Camping in the cold
Jan 5, 2013 20:27:28 GMT -7
Post by Leifer on Jan 5, 2013 20:27:28 GMT -7
Well gents,
I was able to do a little trek/camp on the 28th of December. I had to cheat some, unfortunately, as with how cold the weather was. I don't have my capote made yet, and my mocs just weren't going to cut it.
We made a shelter out of a canvas tarp and collects LOTS of wood, mostly cottonwood and diamond willow that was readily available. We were kind of in the river bottoms, about a half mile away from the river. Melted LOTS of snow for water. The weather got down to 10 below that night. When I was in the Scouts the lowest I'd ever been out (in a modern tent, modern winter gear, with a sub-zero sleeping bag) was about 5-10 degrees.
I did bring a canvas covered sleeping bag and 7 wool blankets. I broke a winter camping rule and didn't make a layer of .... stuff .... between me and the ground. All that was between me and the ground was a canvas tarp and the sleeping bag. Whatever part of my body that was not against the ground was toasty warm, so I had to keep on rolling over throughout the night to warm up the cold side of my body.
Discovered that wood burns a LOT differently when it's 10 below. I had no problem getting a fire started, or even going for that matter. However, it was difficult to get it to kick off the amount of heat that I'd wanted. We used a lot more of the smaller diameter stuff over the larger stuff. Partway through the overnighter I discovered that switching to a 'log cabin' style fire lay was the way to go. The wood burned a lot better and we were able to start using the bigger stuff.
The shelter design was inspired by an AJ Miller print that I believe has already been shared somewhere else on this board.
It was nice little outing. What I would have done differently was increased the layer of stuff between me and the ground where I slept. Pine boughs aren't in abundance in Eastern Montana and there was about a foot of snow on the ground, making it difficult to collect (much less find) a good pile of leaves.
Anyone else ventured out yet?
Leifer
I was able to do a little trek/camp on the 28th of December. I had to cheat some, unfortunately, as with how cold the weather was. I don't have my capote made yet, and my mocs just weren't going to cut it.
We made a shelter out of a canvas tarp and collects LOTS of wood, mostly cottonwood and diamond willow that was readily available. We were kind of in the river bottoms, about a half mile away from the river. Melted LOTS of snow for water. The weather got down to 10 below that night. When I was in the Scouts the lowest I'd ever been out (in a modern tent, modern winter gear, with a sub-zero sleeping bag) was about 5-10 degrees.
I did bring a canvas covered sleeping bag and 7 wool blankets. I broke a winter camping rule and didn't make a layer of .... stuff .... between me and the ground. All that was between me and the ground was a canvas tarp and the sleeping bag. Whatever part of my body that was not against the ground was toasty warm, so I had to keep on rolling over throughout the night to warm up the cold side of my body.
Discovered that wood burns a LOT differently when it's 10 below. I had no problem getting a fire started, or even going for that matter. However, it was difficult to get it to kick off the amount of heat that I'd wanted. We used a lot more of the smaller diameter stuff over the larger stuff. Partway through the overnighter I discovered that switching to a 'log cabin' style fire lay was the way to go. The wood burned a lot better and we were able to start using the bigger stuff.
The shelter design was inspired by an AJ Miller print that I believe has already been shared somewhere else on this board.
It was nice little outing. What I would have done differently was increased the layer of stuff between me and the ground where I slept. Pine boughs aren't in abundance in Eastern Montana and there was about a foot of snow on the ground, making it difficult to collect (much less find) a good pile of leaves.
Anyone else ventured out yet?
Leifer
