Winter Camping is Spectacular

I just returned from a four day camping trip in Algonquin Park. Let me say that again. I just returned from a camping trip. The date today is January 1st, 2015. That's right, I was winter camping.
Many people thought I was crazy to go camping, in a tent, in the winter. This is actually the second time that I have been winter camping and I can only think of one word to describe it. Spectacular.
The last time I went winter camping was at the beginning of December 2013. It had been cold early that year, but the weather was quite good during my trip. The daytime temperature was around -4 or -5 degrees celsius and the nighttime low was about -11. It had also snowed everyday. Light fluffy snow which with no wind stayed on the trees. It was beautiful.

This year the trip was from December 28th to 31st. The winter had so far been quite mild. But that changed when we arrived in Algonquin Park. The temperatures started at about -8 degrees and went down from there. The first night dropped to -17. The second night went down to -24. The third night warmed up a little and got no lower than -19.
Again, many people will call me crazy, but it was a great trip. The key is being prepared. Dressing properly ensured that I was warm throughout the day. Good boots, snow pants, hat, gloves, and a warm coat are vital. At night you need plenty of firewood. A good fire will keep you warm as you have dinner and wait for bedtime. Most nights, bedtime was quite early, probably just after 9pm. Keep in mind it is dark by 5pm. Then I would climb into my tent.
To sleep well you need to be bundled up really good. I had an air filled thermarest type matt under me to keep me off the cold ground. Then I got inside a fleece sleeping bag insert which was inside my sleeping bag (which is rated to -12, but I think that means it will keep you alive not comfortable). Then I wrapped myself in two comforters. I was toasty warm.

What impressed me most about this trip over last trip was the extreme cold. There are a lot of logistical things that you need to consider when it is that cold versus when camping when it's warm. Also the way nature reacts to the extreme cold was amazing.

First, the logistics. I have already mentioned that you need to dress warm and bring good bedding. Setting up the tent was a challenge. First, you have to shovel away as much snow as you can from where you are going to put your tent. get it as close to actual ground as you can. And remember that the ground is frozen solid. It's important to bring a hammer or something heavy like an axe to hammer the pegs into the ground. That hammer will also come in handy when you need to pry the frozen tent pegs out of the hard ground when you pack up.
What are you going to drink? Water? I brought some water and a couple of bottles of Coke as a treat. Normally I get more water out of whatever lake I am camping on. But wait. It is winter. The lake is frozen! No problem, there is plenty of snow and ice around that you can melt to drink. But how do you melt it? Build a fire each time you want to drink or use a stove each time you want to drink. It was a constant challenge to keep the water in your water bottle as actual liquid. Within thirty minutes to an hour it was starting to freeze up. I only tried to drink one of the bottles of Coke that I brought and that was a thick slush.
Fortunately where we were camping there was a comfort station that was heated and had toilets and drinkable water. But that was a ten minute hike away from where we were camped. So even if we filled our bottles there, it would be starting to freeze shortly after returning to camp.

Food was another challenge. Normally when I go camping I am worried about bringing perishable food because you can't keep it cold. No problem in the winter. I had the opposite problem. Much of the food I brought for breakfasts and lunches froze solid and I couldn't eat it. I brought portions of stew for dinners. That was fine. It froze, but I heated it in a pot anyway. But I still had to boil water first in order to thaw it enough to get it out of the plastic container it was in. I suggest bringing mostly dry foods like cookies, nuts, chocolate, granola etc. at least for lunch and snacks.
Sleeping was interesting. I was warm because I was prepared for that. What I wasn't prepared for was the weather inside my tent. As you breath, you expel moisture. Normally that is just taken up by the air. But not when it is this cold. The entire inside of my tent became covered in frost. At times I could feel it falling like snow onto me. I kept my face under the outer comforter for the most part to keep it warm. That resulted in the top edge of the comforter freezing solid due to the moisture in my breath.

Also, if you bring anything electronic as I did; I brought my camera and I had my phone, find a way to keep it warm. Electronics do not like the cold and screens on phones or cameras can crack if the get too cold. I kept boiling water and putting a hot water bottle in my camera bag with my camera and phone. I had to replace the bottle every eight hours or so. At night, I kept my camera and phone inside my sleeping bag with me.

The most spectacular thing about this trip was nature. Not only was it beautiful, it was also surprising. I was most surprised by the sounds. At night when everything else was quiet it was particularly noticeable. The forest was making all kinds of sounds. There were twigs cracking, and snapping, sounding like a firecracker going off. This was most prominent on the night that it got down to -24. I am guessing that it was moisture inside the wood freezing and then splitting it.

The other sound, which was loud and almost continuous was from the lake. It sounded like someone's stomach rumbling, but very loud. It was a gurgling groaning sound. I can only assume that it was the ice as the lake froze. Since water expands as it turns into ice it creates huge pressure pushing the ice against the shore and itself. When you look at a frozen lake you can often see the pressure cracks. But hearing it was amazing. I suspect the sounds will diminish as the winter goes on and everything settles into the cold.

Normally when I camp I go backcountry camping. I will hike or canoe in. Both times that I have done winter camping it has been at a drive in site simply because there is so much more gear to bring in order to keep warm. We may try hiking in next year. If we do it will mean hauling the gear on sleds. The other option, one I kind of like the idea of, is to rent a yurt. A yurt is a large tent. The ones in Algonquin have heaters inside and bunk beds. This means that you have a place to get warm and to keep your stuff warm, but you can still head out for the day and enjoy the cold and the spectacular beauty that is winter camping.