Long Time, No…Anything

It was never my intention to go quite this long without posting anything.  I knew that I was going to be entering a busy time at work, and that it might be a few weeks before a new post went up, but I figured that a month, at most, and I’d be back to posting with my usual regularity.  After all, I wouldn’t want you to have to go without advice and ideas for outdoor explorations.  Alas, no plan survives first contact with the enemy, and the best laid plans of mice and men are wont to go astray, so I now find myself nearly six months out from my most recent post.

The good news is that this lackluster apology post is also testament to the fact that my work schedule is about to ease up, at least a little (perhaps I’ll be able to work eighteen hours a day instead of twenty), and I have every intention of resuming the blog from where it left off.  I already have at least one or two new adventures that are in the hopper, and I know that I’ve promised you posts on everything from orienteering, to packing lists, to knot-tying.  Hopefully as we move into the summer I’ll be able to finally make good on those earlier commitments.

That’s all for now, but look forward to an actual post soon.  Thank you all for your patience and understanding.

Layers

A lot of wonderful things have layers: planets, stars, and lasagna, to name a few.  Aside from making delicious casseroles, layers are also key to keeping warm.  We’ve discussed before the thermodynamic principles of this before, regarding heat transfer, specific heat capacity, and thermodynamic equilibrium, but we are now going to get into the specifics of layering for cold-weather camping (and other outdoor activities).  Remember, layering is as much about staying cool (not sweating) as it is about staying warm, so never be afraid to delayer as you go.

Layer 1 – Base Layer

We discussed base layers briefly in our recent posts, but let’s review here, for completeness’s sake.  A base layer’s main purpose is not to keep you warm, although many will be pretty toasty.  It’s main purpose is to keep water away from your skin, whether that water source is internal or external.  Because base layers are tight-fitting, and usually made from some kind of synthetic material, they don’t trap a lot of air, so they don’t do a lot to keep you warm, although they do keep cold air from being in contact with your skin, so in that respect they can be fairly warming.

Layer 2 – The “Normal” Layer

I call this the normal layer because this is typically where I would wear my regular hiking clothes.  Sometimes, I will switch out the overshirt for something a little warmer, if it’s sufficiently cold outside, but I find that layer means I rarely need any single layer ot be exceedingly insulating.

Layer 3 – The Fuzzy Layer

For whatever reason, I don’t get cold easily.  Perhaps it’s because of my cold-hearted nature, or because I vent a lot of heat, but whatever the case, I will often forgo the fuzzy layer.  However, it’s an important part of the layering system, and should not be neglected in this discussion.  This is where you would wear you fleece-type garments.  In some circumstances, I will go with a fuzzy layer and an outer shell, and skip the puffy layer (which is coming next).  This is one of your key sources of insulation, and really starts to build those layers of trapped, warmable air.

Layer 4 – The Puffy Layer

Hopefully I’m not losing you with these very technical names.  The puffy layer is exactly what it sounds like.  This is your classic, down, winter jacket.  Ideally, you’ll want it to have lots of individual pockets full of down, so that the fluff remains properly distributed (much like in a sleeping bag).  It’s also useful if your puffy layer has vents, since it can get quite warm quite quickly once you start moving.  Sometimes, your puffy layer will also have your outer shell built onto it (especially when it comes to snowpants).

Layer 5 – The Outer Shell

Again, we’ve already discussed this layer before, but to review: the outer shell is some kind of water-resistant/water-repellent/water-proof layer that should also serve as a good wind block (since wind likes to steal away all of those warm layers of air you so painstakingly trapped and heated around yourself).

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It should be noted that you can have multiple of any of these layers, although duplicating the fuzzy layer is the most recommended for additional warmth.  I’ve used this layering system and managed to overheat in -25 degree weather (Fahrenheit), so I can attest that it is quite effective.  Tailor your layering to the cold weather situation in which you find yourself, and remember that staying cool is as important as staying warm.

Keep Jack Frost from Nipping…

Somehow, the holidays, or at least their entourage of decor, music, scents, foods, and advertisements, seem to arrive earlier every year.  This has absolutely nothing to do with the topic of this post, but it does help explain the title.  As promised, this post will cover how to keep Jack Frost from nipping away your fingers, ears, noses, toeses, and other body parts, as well as how to prevent catastrophic organ failure.

Yes, that took an unexpectedly dark turn, but as frightening as frostbite it, it’s hypothermia that is the real killer when it comes to cold weather camping.  We’ll address both topics here, covering their symptoms, prevention, and treatment options.  As usual, while I have been trained in first-aid, I have no qualifications as a trainer or medical professional, so I do not recommend using this blog as your ultimate guide to outdoor medicine.  If you want more details, I highly recommend seeking out a local Red Cross First-Aid or Wilderness First Aid course.  We discussed these here, by the way.

Frostbite

Frostbite is actually the a category of cold-related ailments: it includes frostnip, minor frostbite, and severe frostbite.  All of these follow the same principle.  As the body’s core temperature decreases, your body is designed to ensure that the internal organs maintain homeostasis, since if their temperature dips below about ninety degrees, the various chemical reactions that keep your body operational tend to slow down and even stop entirely, which is a problem.  To prevent this, your body will contract the blood vessels in your extremities, preventing blood from flowing as easily, and keeping it hot in your core.  Hence, your fingers, toes, and facial features, which all serve as wonderfully effective radiator panels during hot weather, are sacrificed for the greater good.  Essentially, your body is automatically determining that living without a couple of digits is better than not living at all.

The symptoms are what you might expect: the skin will feel cool or cold to the touch, even icy.  It may also take on a waxy (and eventually brittle) texture.  There will also be discoloration, starting with pale and progressing through various shades of bruise-like colors.  These colors come because of the ice crystals that are forming.  When the kinetic energy of liquid water decreases sufficiently for it to undergo a phase chase, it assembles itself into a very precise crystalline lattice, which results in ice possessing a lesser density than liquid water.  This was important for the survival of life on early earth, and is a fancy way of saying that water expands when it turns to ice.  When the water in your body (which is some 70-90% water, depending on what statistics you choose to believe) freezes, it expands into sharp crystals, slicing through your cells and blood vessels like little, icy daggers.

This takes us nicely into treatment, because we need to dispel a myth.  If you, or someone else, has any level of frostbite, do not rub the area.  Remember those icy daggers we were discussing?  If you rub a frostbitten area, you’ll be taking all of those icy daggers and slashing wantonly through cells all over the place, like some kind of deranged, berserker warrior.  Instead, you’ll want to warm the area gradually, and keep it from being frostbitten again.  Unfortunately, once you’ve had any level of frostbite, the affected area will become more susceptible to frostbite in the future.

Hypothermia

To me, hypothermia is the far more dangerous ailment.  Although frostbite gives clear evidence of it presence, announcing itself in no uncertain terms, hypothermia stalks its prey more subtly, and if you’re not careful, you’ll never notice it until it may be too late.  It doesn’t even have to be cold for hypothermia to set it: under the right conditions, any temperatures below human body temperature can result in hypothermia.  I knew someone who got hypothermia when it was sixty degrees and sunny, because it was a little windy and he got wet.

What is this cold-weather assassin?  It is a lowering of the body’s temperature.  We mentioned homeostasis when discussing frostbite, and how the body pulls blood to the core and keeps it there to try to keep the important organs at the proper temperature.  Hypothermia is, essentially, what happens when that fails, and your core temperature starts to decrease.  If it dips below about 85 degrees (Fahrenheit), there’s a pretty good chance of death.  Since the body is such an intricate, bio-chemical system, this decrease in temperature prevents reactions from proceeding properly, and eventually everything will simply shut down.

There are a lot of hypothermia symptoms, and they overlap significantly with other ailments.  This will be an incomplete list, but more important than knowing all of the specific systems will be knowing the people with whom you’re outdoors.  That way, you’ll be able to identify if they’re acting out of the ordinary.  Some common symptoms include: shivering, disorientation, dizziness, lack of hand-eye coordination, decreased ability to perform complex mental tasks, irritability, irrationality, lethargy, and nausea.

Treatment of hypothermia is just as simple as treatment for heat-related illnesses: you need to bring their core temperature back to normal.  Easy in theory, but sometimes challenging in practice.  If they are wet, get all of their wet clothes off of them.  For that matter, even if they don’t seem wet, get all of their clothes off them and get them into some clean, dry clothes.  Even if you don’t think their clothes are wet, they’ve probably sweated, and changing their clothes will help to provide better insulation.  However, they don’t currently have the heat in their core to make use of that insulation, so you’re not going to want to put them back in clothes right away.  You’re going to need to get them near a heat source, and trap that heat source with them.  The best way to do this is to get in a sleeping bag with them.  Before you all go saying that this is weird, allow me to remind you that their organs will eventually start shutting down, their body temperature will continue to drop, and they will eventually die if you don’t do something to warm their core.  It’s also a good idea to put warm water bottles or hand warmers at their major arteries: neck, armpits, groin.  I actually carry those little hand warmers for precisely that purpose (they’re a bad idea under normal circumstances, because they make you sweat, and sweating is bad when it comes to staying warm).

 

Depending on where you are, treating any of these ailments could simply involve going inside, but if you’re in the backcountry, treatment could be more complicated.  Prevention is a much better option, and we’ll continue discussing how to stay comfortable as winter matures.  If you do suffer from either frostbite or hypothermia in their extreme forms, I would strongly encourage you to get checked out by a medical professional after you return.

I’m by no means encouraging anyone to use this as an excuse to avoid winter camping.  With the proper preparation and knowledge, you’ll not have any issues, and if you know how to identify them, you can address them before they become truly dangerous.

*Disclaimer: As usual, I must remind you that I am not a medical professional, and do not have a certification to teach these sorts of subjects.  Ultimately, you are responsible for your own adventure.

Staying Dry in the Winter

As mentioned in our post about snow, one of the most important steps you can take to stay warm and comfortable while cold-weather camping is staying dry.  This is probably intuitive to you: you’re cold when you get out of the water in the summer, or when you step out of the shower, and your body sweats in order to cool itself.  It turns out that the chances of suffering from hypothermia or frostbite, the two most common ailments associated with cold-weather camping, are greatly increased by wetness (yes, we’ll be discussing hypothermia and frostbite in a future post).  Thus, it’s worth being extra deliberate about our approach to staying dry in the winter.

I like to divide sources of wetness in the winter into two categories, internal and external, and address each independently.  Remember what we said about layering in our post introducing winter camping?  Layering will be our weapon of choice to combat both internal and external sources of moistness.  Speaking of which, why do people dislike the word “moist?”  I’ve never understood that.

Why is moisture such a problem?  That’s a thermodynamics question.  See, heat is actually just a form of kinetic energy, particles vibrating more energetically.  This concept can get quite complicated if we go down to the quantum level and deal with things like electron energy levels, the photoelectric effect, and wave-particle duality of photons, but for our purposes, we can leave it at the simple level of kinetic energy.  Now, when water is in contact with your skin, your skin will dissipate energy into the water, meaning that the water will establish thermodynamic equilibrium with your skin.  This in itself is not bad, but the vapor pressure of water is such that it evaporates, and when it evaporates and dissipates into the atmosphere, it takes that heat energy it stole from your originally with it, leaving you colder.  This is why sweating works, and it’s why wetness is such a killer in cold weather.

Internal

Internal sources of moisture include anything that comes from your body.  That mostly means perspiration, but it also means your breath.  On a chilly campout, have you ever noticed that you wake up with a layer of frost over everything in the tent?  That’s almost entirely from moisture you’re exhaling.  An average human can exhale almost half a gallon of water over a single night’s sleep.  Both of these sources must be accounted for to have the best chance of being comfortable.

The breathing component is both the easiest to address, and the more complicated.  If you don’t cover your mouth, then the moisture will just dissipate into the atmosphere as usual.  However, if it’s really cold, you may not want to be going around with your lips exposed to the frigid air.  Frankly, I don’t know if I’ve found the best solution to this problem, but what I do is have my head covering setup arranged in such a way that I can easily take it on or off my mouth and nose.  This allows me to use it to warm up, then put it aside before it can get to damp.

Perspiration, while a more pervasive occurrence, is easier to handle.  First, you should be using layering to avoid excessive sweating; if you start getting warm, delayer.  Using a moisture-wicking base layer of some kind (commonly known as long underwear) is also a key component, since when you do sweat, it will keep that sweat from become trapped against your skin, soaking your clothes, and slowly evaporating, leaching your heat away from you.  Some base layers, such as your socks, you’ll probably want to change multiple times over the course of a day, depending on your activity level and the ambient temperature.

External

Snow, hail, sleet, rain, freezing rain, or the catch-all “freezing precipitation” can all be sources of external moisture of especial concern during the winter months.  You also have to be concerned with mud, ice, and bodies of water, which can sometimes be disguised by layers of snow or concealing foliage.  To keep this water out, we’re going to need an outer shell layer.  Some of this will be gear you already have.  Let’s start from the bottom and work our way up.

Unless you’re tromping through really deep snow, are in really cold weather, or are doing some kind of specialized winter activity (snow-shoeing, cross-country skiing, ice climbing, ice skating, and so forth), you can keep your feet warm and dry using just your normal hiking boots.  Provided, that is, that you have a good pair of hiking boots, like we’ve described in several posts.  My Zamberlans, as you may have read in our Denali hike post, are quite water resistant, and on my snowy day hike last weekend proved more than adequate for keeping my feet free of the four or five inches of snow that were on the ground.

Above the feet, you have some options.  For most circumstances, I find that snowpants are overkill.  They are too warm, too bulky, and just not necessary for most of the winter camping circumstances in which I’ve found myself.  Unless you’re planning to be rolling around in the snow, or are expecting it to be really, really cold, I prefer to go with my normal hiking pants, perhaps supplemented with gators or rain pants.  That’s sufficient to keep the water out, which is the primary concern.  A nice advantage is that most of what blocks water will also block wind, another major source of chilliness.

A fluffy, down jacket might make a fantastically warm and comfortable layer for your top half, but most of them are, in my opinion, insufficiently winterized.  This may seem like a strange statement, but I’ve found that most really warm down jackets don’t have a lot in the way of water-proofing.  I like to use the same windbreaker I use during the rest of the year as my outer layer for winter camping, because it does a good job at turning away the snow and wind.

 

As you may have noticed, we just established what the base layer and outer layer for your winter camping layering system ought to be.  We’ll be covering the rest of the layers in an upcoming post, as well as the specific dangers and treatments for hypothermia and frostbite, the two most common cold-specific ailments.  In the meantime, remember that staying dry is the single most important thing you can do to stay comfortable in cooler weather.

Alone in the Mountains 3.0

Really, I do have friends that exist outside of my own, overactive imagination, but this weekend, I went for another solo, free-form day hike into Pikes National Forest.  These sorts of hikes have been covered previously in such posts as Alone in the Mountains, and Alone in the Mountains, Again.  In fact, the first of these adventures was one year previous: Veteran’s Day Weekend 2017.  There was some snow and ice discovered on that hike, but for this third installment, the snow and ice was the main feature.  See, around 0400 Sunday morning, it started snowing, and it kept snowing, and in fact is still snowing as am I writing this post.

For all of these hikes, the first step is to summit the ridge, so just before dawn, I began my ascent.  Within about a hundred feet of elevation gain, I realized that I had over-layered, so I divested myself of my long underwear shirt.  This was surprising: the temperature was around twenty degrees Fahrenheit, and I was wearing long underwear beneath my usual hiking clothing, as well as mittens, but no additional cold weather gear.  However, as important as it is to stay warm when outdoors in the winter, it is just as important, if not more so, to stay cool, so when I found myself getting close to sweating, I de-layered.  Why is it so important to stay cool?  If you start sweating, that means you’ll be wet, and then you’ll be cold.

Continuing on, the going was more challenging than usual, since everything was covered in about an inch of snow at this point, but it wasn’t exceptionally so, and I was careful to create my own switchbacks and avoid attempting anything too steep, where hidden ice or slippery rocks and branches could get me in trouble.  As I drew closer and closer to the top, however, the going became more challenging, and the wintry weather became more intense.  I crested a smaller ridge before the main one, and it was like stepping into a new, more intense snow storm.  The wind surged, and visibility plummeted to a few feet in any direction by dint of the sheer amount of snow suffusing the air.

I made it to the top of the ridge, but it was challenging, and I grew concerned about the potential hazards of the descent.  Since the snow was not projected to abate until the following evening, there seemed a high possibility the descent would only become increasingly treacherous as the day wore on.  My sense of adventure told me to press on, but prudence told me that, since I was solo hiking and sans trail, I probably ought to turn around and descend, although it was still fairly early in the morning.

Prudence, unfortunately, won out, and I reluctantly began my descent.  At first, I thought I had made the right choice, as the going was definitely more treacherous on the way down than it had been going up, but about a quarter of the way down, I realized that I was overthinking the matter.  If I bent down, so that one foot was directly beneath me, and placed my other foot out in front of me, with my hands to either side, I could slide down the mountain in an exceptionally controlled and safe fashion.  The rear foot acts as a sort of skid, and the front foot and hand provide speed and directional control.  In this fashion, I easily traversed slopes which I would have struggled to descend in a more traditional, upright fashion.

Such a method of descent would probably have been even easier and safer with more snow, not less, on the ground, so I regretted that I had turned around prematurely.  However, I was committed to the course, mostly because I was not interested in backtracking only to backtrack again, so I continued all the way down the mountain and returned home.  Although it was a short hike, shorter than I would have liked, it was a beautiful one, and the snow was just as magical as I have previously described as we’ve discussed winter camping on the blog.  What pictures I took help convey this in part, but they don’t fully communicate the wonder that is a snowy hike in the mountains.  I apologize that there are fewer pictures than usual: it was too windy and snowy at the top to fumble around with my camera.

If you were having doubts about winter hiking, I hope this will help alleviate them.  I took very little specialized gear with me – really only my long underwear and a pair of mittens – but I was quite comfortable.  Now, if I’d been camping, more gear would have been required, but there is little to prevent you from embarking on a day hike in a snowstorm.  I hope that you’ll consider giving winter hiking a try.

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Veteran’s Day 2018

Exactly one hundred years ago, the War to End All Wars, the Great War, the war that came eventually be known as World War I, came to an end.  At the time, the world believed that after its horrors, there would be no more wars of that magnitude, and peace would reign.  Unfortunately, history would eventually prove these lofty hopes false, as World War II brought even greater destruction and more potent threats to the world order.  Nor did conflict cease after the Second World War; battles and wars continue today.

To commemorate all those who served during the First World War, and the signing of the Armistice on 11/11/1918, Armistice Day was established.  Eventually, that day evolved into Veteran’s Day, a holiday which gives us an opportunity to thank all those who have served to defend the values we hold dear.  They make sacrifices that people who do not serve in the armed forces scarcely begin to imagine, as do their families, in the name of freedom, liberty, and justice.  When the US was founded, the idea of a military where the personnel were drawn from the civilian population, and returned to it after their service was complete, was new and unique, and it continues to be a foundational premise of this nation’s armed forces.

It has been said that “people sleep soundly in their beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence upon those who would do them harm.”  There seems to be no consensus as to whom first coined this precise phrase, but its sentiment has been expressed by thinkers, leaders, and writers throughout much of history.  Veteran’s Day is an opportunity to thank all of those rough men who have facilitated the secure, civil, peaceful lives in which we find ourselves.  I truly hope that you will take the time to do so.  It seems the least we can do for those who have given so much for us.

A Vast Frontier

Backpacking gives us access to a facet of the world that is not commonly seen, where nature remains untamed and mankind is a visitor.  Humanity is unique in its capacity to reshape the environment to be more suitable to its own needs, so there is something refreshing about a landscape that still presents us with hazards and challenges to which we must adapt and for which we must compensate in order to survive and maintain our comfort.  In these parts of the world where few have ever ventured, there is a glimpse of how it must have been to set out into new frontiers, into the unknown.

There is another frontier, of course, one far vaster and, some would say, more final.  No, this post is not going to be about space travel, although that is a topic on which I can pontificate at great length.  However, one of my favorite things about camping is that in these remote, backcountry locations, the stars that become visible to the naked eye are simply incredible.  Even in locations that are not especially remote, you can see sights, like the band of the Milky Way, that have been long obscured by the constant illumination of civilization.

Whether from the tops of mountains, or open fields, or through the branches of trees in a forest clearing, it’s worth taking a moment to turn your back on the warm glow of your fire and turn your eyes upwards towards the far-flung luminescence of the cosmos.  You don’t need elaborate telescopes to make out astonishing features, nor to be dazzled by the sheer profusion of celestial bodies that decorate the night sky.

If you’re not sure where a good place to see the stars might be, consider looking for places with a Dark Sky Certification.  These locations have met strict standards regarding ambient illumination in order to qualify for the official Certification, which indicates they are some of the darkest skies in the world.  From my research, there seems to be a Dark Sky region within a couple hours even from major cities, so if seeing the stars is something you would like to do, it might be worth seeking out adventures that take you to these places.

By the way, winter is a fantastic time for stargazing.  Not only is there a lot more darkness, but the colder air actually reduces atmospheric interference.  As if the magically transformed snowy landscapes weren’t sufficiently diverting, you can have an incredible canopy of stars as the counterpoint to that earthly beauty.

Snow

For some, it might conjure echoes of atrocious commutes in January, dingy, grey, icy snow covering everything in February, or dangerous drives back from seeing family in December.  Perhaps it evokes memories of walking back and forth, up and down the driveway with the snowblower, watching as where you just snowblowed ends up with two inches of snow by the time you get to the other side of the driveway.  Suffice to say, I acknowledge that snow is not always pleasant.  On the other hand, there are few classic holiday scenes that fail to include a delightful coating of fresh snow that mellows the harsh lines of the landscape and makes everything look somehow more pure.  At least until the plow comes.

Just as the homeowner, or the commuter, has a perhaps mixed opinion of snow, so too is snow a conundrum when winter camping.  Beyond making everything look uniquely beautiful, mildly otherworldly, and somewhat magical, snow has some unique properties that can actually make it a huge asset to your winter camping endeavors.  On the other hand, snow can easily become the downfall of a winter camping endeavor.  How?  Read on.

Advantages of Snow:

Water: this is pretty obvious, but the thing about everything being covered with snow is that you never have to worry about finding a water source.  You could be in a desert climate, way up in the mountains, with no streams around, but if there’s snow on the ground, you have plentiful water.  That means less to carry, and one less thing to consider when you’re choosing a campsite.

Insulation: this one is less intuitive.  Water has a very high specific heat capacity, and as a result, snow does, too.  Additionally, the crystalline structure of snow traps air between the flakes, and as you may recall from reading some of our other posts, trapped air is the secret to staying warm.  Between the specific heat capacity, and the trapped air, snow has a very high R value (engineering notation for how good something is at insulating).  If you build a snow shelter (which will definitely be discussed in a future post), your trapped body heat alone will be able to warm the shelter to nearly (or even over) sixty degrees Fahrenheit.

Disadvantages of Snow:

Inconvenience: even in the backcountry, with no driveways to clear or roads to drive, snow can be inconvenient.  It piles into drifts, blows around, stacks up, and generally makes the going much more difficult.  That doesn’t even get into the amount of additional gear that snow requires you to carry, which definitely outweighs the amount of weight you might have saved by using snow as your primary water source.

Wet: Snow, as you are hopefully aware, is a particular form of crystallized dihydrogen monoxide – that is to say, ice.  As such, when it melts, it becomes water.  And while water does have a very high specific heat capacity, and could theoretically provide insulation, it also has this frustrating tendency to evaporate, and take heat away with it.  That’s how sweating works, and it’s why getting out of the pool feels so cold.  Getting wet while winter camping, whether from snow, falling in a frozen river, or sweating, is bad.  It is difficult to overstate the importance of staying dry while winter camping.  Since snow has a tendency to get everywhere and melt when exposed to body heat, it is no surprise that it would be a major enemy in this battle against wetness.  (Note: I am not saying that you should dehydrate yourself – you actually stay warmer if you are well hydrated.)

 

Well, that was a quick discussion on snow.  Soon, we’ll get into recommendations for gear and techniques that allow us to maximize the advantages, and minimize the disadvantages, of this unique substance.

By the way, I’m sorry, but not every snowflake is unique.  This is a simple mathematical analysis.  You can calculate how many possible variations there are on a snowflake, and then calculate the approximate number that fall over the whole world over the course of, say, a century.  Although the number of possible snowflakes is so large it’s nearly incomprehensible, so is the number of snowflakes the fall.  That’s not even getting into quantum physics and probability, which would both demand that the statement read more like “most snowflakes are probably unique.”

Introduction to Winter Camping

I know, I know.  Many of you are cringing at this premature appearance of the dreaded “W” word.  For many people, winter, with the possible exception of the holidays, is a time of longer commutes, not enough sunshine, bulky, annoying jackets, and dirty, dingy snow.  That, dear readers, is a genuine tragedy.  Winter has the ability to transform the environment as surely as does any other season, but there seems to me to be something especially magical about what the season of death’s cold and snow can do to a landscape.  If you don’t believe me, try going to sleep in your tent one night, and awakening to find the entire world blanketed with a fresh, undisturbed layer of crystalline snow.  It is truly like emerging onto another world.

Already, I can hear your protests.  It’s too cold in the winter.  The snow gets everywhere and makes everything wet and uncomfortable.  Winter gear is so heavy and cumbersome.  Hiking through snow is way too much work, not to mention dangerous.  It’s not that I don’t like the winter, I just don’t want to camp in it – I’d much rather spend it curled up in a sweater by a gas fireplace with a good book.  Or the classic “I like winter, as long as it’s below the thirtieth parallel.”

If you are truly dead set against winter camping, then I’m afraid that you’re a lost cause.  However, if you’re someone who thinks that the image I described above sounds like something you’d like to experience, but you’re not sure where to begin, then you’ve come to the right place.  As the season progresses, I’ll be posting gear recommendations, techniques, and tricks that will help ensure you can continue to enjoy the outdoors in this under-utilized part of the year, without sacrificing fingers, toes, ears, noses, comfort, or any other extremities.  You can also ask any questions you might have using the contact form.

There is an enormous amount of detail about winter camping, and we’ll go into all of the similarities and differences between winter camping and regular camping, as well as the specialized gear you might want to obtain (camping gear is an excellent thing to put on a holiday gift list).  For now, here are my top five rules for comfortable winter camping:

1. Layer
2. Stay dry
3. Layer
4. Eat extra food
5. Layer

 

A Walk in the Park

Experiencing the outdoors is about a lot of things, many of which motivations we’ve discussed on the blog.  One we haven’t mentioned for some time now is companionship, or, as I learned to refer to it as a Scout, fellowship.  After all, as wonderful as it can be to spend time with the people about whom you care most, why wouldn’t it be even more wonderful if that time can be spent with a backdrop of amazing scenery, and the tang of fresh air?

My mother was in town recently, and we often will spend a great deal of our time finding places where we can walk around and talk.  I wouldn’t go so far as to call them hikes, but there is more to them than simply strolling about the neighborhood.

The first place at which we chose to amble was Painted Mines.  The iron compounds in the clay and sedimentary rocks make the exposed formations, which seem like areas where the surrounding prairie simply blew away, make for some vibrant colors.  Apparently, local tribes used to mine the area in order to create paints and dyes.  There were about six total miles of trails, none of them especially strenuous.  If you like the Badlands in South Dakota, this is a little bit like that: a strange formation emerging from the endless, open expanse of the Great Plains.

The following day, we decided to perambulate at Cheyenne Mountain State Park.  This was a lovely place for some quiet hiking, with significantly more shade than is available at Painted Mines.  Based on the size of the parking lot, I suspect it gets quite crowded there, on occasion, but even by the time we departed, there weren’t very many people.  There is a $7.00 parking fee.  At first glance, the park seems quite large, but we found that we were able to hike much of it in a leisurely morning.

Where I am, the weather is about to take a drastic turn from the high seventies to the mid thirties, with a side of snow, so stay tuned for a probable winter camping post on Friday.

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