Winter Camping
I have been winter camping
for a lot of years and you can be cold and miserable or you can be
comfortable. To me tent camping in the
winter is a cold proposition; I would rather build my own shelter.
Depending on the terrain, I choose
to sleep amongst the trees rather than out in the middle of a lake or an open
area of any kind. The wind will just
take away most of the heat you can generate.
A lot of times I go camping
in the winter with a small day pack. All
I carry in it is a 12’ x 12’ piece of plastic or parachute and plenty of
A small well built fire will
allow you to heat rocks, don’t use the ones that have
been sitting in water or close to the stream, because they explode. Heat up some large rocks, about a foot in
diameter. Usually I use them around my
fire, as a fire ring. You can also build
a reflector of some kind to help you keep warmer.
About an hour or two before
going to bed I bury them in the ground, cover them with dirt, and let them
steam the ground dry. I then place about
2 to 3 feet of pine bows, I have gathered, on top. I try to collect the pine boughs a little
here a little there so as not to damage any one tree. I stretch my plastic tarp over the top in a
lean-to fashion. I actually make a
lean-to with two long sticks on one side.
The pine boughs compress
quite a bit so I always add some more if it is not comfortable. I plan to bury myself in the pine boughs,
like an animal in a brush pile, and collapse the lean-to on top of myself when
I go to bed. You want a layer of boughs
between you and the plastic so you don’t get wet.
You can keep quite warm on
cold nights and the plastic also works to keep the wind out.
Have fun, you will be amazed
at how warm you can stay.
Ray