2014 Winter Camping Trip
Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2014 12:09 pm
To beak up the winter blues I thought I would post a write-up on the 2014 version of our annual winter camping trip. As usual the trip takes place in the Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park on the third weekend of January. We have decided to change things up this year by doing a three day/two night trip into the back country and planned an ambitious route which would have us average 6 KM per day. Due to the length of the trip we decided to bring more gear this year including tents for shelter and ultra-light white gas (Coleman fuel) stoves for greater cooking flexibility. On the trip were a total of six guys, all with prior winter camping experience.
The winter has been shaping up perfectly for the trip with very cold temperatures before Christmas which continued into the New Year. With ice thicknesses on the main lakes reaching 16 inches over Christmas, I was confident we would not have the ice crossing worries of previous years. As the trip approached we had a warm spell which I hoped would knock down some of the snow followed by a perfect winter camping forecast with temperatures averaging -6C to -12C – cold enough to call it winter camping but warm enough to avoid the -25C extremes of two years ago.
With an anxious group fired up on Friday morning and the packs ready, we set off on our adventure.
While the going was quite reasonable when crossing our first big lake with the falling snow providing a ‘winter wonderland’ backdrop to our pictures, the progress and mood quickly changed once we turned into the woods to follow a creek into the backcountry. For the two of us with snowshoes the going was as expected, but for the remaining four guys the going was torturous. Each step felt like stepping on a rung of a ladder with the rung snapping just as you transferred your full weight onto it. This was due to a crusty layer of ice over top of 16 inches of snow. The ice easily supported the weight when distributed by the snowshoes, but was just weak enough to break otherwise. Within a few hundred yards it was obvious that our ambitious route would have to be adjusted. It was also at this point that I decided to give my snowshoes to the slowest member of our party who was struggling more then the others. The difference that snowshoes make in these conditions is evident in the following picture.
We accepted our fait and continued our slow progress in good spirits for a couple of hours but things got even worse when crossing a few marches and bogs. These never freeze quite solid and contain many air pockets which are like traps under the undisturbed snow. At one point I fell though deep enough that I completely filled up my boots with water. While this is not a problem when you are on the move since your body warms up the water and you quickly get use to it pushing through your toes with each step, it becomes quite serious in camp. At this point your wet feet are sucking heat out of your body and spirit out of your heart. Having removable liner boots is crucial here as it allows you to dry them out within a couple of hours by the fire. We got quite good at that over our two nights as you certainly have the time to do it and we got ‘soakers’ each day.
At one point on day two I was breaking trail through a cascading set of beaver ponds and felt fortunate to pick up a fresh wolf track. It was obvious by the wolf’s meandering that it was picking its route carefully and I placed my decision making into the animal’s hands. This was a mistake as I fell through within a hundred yards, and the wolf fell though a few hundred yards after that. I realise that I am a lot heavier but I did want to verify the stories of animals leading people to safety – I would still trust a wild animal’s instinct, but I do think the irony in the incident is funny.
The picture of our map, as tracked by GPS, provides some perspective to the route we ended up taking. Day 1 is in Red, day 2 in Yellow, and day 3 in Light Blue. Under normal conditions I expect to cover 1 KM in 30 minutes, with a slightly faster pace when walking on bigger lakes. On this route, we averaged 4 KM/h on the last day, but day 2 we were moving at a humbling pace of 0.9 KM/h – It was exhausting!
One other interesting note for people who do not winter camp is to show just how much condensation you get inside the tent under these conditions. I have a 4 season tent which can be completely closed off, but anticipating condensation I had the tent quite open with the zip out windows rolled back and the vestibule front half open. Even in this configuration which encouraged the movement of air at the expense of warmth this is how much condensation was frozen on the inside of the tent fly.
Once again it was a great trip where mother nature continued to present us with new challenges. No matter how many times I am out there, I always come back with a new experience and a new lesson!
The winter has been shaping up perfectly for the trip with very cold temperatures before Christmas which continued into the New Year. With ice thicknesses on the main lakes reaching 16 inches over Christmas, I was confident we would not have the ice crossing worries of previous years. As the trip approached we had a warm spell which I hoped would knock down some of the snow followed by a perfect winter camping forecast with temperatures averaging -6C to -12C – cold enough to call it winter camping but warm enough to avoid the -25C extremes of two years ago.
With an anxious group fired up on Friday morning and the packs ready, we set off on our adventure.
While the going was quite reasonable when crossing our first big lake with the falling snow providing a ‘winter wonderland’ backdrop to our pictures, the progress and mood quickly changed once we turned into the woods to follow a creek into the backcountry. For the two of us with snowshoes the going was as expected, but for the remaining four guys the going was torturous. Each step felt like stepping on a rung of a ladder with the rung snapping just as you transferred your full weight onto it. This was due to a crusty layer of ice over top of 16 inches of snow. The ice easily supported the weight when distributed by the snowshoes, but was just weak enough to break otherwise. Within a few hundred yards it was obvious that our ambitious route would have to be adjusted. It was also at this point that I decided to give my snowshoes to the slowest member of our party who was struggling more then the others. The difference that snowshoes make in these conditions is evident in the following picture.
We accepted our fait and continued our slow progress in good spirits for a couple of hours but things got even worse when crossing a few marches and bogs. These never freeze quite solid and contain many air pockets which are like traps under the undisturbed snow. At one point I fell though deep enough that I completely filled up my boots with water. While this is not a problem when you are on the move since your body warms up the water and you quickly get use to it pushing through your toes with each step, it becomes quite serious in camp. At this point your wet feet are sucking heat out of your body and spirit out of your heart. Having removable liner boots is crucial here as it allows you to dry them out within a couple of hours by the fire. We got quite good at that over our two nights as you certainly have the time to do it and we got ‘soakers’ each day.
At one point on day two I was breaking trail through a cascading set of beaver ponds and felt fortunate to pick up a fresh wolf track. It was obvious by the wolf’s meandering that it was picking its route carefully and I placed my decision making into the animal’s hands. This was a mistake as I fell through within a hundred yards, and the wolf fell though a few hundred yards after that. I realise that I am a lot heavier but I did want to verify the stories of animals leading people to safety – I would still trust a wild animal’s instinct, but I do think the irony in the incident is funny.
The picture of our map, as tracked by GPS, provides some perspective to the route we ended up taking. Day 1 is in Red, day 2 in Yellow, and day 3 in Light Blue. Under normal conditions I expect to cover 1 KM in 30 minutes, with a slightly faster pace when walking on bigger lakes. On this route, we averaged 4 KM/h on the last day, but day 2 we were moving at a humbling pace of 0.9 KM/h – It was exhausting!
One other interesting note for people who do not winter camp is to show just how much condensation you get inside the tent under these conditions. I have a 4 season tent which can be completely closed off, but anticipating condensation I had the tent quite open with the zip out windows rolled back and the vestibule front half open. Even in this configuration which encouraged the movement of air at the expense of warmth this is how much condensation was frozen on the inside of the tent fly.
Once again it was a great trip where mother nature continued to present us with new challenges. No matter how many times I am out there, I always come back with a new experience and a new lesson!