- Joined
- May 17, 2006
- Messages
- 4,290
After flying out of Louisiana on Friday I made my way to New Jersey to visit my brother.
The plan was to day hike on Tuesday with a possible overnighter during the upcoming weekend with JV3 (Jay). Once this snow storm was approaching Jay had a better idea—to go camp overnight instead. The temperature was supposed to be 17 F and snow was imminent!
Some people consider this weather a little extreme for hiking/camping, but that all depends on how you look at it. Jay was giving me his reasons for preferring this type of weather to camp in and I agreed. Yes, it’s cold, but not when you are moving. Once you get to camp there is a lot of work to do in order to make it comfortable. You can pretty much bet money that there wouldn’t be many people on the trail and with this, the woods take on a private exclusive, “members only” feel to them. From what Jay has told me, this area is full of timber rattle snakes, but not in the snow. Bugs are all gone, for those who have issues with them. Also, the snow allows people to see what animals are in the area, which also makes it hard to get lost. Lastly, snow means hydration. If we camped away from a stream we can always melt snow for water.
On the negative side, keeping warm can be an issue for some as well as making a fire. Besides that, it really is a great time of the year for outdoors scenery.
Hike in…
Our good friend the Birch tree
Camp and Fire
Making camp was the first order of business and the deep snow makes finding a flat spot a little tricky. A good hour of site selection, tarp erecting, and scouting for wood soon ensued us.
My tarp and bedding. I used two stones as a radiator at night by warming them in the fire and rolling them over near me at night.
I used lots of birch bark panels and a bag of frozen leaves for insulation. Atop was a torso length Gossamer Gear Nighlite pad.
Casa de Jay
Hopefully Jay will come along and give the details of his shelter set-up.
Our camp from a distance
Wood gathering and fire was all about looking for the driest wood we could find. Everything dead was covered with snow.
H&B Forge Large Camp Axe/GB Small Forest Axe
The only real dry stuff was in the middle of the wood.
Birch bark for tinder and kindling made this fire possible. All due to the frozen birch log under the snow.
Keeping feet thawed out was quite the task
Beef Bun, thanks Jay!
Then Jay took my CUB
The morning greeted us with sunshine and blue skies, yet it was still about 28 F.
Chorizo
]
Thawing out the ice from the quilt and bivy
New York
Beech leaves do light up with a ferro rod…
Not alone!
The plan was to day hike on Tuesday with a possible overnighter during the upcoming weekend with JV3 (Jay). Once this snow storm was approaching Jay had a better idea—to go camp overnight instead. The temperature was supposed to be 17 F and snow was imminent!
Some people consider this weather a little extreme for hiking/camping, but that all depends on how you look at it. Jay was giving me his reasons for preferring this type of weather to camp in and I agreed. Yes, it’s cold, but not when you are moving. Once you get to camp there is a lot of work to do in order to make it comfortable. You can pretty much bet money that there wouldn’t be many people on the trail and with this, the woods take on a private exclusive, “members only” feel to them. From what Jay has told me, this area is full of timber rattle snakes, but not in the snow. Bugs are all gone, for those who have issues with them. Also, the snow allows people to see what animals are in the area, which also makes it hard to get lost. Lastly, snow means hydration. If we camped away from a stream we can always melt snow for water.
On the negative side, keeping warm can be an issue for some as well as making a fire. Besides that, it really is a great time of the year for outdoors scenery.
Hike in…
Our good friend the Birch tree
Camp and Fire
Making camp was the first order of business and the deep snow makes finding a flat spot a little tricky. A good hour of site selection, tarp erecting, and scouting for wood soon ensued us.
My tarp and bedding. I used two stones as a radiator at night by warming them in the fire and rolling them over near me at night.
I used lots of birch bark panels and a bag of frozen leaves for insulation. Atop was a torso length Gossamer Gear Nighlite pad.
Casa de Jay
Hopefully Jay will come along and give the details of his shelter set-up.
Our camp from a distance
Wood gathering and fire was all about looking for the driest wood we could find. Everything dead was covered with snow.
H&B Forge Large Camp Axe/GB Small Forest Axe
The only real dry stuff was in the middle of the wood.
Birch bark for tinder and kindling made this fire possible. All due to the frozen birch log under the snow.
Keeping feet thawed out was quite the task
Beef Bun, thanks Jay!
Then Jay took my CUB
The morning greeted us with sunshine and blue skies, yet it was still about 28 F.
Chorizo
]
Thawing out the ice from the quilt and bivy
New York
Beech leaves do light up with a ferro rod…
Not alone!
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