I headed out from my truck on Wednesday expecting to return on Sunday for a group winter outing. I had plenty of food but only one canteen of water. Clearly melting snow was going to be required. There was an arctic blast, polar vortex or any number of weather channel inspired terms expected to hit later that week. Forecasted lows of negative 20 Fahrenheit with potential wind chills of -30 to -40. Would these predictions turn out to be real or hype? Time would tell. In any case lots of firewood would be needed. My sled ready for the walk in. Not only was my sled full but also wore a back pack.
We dug out out shelter area. Others elected to float their camp and another constructed a mound. Would digging out the area and wall help protect my camp from the wind or simply allow cold air to settle in? The issue was debated!
The Oak Island shaft:
Indian burial mound:
I didn't use my stove on the first night as it was too late. This would be my first tipi outing using the Large Kifaru stove and Riley spark box. I hoped the larger firebox would reduce the work. Bigger the firebox the less processing required with hopefully great output. One of the downsides to a take down box stove is assembling it.
Foraging for wood to stay off the coming winter Apocalypse.
Our two sleds working hard.
My little mouse hawk was ok but not up to the task of the larger wood processing required to weather the feared "polar blast" which was expected in hours.
Wood all ready for the night. We were taking no chances.
The maple burned great but much of the yellow birch was really frozen punk. There was a period of heavy rain weeks ago then a deep freeze. I should have known better. Still the maple had enough energy to boil off the water within the birch.
The resulting water vapor produce a massive cloud of smoke coming out the pipe into the nose hair freezing cold.
Robbie hanging bags on a bushcrafty tripod to air out after the cold blast.
Andy and John survived the night as well. I was up around 1:30 AM to read the thermometer hanging outside the tent. Looked like -17 Fahrenheit with a brisk wind blowing. It could have gotten colder later so I will pull a Brian Williams boasting of negative 20 F (-29 C) with wind chill even lower.
Out and about on the never ending quest for wood. This time I would only take standing hard dead wood with maple being my preference.
Sawed down this standing guessing maple sapling. My uncle Richard helped saw it into stove sized chunks. We took turns
From the forest to the camp. I removed all the remaining "skank" wood from the pile. The stove burned much better.
The selfie. LOL!
Bill Bass found a nice stash of wood. I planned on checking out that area soon. Wood and water are everything.
My fluffy down sleeping bag is so good that even on the coldest sub zero night I used it as a blanket. No need to zip it up.
Melting snow for water seemed like a never ending task.
Along with my GSI kettle a bandanna plus double walled wide mouthed Camelbak canteen were used to process snow into water.
The bandanna filtered out any floaters but almost instantly froze. Still it worked just fine.
Crazy bright USB powered hanging bulb. It comes with 7 feet of cord that has an on/off switch near the end. Bill Bass always has the best kit. LOL! I just ordered one plus an extended USB cable for my Goal Zero Fire Fly. Was a bit worried that the light isn't properly heat sinked like the Fire Fly which gets hotter outside (kinda a good thing in the world of LEDs) but for 14.95 shipped it has the light of a 40 watt incandescent blub around 350 plus lumens. The tipi was illuminated like the inside of a house.
Powered by all hard wood the stove burned great with much less smoke. Maple coals nicely turning to fine ash.
The traditional bannock.
The traditional pork products.
Canadian Guy was burning white gas seemingly 24/7 along with his small tent stove. This meant a constant flow of melted snow and a camp illuminated like the sun. I think next time when pulling a pulk sled some white gas will be burning at my camp as well.
Entire camp:
8-man tipi.
Canadian guy digging a cold trap in his Paratipi. These make for a nice seats as well.
Bill Bass Sawtooth shelter.
The large stove was always hungry. Daylight is the best time to gather wood as forays in the cold night generally suck. I dump my pulk sled's trace poles in favor of paracord for maneuverability in the brush when foraging.
Standing Maple like this will run the stove for hours once cut then split. Dry and rock hard. Still one must fight the 3 food deep snow to get it. Without snow shoes and a sled foraging would be problematic at best.
Speaking of snow shoes Andy was doing a field repair on his using a zip tie and duct tape. Seemed to hold up during a snow shoe hike. A day hike from camp. I was breaking trail so decided out in the open would offer greater speed than fighting though the forest. On the down side there was water under foot. A certain sailor who shall remain nameless Robbie managed to have an altercation with a beaver dam and lodge. Fortunately wet feet were skillfully evaded.
Checking out the woods on the other side of the swamp for a day camp location.
The beaver were working over this tree.
Robbie practicing with his Ti Emberlit stove. Burning a small hobo stove is a bit of an art but once the skill is masted they're easy to use.
Last year we used a Mora knife, rock and charcoth to start the day camp fire. This year I did a bowdrill fire floating on the snow.
Spruce needle tea water being boiled using the world's simplest pot hook. A stick shoved in the snow.
The tripod pot hanger also worked however as the fire burned though the snow expanding the hole this setup needs to be watched.
Gotta put out the fire before shoe shoeing back to camp.
Split maple burned nice. Good thing there was a larger axe in camp.
It snowed a bit nearly every day the last night was no exception. I think an additional 8 inches fell during the outing.
Tipi totally frosted over and coated with snow and ice in the morning.
All packed up and last one to leave.
Spruce are nice but hemlocks still make the best conifer needle tea.
The stand out kit items were larger camp axes, buck saws, pulk sleds, shoe shoes, insulated canteens, ground pads, sleeping bags, wood stoves and anything else which kept us warm and hydrated. Here is a video for those who were able to scroll though all these pics to actually make it to this point. Thanks for looking.
[video=youtube;hPd4sD6a-YE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPd4sD6a-YE[/video]
We dug out out shelter area. Others elected to float their camp and another constructed a mound. Would digging out the area and wall help protect my camp from the wind or simply allow cold air to settle in? The issue was debated!
The Oak Island shaft:
Indian burial mound:
I didn't use my stove on the first night as it was too late. This would be my first tipi outing using the Large Kifaru stove and Riley spark box. I hoped the larger firebox would reduce the work. Bigger the firebox the less processing required with hopefully great output. One of the downsides to a take down box stove is assembling it.
Foraging for wood to stay off the coming winter Apocalypse.
Our two sleds working hard.
My little mouse hawk was ok but not up to the task of the larger wood processing required to weather the feared "polar blast" which was expected in hours.
Wood all ready for the night. We were taking no chances.
The maple burned great but much of the yellow birch was really frozen punk. There was a period of heavy rain weeks ago then a deep freeze. I should have known better. Still the maple had enough energy to boil off the water within the birch.
The resulting water vapor produce a massive cloud of smoke coming out the pipe into the nose hair freezing cold.
Robbie hanging bags on a bushcrafty tripod to air out after the cold blast.
Andy and John survived the night as well. I was up around 1:30 AM to read the thermometer hanging outside the tent. Looked like -17 Fahrenheit with a brisk wind blowing. It could have gotten colder later so I will pull a Brian Williams boasting of negative 20 F (-29 C) with wind chill even lower.
Out and about on the never ending quest for wood. This time I would only take standing hard dead wood with maple being my preference.
Sawed down this standing guessing maple sapling. My uncle Richard helped saw it into stove sized chunks. We took turns
From the forest to the camp. I removed all the remaining "skank" wood from the pile. The stove burned much better.
The selfie. LOL!
Bill Bass found a nice stash of wood. I planned on checking out that area soon. Wood and water are everything.
My fluffy down sleeping bag is so good that even on the coldest sub zero night I used it as a blanket. No need to zip it up.
Melting snow for water seemed like a never ending task.
Along with my GSI kettle a bandanna plus double walled wide mouthed Camelbak canteen were used to process snow into water.
The bandanna filtered out any floaters but almost instantly froze. Still it worked just fine.
Crazy bright USB powered hanging bulb. It comes with 7 feet of cord that has an on/off switch near the end. Bill Bass always has the best kit. LOL! I just ordered one plus an extended USB cable for my Goal Zero Fire Fly. Was a bit worried that the light isn't properly heat sinked like the Fire Fly which gets hotter outside (kinda a good thing in the world of LEDs) but for 14.95 shipped it has the light of a 40 watt incandescent blub around 350 plus lumens. The tipi was illuminated like the inside of a house.
Powered by all hard wood the stove burned great with much less smoke. Maple coals nicely turning to fine ash.
The traditional bannock.
The traditional pork products.
Canadian Guy was burning white gas seemingly 24/7 along with his small tent stove. This meant a constant flow of melted snow and a camp illuminated like the sun. I think next time when pulling a pulk sled some white gas will be burning at my camp as well.
Entire camp:
8-man tipi.
Canadian guy digging a cold trap in his Paratipi. These make for a nice seats as well.
Bill Bass Sawtooth shelter.
The large stove was always hungry. Daylight is the best time to gather wood as forays in the cold night generally suck. I dump my pulk sled's trace poles in favor of paracord for maneuverability in the brush when foraging.
Standing Maple like this will run the stove for hours once cut then split. Dry and rock hard. Still one must fight the 3 food deep snow to get it. Without snow shoes and a sled foraging would be problematic at best.
Speaking of snow shoes Andy was doing a field repair on his using a zip tie and duct tape. Seemed to hold up during a snow shoe hike. A day hike from camp. I was breaking trail so decided out in the open would offer greater speed than fighting though the forest. On the down side there was water under foot. A certain sailor who shall remain nameless Robbie managed to have an altercation with a beaver dam and lodge. Fortunately wet feet were skillfully evaded.
Checking out the woods on the other side of the swamp for a day camp location.
The beaver were working over this tree.
Robbie practicing with his Ti Emberlit stove. Burning a small hobo stove is a bit of an art but once the skill is masted they're easy to use.
Last year we used a Mora knife, rock and charcoth to start the day camp fire. This year I did a bowdrill fire floating on the snow.
Spruce needle tea water being boiled using the world's simplest pot hook. A stick shoved in the snow.
The tripod pot hanger also worked however as the fire burned though the snow expanding the hole this setup needs to be watched.
Gotta put out the fire before shoe shoeing back to camp.
Split maple burned nice. Good thing there was a larger axe in camp.
It snowed a bit nearly every day the last night was no exception. I think an additional 8 inches fell during the outing.
Tipi totally frosted over and coated with snow and ice in the morning.
All packed up and last one to leave.
Spruce are nice but hemlocks still make the best conifer needle tea.
The stand out kit items were larger camp axes, buck saws, pulk sleds, shoe shoes, insulated canteens, ground pads, sleeping bags, wood stoves and anything else which kept us warm and hydrated. Here is a video for those who were able to scroll though all these pics to actually make it to this point. Thanks for looking.
[video=youtube;hPd4sD6a-YE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPd4sD6a-YE[/video]
