Hercules Glades in the snow, January 2025

I’ve never been backpacking or camping in true winter conditions with snow on the ground. A forecast winter storm in Southwest Missouri on January 9 and 10 was just what was needed to let me get some time out when the trail conditions would be a bit more challenging.

In early 2021, I realized I had no suitable footwear for cold and wet hikes, so I bought and tested some Sealskinz waterproof socks for wet and snowy conditions. The socks worked well on a couple of very wet hikes, but I’ve never tried them out in the snow.

The approaching winter storm was an excellent opportunity to test those socks in winter. The forecast was for snow starting late Thursday through Friday afternoon, followed by a balmy 40°F day on Saturday. This ought to be just enough time to fit in a quick two-night trip and my first experience of camping and hiking in the snow.

Hercules Glades Wilderness

At one time it felt like I visited the Glades every month, but recently, I’ve been preferring longer, less popular trails to hike. I’ve not spent a night at the Glades since April 2024.

Most of the trails at Hercules Glades are easy to follow, the exceptions being:

Icy conditions on the Pilot (Tower) Trail heading west — I wasn’t expecting to find a lot of ice on the trail, it slowed me down a lot, I need micro spikes for these conditions. Copyright © 2025 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
  •  Some parts on the northern section of the Pees Hollow Trail.
  • The area of Long Creek Trail where it runs along the creek.
  • And the western end of the Pilot (Tower) Trail after its junction with the Devil’s Den (Lower Pilot) Trail. That latter section is very little used, overgrown, and difficult to follow in places. I sometimes think I’m the only person who hikes that section nowadays.

The Pilot (Tower) trail runs to the north of both the Upper and Lower Pilot Knobs and is mainly tree-lined. With a few exceptions, visibility to the south is blocked by trees, ridges, and knobs. The dense oak woodland restricts visibility to the north. There used to be good views just before and just after Lower Pilot Knob, but the scrub has grown and encroached on the glades, limiting the places where you can see beyond the Wilderness’s boundaries.

The trail is somewhat even going, descending slowly towards the west. It has several reasonable climbs/descents, but the large loose rocks, so common in the Ozarks, can make for slow going. The level sections of the trail can be very wet from various ‘seeps.’ After heavy rain and in wet seasons, it’s not uncommon for the trail to resemble a creek more than a trail!

Weather

The various weather models on Windy.com agreed fairly closely on when the storm would arrive but disagreed on how much snow would be dropped on the glades. The forecast was for a snowfall between two and a half and seven inches. Temperatures would be lower than I like to hike in, but I’ve recently hiked at 26°F, so the predicted 30°F to 40°F hiking temps should be fine. Overnight lows of 17°F are also lower than I usually like, but I’ve been out at 15°F before and was too warm, so I knew I’d survive. 🙂

Hammock camping in the snow, January 2025. Copyright © 2025 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

Gear

This trip called for my full winter setup of 10°F rated under and top quilts, and my bad weather tarp. Because of the low temperatures, I didn’t take my water filter, opting for Aquatabs instead. If needed I could always melt some snow.

  • Clothing. I had my usual Merino wool top, Bass Pro base layer bottom, some Merino wool socks, my Sealskinz waterproof socks, and my wooly toe socks. I also had both my down jackets, some buffs, shemagh, snow pants, a pair of fleece pants, and I stole Ginger’s gloves (again). There’s some duplication here in case stuff got wet. You’ll notice that I didn’t include my Bass Pro base layer top. I’ve not used it on recent trips, so it was time to leave it behind, saving some space and pack-weight for the other extras I packed. Finally, I had my LightHeart Gear rain jacket, and a pair of Bass Pro rain pants to keep my legs dry in the snow.
  • Footwear. I didn’t take sandals on this trip! I had my Xero Terraflex II trail runners/gym shoes, and I took my ‘outside’ Crocs for use as camp shoes.
  • Food. In addition to my usual supplies, I packed full dehydrated meals, not noodles, for lunches. The extra calories and hot meals will keep me happy. Just in case I arrived late at ‘Deep Hollow’ I took in 3.5 liters of water.

I checked my pack weight, and it was 32lbs including all the food, water, fuel and spare clothes. Not bad, as that’s over 7lbs of water I was carrying.

You can read a complete write-up of my trip on my personal blog.

The trail wasn’t always obvious. There was a slight indentation where it ran, and I’d already figured out to look for the gap in the grass stalks. Copyright © 2025 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

Below are my GPS Tracks and daily hike stats, plus my post-trip thoughts on what worked and what I learned.

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Camped in the snow above ‘Twin Falls Hollow’ — I did ponder the potential dowsides (or should that be downslides?) of camping on the side of a steep ravine. And I ignored them. I survived. Copyright © 2025 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

My mileage for the trip was a very modest 12.95 miles. Around half of that distance was hiked on trails covered with five to seven inches of snow. Total elevation climbed: 791ft.

What Worked

Generally, everything worked fine, but here are a few ‘special mentions.’

  • Waterproof socks over Merino wool socks with my regular trail runner shoes. My feet stayed warm no matter the trail conditions.
  • Hammock, 10°F quilts, and winter tarp were great in the conditions.
  • Once more the Fancee Feest alcohol stove, needs a special mention, it kept on working even when I abused it (see Lessons below).
  • Using Aquatabs instead of my water filter.

Lessons

  • Pack my spare base layer top. I needed it after the one I was wearing got wet.
  • I’ll never buy Mountain House Chicken Teriyaki again. It was truly awful. I had to force myself to eat it. If I hadn’t needed the calories I would have trashed it after a couple of mouthfuls.
  • Find out what caused my top and down jacket to get wet. I’ll try a ‘shower test’ of my rain shell to see if it leaks. I’ve had my eyes on a replacement for my down jacket for a while. It might be time to invest in a jacket with insulation that doesn’t fail when it gets wet.
  • Invest in some micro spikes if I’m going to be hiking a lot on ice.
  • Don’t put water in your alcohol stove. Yup, I did it. I fixed it by emptying out the water (Duh!) putting some alcohol in the stove, and lighting it, and letting it burn until it had boiled/dried all the water out. It took a while, but it worked.
  • Snow on the trees can completely disguise the trail.
  • Knock the snow off of overhanging branches before walking under them. 🙂
  • Setting up and breaking down camp takes a lot longer in the snow.
  • Pay more attention to my water bottles to ensure they don’t freeze overnight.

You can read a complete write-up of my trip on my personal blog.

Getting close to the trailhead — heading east on the Pilot (Tower) Trail. Copyright © 2025 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

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