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My oldest daughter has been bugging me this year to do another winter camp out. So, last weekend my daughters and I hit the trail with another friend of theirs and her dad. That day the temp was 0f and the winds were ranging from 25 to 55 miles an hour. I had my second thoughts! When I asked the girls if they still wanted to go, they replied that the worse the weather the better! So, off we went.
The first challenge was that we had to drive 2 miles down a minimum maintenance road that was all drifted in. At times as I hit the drifts with my V plow the snow would fly over the truck enveloping us in a complete white out. We got to the trailhead without a hitch though and unloaded our toboggans and snowshoes and started our 2-mile hike back to a remote lake. That was a lot of work!
Once we got to our spot My buddy and two of the girls started setting up camp while my youngest daughter and I started cutting firewood. We were using portable ice fishing houses that we cut roof jacks in for woodstoves. I made my roof jack out of a piece of welding drop cloth and used Velcro to attach it to the opening. Once we had fires going the tents were nice and warm, and it was venison steak for supper!
We had planned to fish right out of our tents.... But I was concerned that the 2 feet of snow on the lake might exert enough pressure to turn our fishing holes into artesian wells flooding our camp. So, we drilled a hole about 200 yards from camp and sure enough the water flooded right up. (No fishing in our tents this year!)
That night came the first of two mishaps. First, the girls went over to play Farkle with the other crew. When I got up to join the fun both of my legs locked up in a Charlie Horse! Ouch! So, there I lay riding the pain out! (I must be a little out of shape!) Throughout the night when I would put my boots on to stoke the fire I would get a Charlie horse. So, I finally just slept in my boots. (problem solved)
The second mishap was that at 3 AM my oldest daughter stoked the fire and the tent began to have a haze of smoke in it, also the stove wasn't heating up as it should. So, for three hours I fought the stove producing more smoke and less heat. I had to open up the tent a couple of times to get the smoke out. It was -20f that morning so we were cooling down in no time. Both girls were hunkered down in their bags, while I was wet and cold fighting the stove. Then I had a 'Light Bulb' moment.... The spark arrestor in the chimney cap! I went out and took the top section of the chimney off and immediately I could hear the stove come to life! Sure enough the spark arrestor was plugged up. In no time the tent was nice and warm and we got thawed out. Spam, Eggs, and Potatoes and coffee for breakfast, and an enjoyable morning together. My youngest daughter tried fishing in the hole we drilled the night before, but the winds picked up again and it didn't get above 0f. So, it was a little to miserable. We packed up after lunch and trekked back out to the trucks. The road in had drifted over even worse, but we were able to plow our way out again. Over-all a great trip!

interesting .... very interesting indeed .... there is absolutely nothing available in our part of the country for such winter camping

My kind of kids. I used to do some winter camping, but that was many, many years, ago.

Thats way cool that you did that with the girls. They will remember that for the rest of their lives. On a side note its common in that type of weather to become dehydrated and thats probably one thing that contributed to your leg cramps

Great memories made for you and your girls!

BigAl52 wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 23, 2022 1:06 pm

Thats way cool that you did that with the girls. They will remember that for the rest of their lives. On a side note its common in that type of weather to become dehydrated and thats probably one thing that contributed to your leg cramps

I think that was it. The next day I drank lots of water on the trail and had no more problems.

You Minnesotans’ sure are tough!

You are a hearty family and have my respect.

In the early sixties, my CT Boy Scout troop held annual winter camp jamborees and other events. They were always a really fun time; most often there was snow and certainly the lake would be frozen. These were great experiences and we learned quite a bit about outdoor survival.

I especially enjoyed the Klondike Derby, which required us to build a dogsled to compete with other troops as we moved along a trail from station to station, performing scouting skills like communicating with semaphore flags, fire starting/building, etc. Fond memories.

It was bare bones winter camping. We slept in a sleeping bag in a pup tent... no heaters; just lots of layers.

Good of you to do that with your daughters. Makes great memories. Also helps to be well prepared and have the proper equipment.