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


http://amzn.to/1XcdbJZ

Review of the Stan Sport 360 Stainless Steel Mess Kit

Stan Sport 360 Stainless steel mess kit available at LostCaper.ca

In summary

 it is a great light weight, compact stainless steel backpacking mess kit that is good to feed one person under 300 lbs.lol

For those who like to read more:

The Stan Sport 360 is a perfect match for my j-creater portable stainless steel outdoor camping wood & alcohol burning stove.  The size of the mess kit fits perfect on my stove allowing me to cook  with confidence that it is not going to tip over.  The copper bottoms on the mess kit heats up quickly so a hand full of wood cooked my breakfast by the river’s edge. 

Packs size and weight: 

The pack size is 7”’X 3” (17.78cm X 7.62cm) 

It nests inside itself  and the handle on the frying pan is hinged so it folds over the nested kit and locks in place holding everything snuggly together. 

It is light to carry at only 567 grams. Go with stainless steel when you can.  Stainless is a few bucks extra and a few extra grams heavier over aluminum, however it is not noticeable in my pack or in my wallet. Cooking with aluminum can have serious health repercussions. 

Materials and quality:

It is made of stainless steel with a copper bottom. The copper bottom allows it to heat up quickly and distributes that heat evenly. Using it with my j-creater portable stainless steel stove, I boiled water in less than 4 minutes.  Another 15 minutes or so cooked my eggs and bacon to perfection. 

I read where one person said “ I warped mine a bit “ . No-one else that I know of had a problems not to say there isn’t any.  After using it several times,  my guess is if you do not have it on a roaring fire exposed to extreme heat, it should not warp.  A perfect cooking heat is a heat you can hold your hand over for a few seconds.  I personally had it exposed to the direct flames of hardwood to boil water and it never warped. This is not to say giving it that kind of abuse will not warp it.  

I like the fact that the handles are stainless and not nylon or plastic. This way, I need not be concern with melting handles. The stainless steel handles do not get extremely hot if not exposed to high heat. To be safe, I use a cloth when picking it off the hot fire.  The bacon smells to good to drop on the ground. 

I would off like some sort of a removable handle on the dish but overall with the great fit & finish, great price and all things considered, I would give it a thumbs up for quality and for being a great buy.  Having said that, I included it in my handpicked reviewed items on our LostCaper store at lostcaper.ca  

P.S. This week I plan on doing a “finish boil” of maple syrup in the pot so that will be the real test. 

Thanks

Ray & Jimmy at LostCaper.ca , March 2,2016

March 2, 2016

Three days in Elgin, N.B. 2015

Bad luck with co-ordinating enough vacation days forced us to skip our planned canoe trip and stay at Aaron camp in Elgin, N.B. for two nights instead. Doesn’t seem to matter where we end up we always have a great time. 

Aaron’s sons in there teens were old enough to experience what we do on our fishing trip so they came along.  A km or so up the road Aaron’s uncle has a camp.  We all ended up at Aaron’s camp with guitars and songs.  Aaron’s uncle surprised me because he knows every Stoppin Tom song and sounds just like him when he sings them.  Many songs, many beer, and many laughs were had.   

The morning was tough but after a quick stop at Creg’s to get some tylenol we were off like the horse poop and we hit the dusty trail.   We rode many beautiful trails in the Elgin, N.B. area, stopping to catch tasty brook trout along the way .  Here I experienced some of the most beautiful trails that I have been on.  The trails took us under huge virgin forest meandering along the Pollett River.  We came to an area where 4 nice camps sat in the mids of this beautiful trail system.  A family owned several hundred acres and never cut any more then what they needed for firewood and to make the trail.  The property is worshiped by this family and they refuse to sell it to anyone especially a big logging company who would destroy it in a matter of a few months.  A unique, winding, majestic trail indeed.

The second day and night repeated itself with more song, guitar playing, ATV and fishing.  As they say, “all good things must come to an end”  and this was no different.  I bid farewell to my buddies with a sense of loss for I would be heading to Cape Breton, 500 km away and would not see them again until our coming 5 day remote fishing trip in the last of the summer 2015. Until then I will sit at my fly tying bench tying flies and swapping emails with my good friends in N.B. 

Doing such trips is more enjoyable when you have a GPS.  You can go with confident that you are not going to get lost and when you get home, you can download the track to your computer.   It is always interesting to view your path on the big screen.  It displays better mapping details and shows where  you have been in relation to the area.  You can share your tracks with your friends so they can follow your path.  I take one with me when ever I go on an adventure.