Tuesday, February 5, 2013

January camping: done!

January 19, 2013. As you probably know, Dave and I are rabid campers. Last year we camped in all but four months of the year. In 2013 we vowed to camp in every one. That resolution is a little harder to keep in the winter months when most campgrounds are closed, so we decided to camp in our backyard, in a tent. Friends have asked us why on earth we chose a tent when we have a perfectly comfortable trailer outside, but where's the challenge in a trailer that has a furnace? The whole point is to find adventure! And we've always wondered it it was possible to stay warm in a tent during the deepest darkest nights of Canadian winter.

Ben, our singing cat, watched us with bemused interest.

The weather forecast was weird, to say the least. It rained most of the day and only started to snow about four o'clock in the afternoon, when it was time to set up. We started with a blue tarp hung from one of our cedar trees. 

There were wind warnings that night so we held the tarp down with wood from our woodpile. We also used tent pegs to keep the tarp in place. This was trickier than it sounds, because the ground was (and still is) frozen solid. Dave used a cordless drill to make holes in the icy ground for the pegs. The tarp itself was meant to be a shield from the wind and the rain/snow mix that was coming down.

When the tarp was up, we placed another tarp on the ground, followed by cardboard, followed by the tent. (Ermagherd, that tent stunk. It had been in storage for years and had the delightful fragrance of must.) We laid a thick blanket on the bottom of the tent, followed by two mattresses from our trailer and sleeping bags. Then we made a "tarp sandwich" (two tarps with a blanket in between) and laid it on top of the tent. You need to have some sort of insulation between your warm breath and the cold outdoors, otherwise you have condensation dripping inside the tent and all over you. 

It was looking pretty cosy inside!

Our trailer mattresses. So soft! My old carcass can't take sleeping on the cold, hard ground.

Bedtime! Dave snuggles in. It was actually HOT inside that tent. I kicked off my sleeping bag and laid on top of it without any covers until the middle of the night, when Dave covered me up.

Doesn't that look awesome? It was really snowing by bedtime.  Sometime during the night we got a thunderstorm. I didn't hear a thing – when I sleep, I'm dead to the world, but Dave said it was wicked and it was all everybody was talking about on Facebook the next day.

Not bad, eh? The light from the woodshed made our impromptu house look as warm as it felt.

Bedtime! That's me looking all scary and weird in the harsh shadows thrown by our flashlight. Mere minutes after this was taken I fell fast asleep. Dave had some things on his mind that night, however, and he laid awake for hours. Finally at about 4 a.m. he woke me up to say he was going inside to try and get some shut-eye. "You can stay out here if you want," he said. I was like, NO, I am not staying out in the yard by myself in a thunder-snowstorm! So I toddled in the door behind him. It was warm as toast in there - the only thing I'd do different next time is buy a tent that doesn't stink. It took me all day to wash all the sleeping bags and pillows that got stunk up!

39 comments:

  1. lol...you're a braver person than I am, camping in the snow...brrrr.... :)

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  2. Hey you forgot to mention the snow ice cream you made!!!!!

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  3. I'd need to be rabid to go camping ANY time!
    Jane x

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    1. Try it, you'll like it Jane! Well, ok, so maybe you'll hate it...

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  4. Now if I HAD to go winter camping the backyard is the place I would choose. Nothing like a handy escape hatch. I'll bet Ben had a wonderful concert in there all by himself.

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    1. I think he did! LOL!
      Also, when you camp in the backyard? The washrooms are handy and WARM!

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  5. Very cool! (no pun intended)

    I've never been camping in the snow. No doubt it's pretty challenging. Looks fun, though :)

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    1. It WAS fun, Mark! You should definitely put it on your bucket list!

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  6. You ROCK!!!!! THAT is what I call camping!!! :)

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    1. WOOT! (Except that we watched TV in our warm house until bedtime and cooked breakfast in our warm house in the morning... is that cheating?)

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  7. Pretty bold camping in Canada in the winter. But, it looks like you made a good shelter and it stayed warm. Good to know you won't be a victim of the elements push come to shove and I imagine the skeeters were not much of a problem this time of year.

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    1. Ha! Skeeters! You're absolutely right. One of the things I love BEST about winter is the lack of goldurned bugs.

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  8. Oh my gosh you made me laugh the words "You know your a true Canadian when......" ring through my head as I read this. Awesome!!!!!! Great shots. Brave Canadian Pioneer woman:) B

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    1. You should try it, Buttons! You have all that beautiful winter scenery yourself to snuggle up in. Plus Annie could keep you warm if you throw her an extra bottle!

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  9. You shaved your legs before this? What about all that insulating fur dwon the drain--literally? Good Heavens. I am in awe of your camping prowess!
    ~Just Jill

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    1. Obviously I wasn't thinking, Jill! The good news is I haven't shaved my legs since the last post so I'll be all good and furry when the Feb. camping rolls around!

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  10. Wait... so you don't normally camp in a tent...
    I don't know how I feel about that.

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    1. Heheh - we camp in all different ways! We camp in a tent if it's just a quick weekend without the kids, or if we are driving a long way and don't want to spend gas money hauling the trailer, or if we do a backcountry trip. We take our house trailer for week-long trips with the kids, who do a lot better inside when it's raining, or on our early spring and late fall fishing trips because we have a furnace, plus our trailer fits our friends. Last year we camped in a yurt! It all depends on where we're going and what mood we're in!

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  11. Cathy so much fun !!! You guys should come up to do the Yurt Camping

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    1. We have camped in a yurt! It was awesome! Last January, as a matter of fact, in Killarney Provincial Park. It was almost as expensive as a fancy hotel for the weekend so I'm not sure we're going to do it again soon, but we really did love it. I gather you've been? What park do you "yurt" in?

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  12. Oh my what a hoot ! I like camping but not enough to do it in the cold lol ! I know I have become a sucky boo now as I get older lol ! Thanks for sharing awesome post and photos ! Have a good day !

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  13. That is cool! Now, I'm inspired. Too bad the snowy season is basically done here :(

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  14. Holy crap. You were serious! I could believe everything I read.

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  15. This was educational. Somewhere between 35-40F is the coldest I'ver ever camped out but I didn't know anything about the tricks of insulating with multiple tarps and it was bone-chilling. The phrase "one of our cedar trees" tells me a lot about where you live. Cedar (western red, to be exact) is one of my favorite kinds of wood, but as you can imagine I don't see it in its natural state very often. When I do I just stare at it in loving wonder. And look at you, surrounded by it!

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  16. A few years ago I got it in mind to a "Year of Camping Dangerously" with my girls. Camp each month. Living in Florida really allows for four season camping. We got to March before disaster struck - wicked bad weather predictions that never came true, but they had me nervous enough to cancel. And then every time I tried to reschedule, something else cropped up! But it is certainly something I want to have another go at soon! Good luck with February's camp out!

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  17. Full marks for trying!
    I'm afraid the only vacations I take require a 'proper' bed (raised off the floor with mattress, pillows & duvet - & a solid roof over my head! ;-p) I admire your enthusiasm & the courage to brave the snow & low temps.!

    Will next month be better, I wonder....?

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  18. Now YOU are a Winter Warrior!!! I was thinking of you today as I delivered my mail in "pretty" snow (the kind that looks nice but doesn't cause any issues)and thought, "I don't know how she does it in all that snow and cold. I am so ready for spring."

    And that said... Fat Tuesday is coming up on Tuesday... the day before lent... which means only 40 days til EASTER and.... CANDY!!!

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  19. Picture me sitting beside Ben with a bemused smile on my face. Too weird, Cathy. Glad the bears didn't get you. ;)

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  20. I live in Maine and thought how hard it is to heat this house.
    Reading this post, I will not complain again. You are brave.
    yvonne

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  21. Wow- that's some serious dedication. Back before I knew better, I tried to sleep out in the backyard in a tent with the kids. Ironically, I got too scared (not my three little girls) when I heard all the "night noises" the wildlife makes around these parts. I totally wussed out. The kids still enjoy teasing me about it. :)

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  22. You guys are like Survivor Man! How cool. Amazing how you stayed so warm and slept through the thunder-snowstorm.

    A few years ago my husband and I made grand plans to hike/backpack down a mountain stream and catch our fish and all, but we haven't done it yet. Your adventure makes me want to try, but in the summer.

    Kathy M.

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  23. But, but how do you watch TV in there?!?!

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  24. Man you are brave! I love camping but I have developed some pretty bad arthritis in my hips so sleeping on cold hard ground is sheer torture. We have an air mattress and I man up so our kids get the camping experience but never in cold months.

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  25. That is just crazy! And where is the toilet? I don't know about you, but my bladder requires one visit in the middle of the night.

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  26. I've never tried winter camping... I do know Algonquin has yurts...

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