Spent four days / three nights in the southern Adirondacks with a few friends; some are very experienced in bush craft and winter camping, others were just beginning their education.
After getting to the parking lot we got geared up for the hike in. First we had to get the pulks up and over the chained gate and onto the trail.
The area we were in was recently acquired by the state and had been logged a few years ago. Three of our buddies had arrived the day prior and broke the trail for us.
The trail was wide and slightly downhill almost the entire way. My snowshoes were a little wider than the few who had preceded me, but it wasn't too much trouble moving down the trail.
Robbie (who is known for bringing a lot of gear and equipment) made good time also.
Once we got to the old log landing it was time for the set up routine - pack down an area for the shelter, collect wood, erect the shelter and get out our personal equipment ready for sleeping and eating.
On this trip the friends who were already at the camp gave us some help packing down the area for our shelter so we could head out for wood collecting right away.
We found a few dead standing trees that were prime for processing into stove size pieces.
Here John cuts up a tree with one of Robbie's buck saws (I broke the other one a day later).
With three of us sharing the wood cutting chore, it didn't take long for us to fill the pulk with wood.
After we got back from gathering wood, I took some time to look around at the other shelters to see how they were set up.
Woodswalker and Rich decided to dig their 4 man tipi down to ground level.
Not sure if the picture clearly shows the depth of their entrenchment. We all joked that if they weren't careful, they might catch Bigfoot!
Ken chose to build up his platform for his 8 man tipi before digging down the living area.
We ended up doing neither when putting up Robbie's 8 man tipi. We simply packed the snow down and set the tipi up on it.
We did drop some snow around the edges of the tipi to help seal out the wind.
In the evening I made a quick dinner of mixed veggies and shrimp.
The forecast for the first night was to be the coldest of the weekend. By 8 pm it was -5*F.
One of the campers reported the next morning that during the night his thermometer read -17*F.
The remainder of the weekend the temps varied from the teens at night to the 20s during the day.
In the morning I made my typical breakfast of scrambled eggs with bacon (or sausage).
After gathering more wood, I took the time to build a tripod and used it to air out my sleeping system so that any accumulated moisture would evaporate and not result in the bag losing some of its temperature rating.
Drying other gear on the clothes line was also a task to be accomplished.
On this day a few more campers made it in and we all pitched in to help them get set up. We also spend a good deal of time looking at the different gear and equipment that the others had brought to camp. We debated the pros and cons of each set up and discovered different ways of doing things to make camping in the cold a better experience.
On one of the days we went on a short snow shoe hike. Right before we stepped off I noticed that a nut had come loose from by binding. John had some zip ties in his repair kit, so I fashioned them in a quick repair.
This worked well not only for the snow shoe hike, but also for the remainder of the trip. Now that I am back I can properly repair the binding.
Woodswalker, CanadanGuy, John and Rich to my front:
BillyBass and Robbie to the rear:
Understanding the risks and accepting the consequences we struck out over this swampy marsh area.
Near the far side we came across a beaver dam and the lodge. Looks like the DEC demo'd the center of the dam.
While we were out we stopped so that WoodsWalker could start a fire with his bow drill kit.
He published a video of it here, but there is language that is NSFW (or children).
He also does a tutorial here.
We also heated up some water and roasted some meat over the open fire.
Robbie messed around with his Emberlit stove.
After a little bit of trial and error, he managed to heat up a warm drink.
Best way to bust your ass snow shoeing? Get a small tree stump caught in your webbing!
Seemed like we got a little bit of snow each day. This picture really picks up the reflective properties of the guy lines on BillyBass's Sawtooth shelter.
There was plenty of chow to go around all weekend. Everyone cooked a little bit and shared a little bit.
Nhlibertas carried in a really great fry pan and many of took turns cooking a meal in it.
There was mixed veggies with chorizo and a dish of meatballs:
Some "Adirondack" shrimp:
Sausage with pepper & onions next to some summer sausage medallions:
After a few days the wood processing area was getting a little messy and snow was melting down.
So we shoveled in some fresh snow to clean things up and level out the floor.
On the last night we got the stove cranked up to a nice red glow. It was a great feeling to be warm and dry as we climbed into our bags for the night.
The next morning it was time to pack up and head out. There was another storm bearing down on the Northeast and we all wanted to get out ahead of it.
After getting to the parking lot we got geared up for the hike in. First we had to get the pulks up and over the chained gate and onto the trail.
The area we were in was recently acquired by the state and had been logged a few years ago. Three of our buddies had arrived the day prior and broke the trail for us.
The trail was wide and slightly downhill almost the entire way. My snowshoes were a little wider than the few who had preceded me, but it wasn't too much trouble moving down the trail.
Robbie (who is known for bringing a lot of gear and equipment) made good time also.
Once we got to the old log landing it was time for the set up routine - pack down an area for the shelter, collect wood, erect the shelter and get out our personal equipment ready for sleeping and eating.
On this trip the friends who were already at the camp gave us some help packing down the area for our shelter so we could head out for wood collecting right away.
We found a few dead standing trees that were prime for processing into stove size pieces.
Here John cuts up a tree with one of Robbie's buck saws (I broke the other one a day later).
With three of us sharing the wood cutting chore, it didn't take long for us to fill the pulk with wood.
After we got back from gathering wood, I took some time to look around at the other shelters to see how they were set up.
Woodswalker and Rich decided to dig their 4 man tipi down to ground level.
Not sure if the picture clearly shows the depth of their entrenchment. We all joked that if they weren't careful, they might catch Bigfoot!
Ken chose to build up his platform for his 8 man tipi before digging down the living area.
We ended up doing neither when putting up Robbie's 8 man tipi. We simply packed the snow down and set the tipi up on it.
We did drop some snow around the edges of the tipi to help seal out the wind.
In the evening I made a quick dinner of mixed veggies and shrimp.
The forecast for the first night was to be the coldest of the weekend. By 8 pm it was -5*F.
One of the campers reported the next morning that during the night his thermometer read -17*F.
The remainder of the weekend the temps varied from the teens at night to the 20s during the day.
In the morning I made my typical breakfast of scrambled eggs with bacon (or sausage).
After gathering more wood, I took the time to build a tripod and used it to air out my sleeping system so that any accumulated moisture would evaporate and not result in the bag losing some of its temperature rating.
Drying other gear on the clothes line was also a task to be accomplished.
On this day a few more campers made it in and we all pitched in to help them get set up. We also spend a good deal of time looking at the different gear and equipment that the others had brought to camp. We debated the pros and cons of each set up and discovered different ways of doing things to make camping in the cold a better experience.
On one of the days we went on a short snow shoe hike. Right before we stepped off I noticed that a nut had come loose from by binding. John had some zip ties in his repair kit, so I fashioned them in a quick repair.
This worked well not only for the snow shoe hike, but also for the remainder of the trip. Now that I am back I can properly repair the binding.
Woodswalker, CanadanGuy, John and Rich to my front:
BillyBass and Robbie to the rear:
Understanding the risks and accepting the consequences we struck out over this swampy marsh area.
Near the far side we came across a beaver dam and the lodge. Looks like the DEC demo'd the center of the dam.
While we were out we stopped so that WoodsWalker could start a fire with his bow drill kit.
He published a video of it here, but there is language that is NSFW (or children).
He also does a tutorial here.
We also heated up some water and roasted some meat over the open fire.
Robbie messed around with his Emberlit stove.
After a little bit of trial and error, he managed to heat up a warm drink.
Best way to bust your ass snow shoeing? Get a small tree stump caught in your webbing!
Seemed like we got a little bit of snow each day. This picture really picks up the reflective properties of the guy lines on BillyBass's Sawtooth shelter.
There was plenty of chow to go around all weekend. Everyone cooked a little bit and shared a little bit.
Nhlibertas carried in a really great fry pan and many of took turns cooking a meal in it.
There was mixed veggies with chorizo and a dish of meatballs:
Some "Adirondack" shrimp:
Sausage with pepper & onions next to some summer sausage medallions:
After a few days the wood processing area was getting a little messy and snow was melting down.
So we shoveled in some fresh snow to clean things up and level out the floor.
On the last night we got the stove cranked up to a nice red glow. It was a great feeling to be warm and dry as we climbed into our bags for the night.
The next morning it was time to pack up and head out. There was another storm bearing down on the Northeast and we all wanted to get out ahead of it.
![[wink]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/002.gif "Wink [wink]")
![[shocked]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/007.gif "Shocked [shocked]")
![[laugh]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/012.gif "Laugh [laugh]")
stove make this a non-issue.
