Saturday
November 27, 9:00pm Maple Leaf Lake
Winter camping is hard. You need lots of sleep. Take us for example.
We were in bed last night between 8 and 9pm and we all woke up this morning around 8am. Twelve hours' sleep. You need it though. All that cold, all that shivering, fire-huddling. It takes a toll.
Sonja made astoundingly good, perfectly-formed omlettes this morning. We also had muffins and bagels.
We decided to do a day hike further along the Western Uplands trail. We had planned to hike to Maggie Lake, but progress was slower than anticipated. The lack of traction, I think, slows you do down more than you imagine. We made it to Hardy Lake by lunch time.
The trail is fairly easy - there are a few hills, but again, nothing that requires hands. We had got a late start, and to accomodate our pace, we decided to head back at Hardy Lake.
We got back to our camp at around 4pm - more or less sundown. We had some leek soup and tea and hung around, trying to burn wet wood (and clothing) until around 6pm. Dinner was tandoori curry with pudding, courtesy of Lester (I am starting to see a pattern here).
We stood next to the fire, sang a song or two, told stories then ran for the tents, but not before Sonja had fed us a Lifa kebab and sock flambé.
Last night I was at the outer edge of my sleeping bag/overbag's heat rating. It feels milder tonight. Wish me luck.
Things about winter camping that are hard:
- heat regulation: I motored through the hike this morning, all zipped up. I was warm but felt quite comfortable. By lunch my jacket was soaked through with sweat. (The double edged sword of wick wear). You need to take a little cold so you can vent moisture, or stay moving constantly. The latter option can make drinking tea a tad awkward.
- humidity: nothing dries, prompting you to use fire to do the trick, which nine times out of ten, in my humble experience, leads to carbon-dated clothing.
- you need more stuff: a full-length thermarest makes a lot of sense in winter, as anything that touches the tent floor feels like it's living in a refrigerator.
- strange things freeze: like your boot liners. It was fairly mild this weekend and I remember learning this the hard way in high school, so I brought my boot liners into the tent. Your toothpaste. Your water filter. Peanut butter.
- gloves will be destroyed: you do everything with gloved hands. Liners and mitts with strings to attatch mitts to jacket are a good strategy for true winter camping. I brought tatty old holofil biking gloves which were thin enough to allow me to do most things (except use my camera dammit) gloved, but mostly provided enough warmth. But it took most of the rest of their life out of them.
Things about winter camping that are good:
- the world is your refrigerator. Provided you can keep it from freezing, you can use mayonaise in your sandwiches.
- you will experience no crowds
- you will be among good company. I'm convinced that people who do this are all a little bit eccentric. I fit right in.
Peace all.