Winter overnighter with Joe

kgd

kgd

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Feb 28, 2007
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RangerJoe and I did a quicky overnigher this weekend in his favorite of favorite little haunts at a local area. It snowed pretty hard on us and generated another 10-15 cm (4-6") snow on top of the big storm that hit the area last Wed. Temperatures were hovering right around 0oC during the day through our camp set up and staying dry was just impossible. Fortunately, a longfire, cessation of snowfall and great hardwood to burn dried us at night. Late night lows were -7 degrees C or 19 degrees F.

Saturday - we arrived at about 12:30 pm. Set up camp, made lunch, did a little walk around, made our bush chairs and then just kicked back for the night. Joe got a carving itch and made a potholder (after we processed about 4L of water from snow). I got a chance to sleep in my new Wiggy's Ultima Thule, rated to -30 oC (-20 oF) this really wasn't much a test for the bag. But I was superwarm and cozy in it and despite its bulk, I really like this bag!

Next morning, we ate breakfast, did some bowdrill practice on some site harvested basswood, did another walk and figured out the excellence of properly weathered blue beech bark as a fire accelerate. Then headed out to be picked up by our ride at 12:00 noon.

The extra snow generated over Sat. transitioned the terrain from boots to snowshoe useful terrain. Unfortunately, both Joe and I left our snowshoes at home. I hauled my gear by sled and Joe by pack. It was a short haul, but I was impressed how easy the sled worked (especially when I managed to get my dog providing 70% of the pulling power). My sled was a plastic, two child kiddie sled, modified by drilling holes and snaking paracord through it to create a bunch of tie downs. I put most of my gear in a big SEAL-ALL canoe bag tied to the sled. The low profile and thinness of this sled made it great for stability (not the least bit tippy) and it tracked our footprint trail really well.

Not a whole lot of unique things to be seen at this site. It is a local haunt that we frequent often and everything to see there we've seen before. Still, the landscape is just a touch bit more magical when covered in snow. We were really there for the campfire, a chance each to use our new sleeping bags and just to hang out, a couple of bushcrafters in a lunchbucket city.

Here is the vid. of our adventures. Hope you enjoy!

[youtube]RWg-WcQOSmA [/youtube]
 
I've never started a fire on snow.
What prep do you do?
Do you dig a hole and then a drainage channel for the melting snow?
 
dextersp1 said:
I've never started a fire on snow.
What prep do you do?
Do you dig a hole and then a drainage channel for the melting snow?
Click to expand...

We brought a shovel and shoveled near to ground at the fire site. The fire was initially built on a big slab of bark scavenged from a dead ash tree. The lean-to we hung around in front of the fire was a bench so the ground did get a bit runny by the fire but we were always off the ground.
 
Thanks for sharing. Your video reminded me how fun winter camping can be. I did a lot of winter camping in Banff and Kananaskis when I was younger. It was always a great time. I need to hit the woods while we still have all this snow.
 
Ken, if you need someone for an overnighter sometime, let me know.
I have plenty of knives, can make fire without burning the woods down, and can grill some mean meat products over coals.:)
 
I noticed you have wiggys bag but did not use a wiggys pad. I am considering a wiggys pad for the cold snowy stuff just like your outing. However I do not trust my Therm-a-rest ProLite Plus in these situation and consider a wiggys pad as a better one because they do not need to be inflated. If you have one do you like it and would it have worked at your overnighter?
 
soapboxpreacher said:
I noticed you have wiggys bag but did not use a wiggys pad. I am considering a wiggys pad for the cold snowy stuff just like your outing. However I do not trust my Therm-a-rest ProLite Plus in these situation and consider a wiggys pad as a better one because they do not need to be inflated. If you have one do you like it and would it have worked at your overnighter?
Click to expand...

Hi, no I do not have the wiggy's pad, just the bag. However, you are correct that a lighter self-inflatable pad will not fully protect you in the snow. I use an REI 1.75" pad (rather thick) and have found through experience that it is not insulative enough when used on snow and ice. So I supplement it with a foam pad underneath the inflatable. For this I use a thermarest ridgecrest foam piece and the two in combination work great and are comfortable (but bulky).

Other times, I have used a thermarest ultra-light, but used the pad on top of natural insulative materials like tall grass reeds. You can do the same with spruce/pine boughs or making a raised bed to get you off the snow with logs or sticks and placing the pad on top of that. Just make sure you aren't using water sogged frozen wood. Doing the natural material supplementation kind of requires you pre-scout a place and know what might be available, how readily it can be harvested and whether it is ethically or appropriate to do so in that area. Afterall, you wouldn't one of the LNT-moralists chasing you around on youtube and other sites :D :D

Mark - I'll keep you in mind next time, this one was sort of an impromptu decision....

Bryan, Marcelo - thanks for your comments!
 
Thanks for posting this up Ken. Always look forward to your posts. :thumbup:
 
I enjoyed the video Ken. You are getting out allot lately, good for you!
 
very nice. good video and lots of nice stuff going on. the chairs, the long fire, the multiple methods of fire. you guys did great imo. hell i struggle getting the bow drill to work in dry summer conditions.

well done
 
BushcraftBrainTrust said:
Great video. What preps do you bring for the dogs.
Click to expand...

Not much. It was just an overnighter. Joe was nice enough to bring his dog food. I just gave mine a bit of my food. My dog does have a bit of habit of wondering, but she was much more willing to stay in the camp perimeter with the two dogs present. They played a lot. I just basically showed beta my tarp and the bag and when she got cold, she went and laid on my bag for a bit during the night. Best part, was whenever she got wet she had sense enough to go seek out Joe's bag to sit on rather than mine. Gotta love a smart dog who respects her master and not the humans along for the ride!

There are coyotes around but they seemed to stay at bay. I don't think many would be willing to tangle with Joe's 90lb sheppard. It was a bit annoying that she would get up and walk around during the night and as I was locked in tight in my bag there wasn't much I could do about it. Definitely much easier to manage a dog in a tent where you can lock her in, but at the same time I didn't want to tie her up. If I did that, then she would bind herself to whatever she was tied to and then yelp me awake. I was more willing to risk her wondering ways than lose sleep. She is a lab, so getting cold is unlikely especially at the temperatures we were in.
 
Treat yourself to an Exped Downmat 9 Deluxe, and with that Wiggy, there isn't much winter weather on the planet where you wouldn't sleep like a baby - 3 inches of downy comfort. :)

I have a Superlight and the Exped.

Cheers
 
brians said:
Treat yourself to an Exped Downmat 9 Deluxe, and with that Wiggy, there isn't much winter weather on the planet where you wouldn't sleep like a baby - 3 inches of downy comfort. :)

I have a Superlight and the Exped.

Cheers
Click to expand...

+1 on that. I just spent last weekend in the BC backcountry [on 12 feet of snow]. Slept on an EXPED Downmat 9 - it's so warm. It's a backcountry Serta. It's about the same rolled volume as a standard 1" Therm-a-rest. Down insulation on the underside of a sleeping bag is useless, so the Downmat works magic thermally. Has an R8 insulation value.
 
Great stuff Ken!

You probably were not able to tell on this trip, but in general, do you feel warmer when using the heavy duty space blanket as a ground sheet?
 
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