Took a buddy out for a short overnighter in preparation for a four day / three night camp out next weekend.
He'd never camped in cold weather before and wanted to get some experience before staying out longer.
We didn't have a bunch of time so it was a really short trip; we stepped off at 3:30pm and we were back just before 8:00am.
It took us about twenty minutes to hike in on the snow machine trail, so I estimate we walked in about a mile.
Near the beginning of the trek we came to a small stream crossing. Dragging my pulk across the open water was not the best choice - more on that later.
After getting to the campsite, we used snow shoes to pack down the area for setting up the tipi (difficult to see in the background).
I'm glad we didn't have to dig down as I had forgot to pack my shovel. (note to self)
Then we dumped the gear out of my pulk and walked back to the start of the trail to pick up some firewood.
Letting some time elapse after packing the snow down and before setting the shelter up allows the snow to "set-in" and firm up a little bit.
In this case it would be about 3/4 of an hour.
I had pre-split a load of wood a few days before to save time and we got some miles in on the snowshoes going back and forth to get it.
The majority of the trail was packed down by snow machines, but there was a short section that we had to break trail on.
It wasn't difficult - there was only about 4" of fresh snow and even walking in just boots I didn't worry about getting snow in them - even so, I still had my gaiters with me.
My buddy ended up dragging the wood back and commented that it seemed like the pulk didn't slide well.
Initially I thought that his lack of experience was the cause of his comment, but after a little investigation discovered this:
After three trips across the small stream, ice had caked up on the bottom of the pulk - and it wasn't smooth - greatly increasing the drag.
At the time of our movement the temps in the area were around 12*F so the water picked up some loose snow and froze to the bottom of the pulk.
The pics above were taken after I had beat some of it loose - greatly improving the sliding properties of the pulk.
Next time we'll take the time to carry the pulk across any open water.
Under the 4" of fresh snow there was probably another 4" hard packed older snow, so setting up the tipi with snow stakes was no problem.
I tapped the snow stakes in just to seat them with my axe. I need to make a PVC axe sheath like this one to reduce the chance of an accident or cutting something I don't intent to.
After erecting the shelter it was time to get the stove set up and cook some chow. We had judged the time almost perfectly - just as we retired to the shelter it was starting to get dark.
Time to get the lights up. I rarely store batteries in the devices in case they leak, but occasionally forget.
In this case I was glad I had removed the batteries from my "UFO lights" (some people call them "puck" lights), but disappointed that I failed to check them before heading out. (note to self)
The batteries for my headlamp were still good to go and I had several "pinch lights", a Quark Pro QP2A and a Klarus XT2C in reserve.
After getting the stove set up it was time to show my buddy what a collapsible stove can do. So I ran it wide open and got it red hot with zero damage to the stove jack.
It does not normally get run this way as it consumes a lot of wood quickly.
After that demonstration, it was time to cook some chow and give him some ideas on cooking with the stove.
I stir fried some shrimp and mixed vegetables in olive oil and he heated up some beans and rice on his white gas stove.
He had too much heat on his pan and ended up burning some of his food. He switched over to the wood stove and was able to heat up his meal more uniformly and with a little more control.
I added a little bit of Sriracha hot sauce to my meal and chowed down!
While we were eating, there were other bivouac routine chores to do - mainly melting snow to restock our water supply.
The container I scored this summer works well for digging up snow and melting it on the stove.
It even works well when using a pot lid to refill a water bottle.
The reported temperature got down to just below 0*F, but we both had the MSS for sleeping bags so it was no big deal.
Here is my MSS (bivy, black bag and poncho liner) inside my new Kifaru 5-string stuff sack.
The MSS compresses horribly (and is heavy to boot), but the Kifaru stuff sack shapes it into more of a cylinder shape than the USGI stuff sack, which is more like a ball.
I've found the cylinder shape reduces the amount of "void space" inside a pack (or pulk) when packing gear.
We both slept really well and after getting up and lighting the stove to take off the chill, we proceeded to prepare breakfast.
I had used too much olive oil the night before and was out (note to self), so we cooked some bacon to get some grease (and besides - it's bacon) for the morning meal.
I chose to dice up some summer sausage and then sauté it with some peppers & onions and then dumped some scrambled eggs on it.
My buddy wanted to try some boil in a bag eggs.
When my concoction was almost ready, I placed a tortilla over it to heat it up.
My buddy had decided that he needed to use a deeper pan to cook his eggs, but as he was transferring his bag to my Primus cook pot, the zip lock bag made contact with the stove pipe.
Needless to say a small mess ensued and he lost most of his meal. (Note to him)
But no problem - there was plenty to go around.
After packing up we took a quick picture before heading back.
My buddy enjoyed is his time outside in the cold / snow and is looking forward to the longer trip.
There was another stream of less consequence to cross along the way.
The blue tote strapped to the pulk is the (now empty) container we used to haul in some wood.
All in all a good trip. We both made a few mistakes, but no one got hurt and we didn't damage any gear. All lessons we can apply to future trips.
He'd never camped in cold weather before and wanted to get some experience before staying out longer.
We didn't have a bunch of time so it was a really short trip; we stepped off at 3:30pm and we were back just before 8:00am.
It took us about twenty minutes to hike in on the snow machine trail, so I estimate we walked in about a mile.
Near the beginning of the trek we came to a small stream crossing. Dragging my pulk across the open water was not the best choice - more on that later.
After getting to the campsite, we used snow shoes to pack down the area for setting up the tipi (difficult to see in the background).
I'm glad we didn't have to dig down as I had forgot to pack my shovel. (note to self)
Then we dumped the gear out of my pulk and walked back to the start of the trail to pick up some firewood.
Letting some time elapse after packing the snow down and before setting the shelter up allows the snow to "set-in" and firm up a little bit.
In this case it would be about 3/4 of an hour.
I had pre-split a load of wood a few days before to save time and we got some miles in on the snowshoes going back and forth to get it.
The majority of the trail was packed down by snow machines, but there was a short section that we had to break trail on.
It wasn't difficult - there was only about 4" of fresh snow and even walking in just boots I didn't worry about getting snow in them - even so, I still had my gaiters with me.
My buddy ended up dragging the wood back and commented that it seemed like the pulk didn't slide well.
Initially I thought that his lack of experience was the cause of his comment, but after a little investigation discovered this:
After three trips across the small stream, ice had caked up on the bottom of the pulk - and it wasn't smooth - greatly increasing the drag.
At the time of our movement the temps in the area were around 12*F so the water picked up some loose snow and froze to the bottom of the pulk.
The pics above were taken after I had beat some of it loose - greatly improving the sliding properties of the pulk.
Next time we'll take the time to carry the pulk across any open water.
Under the 4" of fresh snow there was probably another 4" hard packed older snow, so setting up the tipi with snow stakes was no problem.
I tapped the snow stakes in just to seat them with my axe. I need to make a PVC axe sheath like this one to reduce the chance of an accident or cutting something I don't intent to.
After erecting the shelter it was time to get the stove set up and cook some chow. We had judged the time almost perfectly - just as we retired to the shelter it was starting to get dark.
Time to get the lights up. I rarely store batteries in the devices in case they leak, but occasionally forget.
In this case I was glad I had removed the batteries from my "UFO lights" (some people call them "puck" lights), but disappointed that I failed to check them before heading out. (note to self)
The batteries for my headlamp were still good to go and I had several "pinch lights", a Quark Pro QP2A and a Klarus XT2C in reserve.
After getting the stove set up it was time to show my buddy what a collapsible stove can do. So I ran it wide open and got it red hot with zero damage to the stove jack.
It does not normally get run this way as it consumes a lot of wood quickly.
After that demonstration, it was time to cook some chow and give him some ideas on cooking with the stove.
I stir fried some shrimp and mixed vegetables in olive oil and he heated up some beans and rice on his white gas stove.
He had too much heat on his pan and ended up burning some of his food. He switched over to the wood stove and was able to heat up his meal more uniformly and with a little more control.
I added a little bit of Sriracha hot sauce to my meal and chowed down!
While we were eating, there were other bivouac routine chores to do - mainly melting snow to restock our water supply.
The container I scored this summer works well for digging up snow and melting it on the stove.
It even works well when using a pot lid to refill a water bottle.
The reported temperature got down to just below 0*F, but we both had the MSS for sleeping bags so it was no big deal.
Here is my MSS (bivy, black bag and poncho liner) inside my new Kifaru 5-string stuff sack.
The MSS compresses horribly (and is heavy to boot), but the Kifaru stuff sack shapes it into more of a cylinder shape than the USGI stuff sack, which is more like a ball.
I've found the cylinder shape reduces the amount of "void space" inside a pack (or pulk) when packing gear.
We both slept really well and after getting up and lighting the stove to take off the chill, we proceeded to prepare breakfast.
I had used too much olive oil the night before and was out (note to self), so we cooked some bacon to get some grease (and besides - it's bacon) for the morning meal.
I chose to dice up some summer sausage and then sauté it with some peppers & onions and then dumped some scrambled eggs on it.
My buddy wanted to try some boil in a bag eggs.
When my concoction was almost ready, I placed a tortilla over it to heat it up.
My buddy had decided that he needed to use a deeper pan to cook his eggs, but as he was transferring his bag to my Primus cook pot, the zip lock bag made contact with the stove pipe.
Needless to say a small mess ensued and he lost most of his meal. (Note to him)
But no problem - there was plenty to go around.
After packing up we took a quick picture before heading back.
My buddy enjoyed is his time outside in the cold / snow and is looking forward to the longer trip.
There was another stream of less consequence to cross along the way.
The blue tote strapped to the pulk is the (now empty) container we used to haul in some wood.
All in all a good trip. We both made a few mistakes, but no one got hurt and we didn't damage any gear. All lessons we can apply to future trips.
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