I was thinking about how to go about writing this blog...and I wasn't really sure how to go about it. I thought that a blow by blow account of what I've been up to might send a few of you off to sleep! So I decided that I would stay true to "Tales From the Northwoods" and do exactly that, tell some tales in no particular order, or as we say in scouts: tell a good campfire yarn.
So all this being said, I came up with a bright idea...Lets go camping!!!
Winter camping is quite a minority sport. I remember someone saying to me that only 5% of the population goes camping...and of them, only 5% go winter camping...so you have to be an extra special kind of mad!
I managed to find somewhere to pitch up that was a little off the beaten path but not too far from help if things got sticky...or should I say frostbitten... (Some outdoorsy friends of mine thankfully dissuaded me from plunging out into the depths of the wilderness for my first winter camp) Winter camping isn't a lightweight affair. I had to find myself a canvas tent, wood stove, giant sleeping bag, axe, buck saw, snowshoes...the list goes on. But luckily in the wintertime this isn't so much of a problem as everything can be loaded onto a toboggan!
After lashing everything onto the toboggan I headed into the woods. Snowshoes were a must as without them I would have sunk into the snow, in some places as high as my waist! Wearing the snowshoes you pack your own trail that is just wide enough for the toboggan. But more on snowshoeing in another post.
Taking my cue from the natives, I decided to go with a canvas tent in the tipi style called a lavvu. It's actually a tent of Scandinavian origin, traditionally used by the reindeer herders of Siberia. So the first job upon finding a nice flat spot (which is deceptively difficult when everything is covered with 2 feet of snow) was to clear the snow and cut poles to make the frame. My snowshoes performed admirably as shovels and some nice straight maple saplings made great tent poles. A little lashing and the frame was up.
I used Balsam fir boughs to make a floor and a bed, then after spreading the canvas over the frame my tent was up. I soon had the stove blazing away with a few pieces of birch bark and split wood. The tent was warming up and smoke was lazily pouring out the stove pipe and drifting low through the forest...magic!
Winter camping I discovered, is hard work. You always need to be on your toes getting the next chore done so that you have everything you need to be comfortable. The next task was gathering and cutting enough firewood to last the night. I had recently finished making a folding buck saw and I put it to work sectioning up the maple. When you are winter camping using a wood stove, there is quite a lot of effort that goes into wood cutting to make it fit into said stove. Doing all this on deep snow takes some getting used to...more than a few times have I fallen in! It's funny, you put your hands out to save yourself but you just keep going and...bam... face right into the snow! So you need to learn a few techniques for firewood processing in snow...but that can wait for another post.
And here lies the enjoyment of winter camping for me. It's the challenge of learning the skills to be able to sleep outside when it's -20C and be comfortable! By the time I had all my chores finished it was getting dark. After cooking dinner, I settled down for the night and watched a bit of stove TV. There is something about staring into flames...you can do it for hours...its somehow mesmerizing...
So there I was staring into the flames, everything was silent and peaceful, lost in my own thoughts...
Then suddenly I hear this blood curdling howl from right outside!!! Suddenly I was a cave man again, a wave of fear and then adrenaline kicks in..."that was a wolf!!!" I hardly dared move. I was so excited and at the same time petrified. I grabbed the biggest knife I had and sat there cradling it, barely breathing for the next 10 minutes listening as hard as I could but there were no more sounds that night.
I woke up the next day, and the forest was completely silent, I checked the thermometer (which served no real purpose other than to confirm that yes indeed it was bloody cold) and it read a respectable -15C.
It's amazing how quiet the woods are in winter. With all the snow covering everything, sounds are muffled and the only thing you'll hear is the throaty croak of ravens or the drumming of a woodpecker. In fact most of the wildlife has migrated south or are hibernating like the bears in their dens. I took this video in the morning and you can hear that it's cold as the snow is squeaky when I walk.
I stayed out for another 2 nights but I never heard the wolf again...
And so my first winter camping trip was a success...I had survived! Stay tuned for more winter fun and other Canadian wilderness adventures on Tales from the Northwoods!
