In Search of Sibley Stone - aka The Hike From Hell - Halifax Nova Scotia

A group of 7 geocachers & hikers met at the trailhead for Sibley Stone, just south of the halifax international airport. This was going to be a 10k round trip hike.

The goal was to log this geocache http://coord.info/GC2238

We expected to see a few inches of hard crusty snow with maybe a few inches of power. What we got instead was a LOT of snow, granular and a soft unfrozen bog underneath. The reason for doing the hike in the winter is to easily walk across the boggy section and not have to deal with any bugs.

Once we got past the foot bridge, the snow got to knee high at most places and once we got to the rough section, it was even higher. The trouble with this trail is that it is unmarked and few trail markers indicate the path. The resulting trail is not a trail at all.

On top of that Hurricane Juan damage was still affected the route since the underbrush was unstable - especially with the snow.

This was by far the toughest hike any of us have done before. And we have done a few.

The hike gave me an opportunity to test out some new gear. Icebreaker skull cap performed very well when combined with my rabbit fur hat. wool base & mid layer clothing kept me warm. Unfortunately, the soft bogs made my feet wet. I broke through the snow crust and submerged my feet at least 5 times. Luckily my wool socks kept my dry (icebreaker hiking socks).

Weather was -2C with light winds.
Baselayer: synthetic bottoms (MEC), icebreaker zip top, icebreaker hiking socks, black diamond gloves, icebreaker wool skull cap

Mid layers: light fleece top (MEC), Wool sweather zip (Arc'teryx), solomon pants

Fur hat is from a Canadian company called Crowncap and you can find my model on their online store.
http://www.crowncap.com/warehouse/cartshop/productview.asp?key=228

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• halifax
• nova scotia
• sibley
• stone
• geological
• granite
• barrens
• hiking
• outdoors
• winter
• snowshoe
• snow
• weather
• geocaching
• groundspeak
• garmin
• gps
• dog
• lab
• crowncap
• solomon
• arc'teryx
• icebreaker
• MEC
• map
• 62s
• clothing gear
• backpacks
• la hiking
• at hiking
• how to hike
• trekking
• walking tours
• hiking trails
• bay of fundy
• cape nova scotia
• hiking area
• hiking guide
• nova scotia cape breton

[rainbowhiker]

Wow. I know that kind of country and I avoid it in the winter, too. Honestly, it looks a lot like the back mountain valleys where I live, but not with all the swampy ground come springtime or as many bugs as you claim. So, I can appreciate how hard it was. Thanks for the view and computerarmchair adventure :0)

[thecyr]

@rainbowhiker this year looks like it will be the same. the ground is nowhere near frozen over. This might affect the winter hiking schedule a bit.

[Tancrad]

nice trek. Yesterday a buddy and i went down to explore the Bluff hiking trail in Hubley, it has a potential 30K to explore and its real close to hali. dog friendly you should check it out.

[thecyr]

@Tancrad I think I am the only one from the crew in the video that hasn't done the bluffs yet - or a portion of it. Last hike I did in that area was around jimmy's roundtop

[dragonflyhiker]

It is a great hike with a great reward too bad the group didn't enjoy it. I love the challenge

[thecyr]

@dragonflyhiker the snow and unfrozen ground made it more difficult to traverse buddy. should have done this in november

[rainbowhiker]

@thecyr Well, I subscribed so I'm lookin forward to more crazy adventures from you. Hard is good, sometimes, isn't it? :0)

[Foxr6]

I was living in Truro when Hurricane Juan hit!

[thecyr]

@gcstorm1 I'm surprised that you didn't come out with us :)

[thecyr]

@gcstorm1 yes indeed, it was delicious. :)