was doing more miles and more elevation. Sure it was rough going, but at least I felt ok. Today was killing me.

Finally at the saddle, I would drop only a hundred feet or so to Puffer. As I approached the western lean-to came into view. Justin said he planned on the eastern lean-to. His tracks left the trail and continued to the frozen pond. I noted the trail here had a NCT disk. The pond was covered in snow with a single path made by Justin's snowshoes and pulk. A few spots were mushy which always gives me an uneasy feeling out on the ice. As I approached the far eastern side, jJustin walked out on to the ice. When we were close enough to talk, he mentioned he was just writing in the shelter log about waiting for me when I appeared out on the ice. He also mentioned how killer the trail was for him the previous day. It made me feel not as bad for sucking wind.

At camp, I set up while Justin went to gather more wood. I soon followed. The rest of the afternoon would cycle between us hanging out, eating and gathering more wood. A skiier named Tom stopped by for a lunch break. He spends quite a bit of time in these woods. We talked a bit about his hobby of searching for deer and moose sheds. Tom left not after not too long. J and I hung out, had dinner, made a really big fire. I barely made it to 9pm before it was lights out for me.

I slept great. As I was getting my boots on in the AM, justin came around to the fire pit. I asked if there was any residual heat. He said yes and tossed some birch bark into the glowing embers. With a little fanning we soon had a morning fire. Some hot drinks and breakfast while we packed up. The sun just started to crest the ridge. Made for a nice sunny morning for a short while.

Soon it would be obscured by the cloud cover. A few snowflakes began falling. As they landed on my jacket I looked at the crystalline structures. Always neat to see. It was just after 9:30 when we departed opting to take the longer route back to the parking area. Only about a half mile longer. Much prettier trail here. This would be a portion of the NCT until we intersected with the blue trail. Back at the cars well before noon. Great time with a good friend for his birthday.