Adventuring Into a Nor-East Snow Storm

Adventuring In A Nor-Easter Snow Storm

It was minus 10 degrees celcuis with a big nor-easter storm coming in over night. It was March 4,2016 and my nephew talked me into making an overnight camping trip into the woods armed with our bug out bags. 

We took the ATV 1.5 km into the woods and hiked another 200 meters or so to a spot I knew where there was some down trees, a brook, and Southern exposure to keep us warm in the sun while we constructed our shelter. 

Constructing the Shelter and Being Thankful for Our Good Health. 

Jimmy wove the collected saplings to make the frame for the shelter.  We then collected around 200 pounds  of spruce bows to weave between the woven saplings frame.  If the bows are laid upside down and is stacked as thick as the length of your arm, it will not leak.  

The floor of the shelter was constructed by laying 4 to 6 inch(15 cm) diameter logs down as a base. We then laid spruce bows 1 foot thick over the base of logs. This provided a reasonable comfortable mattress which insulated us from the cold ground.  The shelter construction was an amazing amount of work especially considering that Jimmy spent  5 months in the hospital enduring major Crohn’s surgery and getting out Christmas Eve.  After nearly 8 months of being sick he finally felt good enough for this trip.  His improved health was a great novelty for him which he was so grateful for. This gave testament that we should not take good health for granted because it can be taken from us in a second.  After seeing him so sick for so long it was amazing to see him enjoying his health by working very hard to build the shelter. 

I wouldn’t want anyone to think you can wonder into the woods and build a shelter with no tarp in a few minutes.  Jimmy and I spent about 4 hours constructing the shelter. Four hours X two guys = 8 man hours. Before you go adventuring into the woods in -10 degrees incorporate 8 man hours into your formula for shelter building. 

   

Firewood Collection

We were running out of time to process enough firewood for the night with just my folding saw and survival knife so I ran back to the ATV and got my power saw. Still the wood had to be split which I baton using my Schrade Schrade SCHF38  knife

. Processing up enough wood to keep us warm the entire night is another 2 man hours. 

The completed shelter

The Evening.

Evening came and Jimmy made a tripod chair out of three poles lashed together in a tripod stand. Fabric was then hung from the poles which served as a comfortable seat.   A few laugh were had while reminiscing about the day.  When someone does this type of camping, they certainly grow an appreciation for the natives way of life and for the pioneers who landed here with nothing. 

The night

Crawling into a sleeping bag at -10 is not my favourite thing to do.  The pain of it is reduced by getting a cold weather sleeping bag at amazon.  You also have to be completely dry and that is not easy to do if you spend the day working in snow cutting wood for your shelter and fire.  Extra socks and clothing are essential.  

Neither of us slept great.  The balaclava kept pressing on my throat which worsen my sleep apnea.  You loose a lot of heat through your head so I didn't want to take it off.  Instead I rolled it up to be a hat which was more comfortable and I finally got a bit of sleep.  Around 3:00 P.M. Jimmy got up and stoked the fire.  Not long after he stoked the fire the wind changed and our shelter filled with smoke. The wind picked up speed and it started to snow.  We could not get back to sleep and I had to crawl out of my warm sleeping bag to run to the woods. It was 5am and was time to get up anyway.  We decided to call it a night, pack our gear and head home in the stormy dark -10 morning. 

When it comes to bushcraft survival skills, there are always things to learn or do better. We could of put a door on the shelter and started our adventure earlier which would allowed more time to build the shelter and maybe even put a door on.   It was a fun night in the woods  and I suspect we will do it again after the maple syrup season.

I will be putting some of the video of this adventure on our youtube site LostCaper youtube  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_goWst3odzG__lSzhb91bw


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