Camping Out And Ushering In

It’s an idea that’s been rattling around in my head of quite some time now.  Last night it finally came into fruition.  Perhaps it was fueled by the thirty some Joe Robinet videos I’ve watched this last month.  I do enjoy watching his adventures out in the woods.  Between his various shelters, the Northern boreal forests, and genuine love of the outdoors, I find them engaging.  Or perhaps it’s again linked to my own lifeblood of having grown up in the woods Up North with a connection to nature.  Either way, I pulled the trigger and headed into the snow to camp out.  True, it was our wedding anniversary, but we’ll celebrate on Saturday when the family gathers, so with Cindy’s encouragement, I started packing.

I elected to use my Kelty (Arcadia) tent.  While I would use a tarp underneath the tent as a layer of protection from the snow, I decided to take my two foam backpacking mats (That I would lay down side by side), as well as a self inflating sleeping pad.  Over that I decided to bring a thick and heavy blanket used to protect furniture when you are moving.  Since it was supposed to get down to 18 degrees (colder in the low spot we would be camped), and my newest sleeping bag was only good to 50 degrees, I brought two and would put the newer sleeping bag inside of an older and bigger flannel-lined bag.  On top of this I brought a wool blanket to be the cover for both my dog Kora and me.  Although I planned on clearing away as much of the 8 inches of snow as possible, I didn’t want the cold to creep up and make the night miserable.

For dinner I brought a can of beef stew that I had leftover from a past summer trip with my cousins (two cans remain), a clementine orange, and a slice of bread to mop up any residual gravy.  For breakfast I packed two pouches of instant oatmeal with a small container of raisins that I added for a surprise ingredient, along with two more clementines.  Three packets of hot cocoa were included, to be used as my hand warming drink of choice (picture hands wrapped around a mug).  I put water in three different insulated bottles so I could heat it up for the oatmeal, cocoa, and also add it to Kora’s dog food to give her something warm before we went to bed.

In addition to the clothes I would wear, I brought along my running tights, a polyester shirt, my new fleece lined polyester pullover from school, and a thick pair of wool socks; all fresh, dry gear to sleep in and avoid starting off chilled from what I would be working in as I set up camp.

As extras I threw in my ax, saw, head lamp, and mini-mag light, along with some books and journals.  Ironically I never needed my lights as the reflection off from the snow was more than adequate to see in, and I never read or journaled because it was too cold to venture outside of the nest I created.

CLICK BELOW FOR A VIDEO OF MY GEAR:

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I left at 5:00 last night after organizing my food, cooking gear, and extra clothes within my backpack.  The rest was lashed to a low rimmed sled that I have.  The holes I drilled, along with the rope I added a few years ago, held the gear fast.  Unfortunately I had packed Kora’s leash and collar.  She does listen well, however, so I just had her walk out in front of me and I watched for traffic as we walked down our street and out of our subdivision.  There were no cars, but she was slightly freaked out by the sounds of the sled I was pulling over the black-top.  Visions of the Grinch came to mind with his little dog trying to pull the sleigh piled high with toys.  I allowed myself a slight smile of what we must have looked like.

We made our way down to the strip of woods near our house that hugs a wandering creek.  It’s not the coniferous woods of the North, but it’s not our backyard either.  It would have to do despite the constant roar from the thousands of vehicles traveling a couple of hundred yards over on the inter-state tollway.

I was sweating by the time I had dragged my gear to the designated spot.  It was tough sledding as they say.  To sweat is not a good thing in cold temperatures.  I peeled off my thick flannel & fleece lined coat down to my sweatshirt and went right to work clearing snow from the base of my favorite silver maple tree.  It’s a massive tree that sits on the bank of the creek; a perfect place to camp.  Against the white backdrop of the snow, I could see easily and pitched my tent.  This allowed me to clear off the sled and throw the rest of my gear into the tent for later, and then begin the process of starting a fire.  For several years I’ve collected rocks from the nearby fields, so I used these to make a fire-ring, and then began collecting firewood.  I was able to use dead limbs that were stacked around in brush piles.  With some dried grasses I collected from the creekbank, coupled with dryer lint from home, I quickly got a fire started.  I put my pot of water in the coals to boil and placed my pot of stew on one of the bigger rocks to begin heating.  While I was working I went back and forth, collecting wood, taking pictures, and warming my hands.  I never stopped moving.  Imagine that!

Kora and I inhaled our dinner.  The phrase “scarfing down” came to mind.  Afterwards we stocked the fire with wood and sat for a few minutes staring into the flames; enjoying the heat.  Kora doesn’t particularly like being by the fire, but if I’m close, and between them, she relaxes a bit and doesn’t seem to mind.  Our old dog Kati, on the other hand, would practically lay beside it, because she enjoyed both the heat and the chance at any food offered to her that happened to be cooked over it.  I found it fitting that she was buried in close proximity, on a bend of this creek.  She would have absolutely loved this adventure, and Kora would have enjoyed her company.

CLICK BELOW FOR A VIDEO OF MY WINTER CAMP:

After letting the fire die down, I grabbed the remaining gear and put it under the fly of my tent.  Next, I assembled our bedding in the order I described earlier.  I changed into my dry clothes for sleeping and then we hunkered down.  Kora was a little confused at first; that we weren’t going home, but settled in quickly.  My toes were an issue when we first went to bed.  They always are.  I think I counted out about 500 toe crunches to get my blood circulating.  Once they were warm, I stayed toasty the rest of the night.  I was pleasantly surprised!

Sleeping itself was intermittent.  I woke every hour or two during the night.  I had to be completely under every layer that I had, with the sleeping bags tucked in behind me to prevent any cold drafts.  I slept in a prenatal position (not easy to do within two sleeping bags), and had to wake periodically to change from one side to the other.  In addition, the moon showed through the thin layer of clouds, so it was pretty bright, and the roar from the cars and trucks was pretty loud.  Oh, and each hour leading up to midnight, the local neighborhoods would celebrate and send off fireworks.  Kora was not a fan.  I did get up at midnight to usher in the New Year, and take a picture of the moon through the bare canopy of the silver maple.  It was a reminder that even in the midst of what we may see as our darkest hour, there is always hope!

I woke for good at 6:00, began packing the gear in the tent by 6:30 and was out starting the fire by 7:00.  We ate breakfast and then I started “stowing away the tent.”  This process, along with repacking the sled, took quite a while.  In fact, once I was finished, gulped down my final cup of cocoa, and grabbed onto the rope to begin the trudge back home, several hours had gone by.  I walked into our garage by 10:00.  The gear traveled well all lashed down.  My only complaint was from my ax that I had slipped down through a loop on my pack, as it wore a small hole through the nylon.  It looks cool to hang an ax on the specially designed pocket of a classic, old canvas pack, but apparently not on mine,  I’ll have to figure out how I can patch that.

After another hour of unpacking, laying things out to dry, and starting a load of laundry, I finally took a deep breath and sat down.   Following lunch, I slept for a solid hour, and Kora has hardly moved all day from the tight little ball she’s slept in since we returned.  I suspect she’s feeling content, as am I, after such a cold weather adventure as we had, while looking forward to our next outing.  It was a great camp out while ushering in the New Year.

See you along The Way...