Day 2 of Frostbite brought colder temperatures. The first session that my husband, another JFW mom and I attended was about winter sleep systems and clothing. Dave MacDonald from Survival by Training demoed and passed around all the gear to keep warm and sleep in temperatures down to -40.
The main thing I took away from this session was the sleep system. First you lay down a tarp, then a wool blanket. Then you get into your sleeping bag liner, then you get into your two sleeping bags (or one super duper good one), then into a bivy bag. Next you lay down on the wool blanket and wrap it over you so the open side is facing away from the fire. Lastly, you can wrap the tarp over you also. It looked very cozy, but you sure wouldn't want to have to get up in the night.
After attending that, I don't think my family, as a whole, will be going winter camping anytime soon. I think we may have enough gear to make it work for my husband and I, in temperatures down to about -20. There is a lot of gear that we need to aquire first for family camping and it may be a little costly. Almost every piece recommended was military grade and it's hard to keep three growing kids outfitted in regular winter gear, never mind the special winter gear! I don't think we will be camping in extreme winter temperatures either, but it is good to have an idea what is needed. I think we may try some cold weather camping in my mother in laws back yard first to test our gear and then we could try further from home, at Chickakoo. It is a place we have at our disposal through Junior Forest Wardens. We can camp there, but there is also a rustic cabin and other basic facilities to fall back on in case things aren't going well.
My afternoon session was on trail side and outdoor cooking with Bruce Zawalsky and Ted Dahr. The meeting place on the schedule was listed as the main fire pit, but when I arrived, I noticed a lack of cooking implements. Then we were reminded to bring plate, bowl, cup and eating utensils. I had to run back to my cabin to get those and in doing so I left my good warm gloves in the cabin. Luckily I had a pair of lighter leather gloves in my bag. Then we were informed that we had a 20 min hike to our cooking location. And it was quite the hike; down a steep hill and across two fields of snow halfway up to my knees. The instructor that was leading the way was quite a bit taller than me and was taking large steps and walking quickly. It was quite the workout for me to keep up. My legs were burning and I was out of breath by the time we got to the site.
First we had to collect evergreen boughs from the bottoms of trees. That is where you find the dry ones to start a fire. Then we had to break them all up to use in a Kelly kettle. Kelly kettles are used for boiling water quickly. When we were told to get our cups for our hot drinks, several of us were scolded for having plastic mugs. This was a winter camping symposium and we had brought lightweight summer backpacking gear! Oops! After we had warmed up with our hot drinks we started making the food. First up was peppers stuffed with ground sausage. These were placed in a Dutch oven, suspended over the fire. Next we set up another twig burner tin can stove to cook a pot of rice. A reflector oven was placed at the end of the fire to cook cinnamon buns. I enjoyed getting to try all these methods and will be making the twig burner tin can stoves with the forest wardens in February.
Supper that night (after all that food) was catered by the foothills camp. Then we had a little bit of time to kill before the keynote speaker. We want back to our cabin to make some tea to take with us. We made it to the hall just in time for door prize draws. My husband won a wooden spoon hand carved by Brian Rice and I won a folding bow saw cover from Frost River! There were lots of awesome door prizes!
Our keynote speaker that night was Kevin Callan, The Happy Camper, from Ontario. He was a riot! He spoke about the pros and cons of winter camping. He also made a video of the weekend and played a teaser for us. Check out the full video here
There was only one session Sunday morning and then it was time to head home. My Sunday session was making cattail dolls with Maryann Borch and Jess Wilde. It was a fun, easy morning. In the picture below, mine is just to the right of the duck. She's got a hula skirt and her arms up in the air. It was neat seeing everyone's with their own creative twist. One girl even made hers a cattail cape!
Frostbite was a great event. Definitely more relaxed than a lot of our Junior Forest Wardens events we attend. The change of pace was much appreciated and we will be attending next year. I think we might even save up and bring the kids next time. And hopefully, more of our JFW family will be able to attend with us.
The main thing I took away from this session was the sleep system. First you lay down a tarp, then a wool blanket. Then you get into your sleeping bag liner, then you get into your two sleeping bags (or one super duper good one), then into a bivy bag. Next you lay down on the wool blanket and wrap it over you so the open side is facing away from the fire. Lastly, you can wrap the tarp over you also. It looked very cozy, but you sure wouldn't want to have to get up in the night.
After attending that, I don't think my family, as a whole, will be going winter camping anytime soon. I think we may have enough gear to make it work for my husband and I, in temperatures down to about -20. There is a lot of gear that we need to aquire first for family camping and it may be a little costly. Almost every piece recommended was military grade and it's hard to keep three growing kids outfitted in regular winter gear, never mind the special winter gear! I don't think we will be camping in extreme winter temperatures either, but it is good to have an idea what is needed. I think we may try some cold weather camping in my mother in laws back yard first to test our gear and then we could try further from home, at Chickakoo. It is a place we have at our disposal through Junior Forest Wardens. We can camp there, but there is also a rustic cabin and other basic facilities to fall back on in case things aren't going well.
My afternoon session was on trail side and outdoor cooking with Bruce Zawalsky and Ted Dahr. The meeting place on the schedule was listed as the main fire pit, but when I arrived, I noticed a lack of cooking implements. Then we were reminded to bring plate, bowl, cup and eating utensils. I had to run back to my cabin to get those and in doing so I left my good warm gloves in the cabin. Luckily I had a pair of lighter leather gloves in my bag. Then we were informed that we had a 20 min hike to our cooking location. And it was quite the hike; down a steep hill and across two fields of snow halfway up to my knees. The instructor that was leading the way was quite a bit taller than me and was taking large steps and walking quickly. It was quite the workout for me to keep up. My legs were burning and I was out of breath by the time we got to the site.
First we had to collect evergreen boughs from the bottoms of trees. That is where you find the dry ones to start a fire. Then we had to break them all up to use in a Kelly kettle. Kelly kettles are used for boiling water quickly. When we were told to get our cups for our hot drinks, several of us were scolded for having plastic mugs. This was a winter camping symposium and we had brought lightweight summer backpacking gear! Oops! After we had warmed up with our hot drinks we started making the food. First up was peppers stuffed with ground sausage. These were placed in a Dutch oven, suspended over the fire. Next we set up another twig burner tin can stove to cook a pot of rice. A reflector oven was placed at the end of the fire to cook cinnamon buns. I enjoyed getting to try all these methods and will be making the twig burner tin can stoves with the forest wardens in February.
Supper that night (after all that food) was catered by the foothills camp. Then we had a little bit of time to kill before the keynote speaker. We want back to our cabin to make some tea to take with us. We made it to the hall just in time for door prize draws. My husband won a wooden spoon hand carved by Brian Rice and I won a folding bow saw cover from Frost River! There were lots of awesome door prizes!
Our keynote speaker that night was Kevin Callan, The Happy Camper, from Ontario. He was a riot! He spoke about the pros and cons of winter camping. He also made a video of the weekend and played a teaser for us. Check out the full video here
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