Winter Hike to Mount Jo and ADK Yurt Camping

Happy New Year! I can’t be the only one glad to leave 2020 behind. What a year.

I surprised Jordan with a trip to the Adirondacks as a Christmas present. We rented out a yurt in the Adirondack Mountain Club’s Wilderness Campground.

It was our first time winter “camping”, so we brought all of our warm winter gear! The yurt is heated with electricity inside but only gets up to about 50 degrees in the winter months. It was 9 degrees on the night we stayed, so my guess it was in the 40s inside. We had our warm, down sleeping bags and lots of layers to keep us warm. There is also a heated washhouse (with running water and flush toilets!) just a short walk from the yurt.

I had ordered dinner to-go from the Loj, which is right next to the campground on the same ADK club property. I was SO glad I did this because we did NOT want to be cooking outside 9 degrees. It was so cold! The meal was ready for pickup at 6:30, so to kill some time we drove around Lake Placid. We also got some amazing views of the full moon from Loj Road!

On our way back to the campground, we picked up our hot dinner to eat in our yurt. It was ~$22 per meal which I had to pre-order. They gave us each a slice of bread with butter, a salad with a tasty dressing, a hot soup, an entree (beef enchiladas, polenta, and roasted vegetables), and a dessert. It was very hearty and surprisingly delicious!

We went to bed pretty early since there was not much to do in the yurt besides read or play cards. Normally we’d sit outside around the fire pit or walk around the property, but it was 9 degrees so that didn’t happen! We got up early the next morning and picked up breakfast at around 7:30. It was scrambled eggs, sausage,  pancakes, REAL maple syrup, and coffee!

We packed up, parked our car over in the hiker parking lot, and headed up to hike Mount Jo, a small mountain in the middle of the high peaks that offers gorgeous views of the surrounding mountains for little effort. It was my third time hiking Mount Jo, but my first time in winter conditions!

The trail was icy so microspikes were required! I don’t even consider hiking without them this time of year. There wasn’t much snow on the ground so we didn’t bring snowshoes. We arrived at the summit in about an hour.

Clouds came through and obscured our view, it also started to flurry!

We didn’t stay on the top for long, just enough time to snap some pictures before we headed back down. We hiked up the short trail and then down the long one. It was a great little trip for our last one in 2020.

Mount Jo

Distance 2.6 mi
Ascent 728 ft
Total time 2 hrs, 22 minutes (relaxed pace)