InsaneScouter Top 7 winter camping articles

By: Posted On: 2019-02-07

 

Winter camping can be quite a bit of fun, but it usually requires some extra planning and requirements to be successful. I remember one of the times I got to go camping as a Webelos scout. We went to the local scout camp. I got to do some fun winter activities like sledding and learning how to make ice cream outside using lake ice. We went out onto the frozen lake and helped auger out some ice from the surface of the lake to make sure we had enough pieces for everyone to make their own ice cream. Then we just added the ice, some sugar, some cream a little salt and some vanilla flavoring and took turns turning the crank on the ice cream bucket.

Another cool thing I got to do was go ice fishing. I had never ever gone ice fishing before, so the experience was brand new to me! We went out to the middle of the lake this time and augered a hole for each of us to drop our lines with hooks (and worms) into the cold lake water. The day we went ice fishing was perfect weatherwise. There wasn’t any wind, and it was bright blue clear sky with the temperature in the mid-20s. I and several of my fellow Webelos caught some Bluegill and some Sunfish.

I also remember standing around a roaring fire in the evening with everyone else and singing songs and drinking apple cider and eating cake doughnuts. Winter camp was a good experience for me. Here are seven great articles from InsaneScouter to give you some more wintertime camping ideas.

 

Learn about snow camping with InsaneScouter.The most important part in snow camping is building the fire in a hole dug in the snow. Initially one has to make sure the fire has caught on to the small sticks. The hardest part is keeping the fire burning. Visit https://insanescouter.org/blog/736/Snow_Camping_with_Boy_Scouts.htmlr to get more information and a cool YouTube video about snow camping with some Boy Scouts.

 

There is some good material on winter camping in this article also. The material in this article is but a small part of winter camping training. Taking this course by no means makes you trained enough to take your unit winter camping. Look at InsaneScouter’s

https://insanescouter.org/p/166/80/Winter_Camping.html post for a bunch more information.

 
 
 

Some tips and tricks from a previous post on InsaneScouter are Keep at least one water bottle in the sleeping bag if it will fit and not leak. If you can’t, put it under your bag at the knees. All other water bottles that don’t fit under your knees could be put in some of your extra wool socks. Also, heat the water at night before you go to bed and put the filled bottles in your sleeping bag as you fulfill your nightly duties. Then when you get to bed, your bag will actually be warm. See the rest of the good information in the article at

https://insanescouter.org/p/171/45/Winter_Camping_Tips.html.

 

 

Cold weather conditions make the proper choice and use of clothing more vital than at other times of the year. As you prepare your cold weather clothing, keep warm by following the guidelines that spell the word COLD.  The first letter starts with a C.

 C - Clean

Since insulation is effective when heat is trapped by dead air spaces, keep your insulating layers clean and fluffy. Dirt, grime, and perspiration can mat down those air spaces and reduce the warmth of a garment.

Check this post out at https://insanescouter.org/p/170/80/Winter_Camping_Gear.html.

Increase your knowledge of winter camping skills by looking at a post on InsaneScouter that talks about that subject… When going into the field in snowy conditions, you must first consider how you are going to travel. If it's early spring and the snowpack is shallow or hard packed, you might consider just hiking in your sturdy leather boots. If the snow is less consolidated, you should use snowshoes or cross-country skis to travel. You can usually expect to do about two mph on snowshoes and about four mph on skis over level terrain.

 

The rest of the article is at

https://insanescouter.org/p/168/80/Winter_Camping_Skills.html

 

Here is a funny story about a winter camping experience about two guys that decide to move to the Yukon (which certainly qualifies for winter camping). One day Scouter Kent ( camp chief ) and Scouter Jason ( assistant camp director ) decide to get away from it all and move to the Yukon. The story goes, they sell everything and pack up for a long trip to the Yukon by canoe (get in and row) finally arriving in a sheltered valley they decide that this is the place for them. The rest of this story can be seen at

https://insanescouter.org/p/3923/142/Yukon_Winter.html

 

And lastly, here is a reminder of an article written about a wintertime camping song. The beginning of the song starts out… “If you have a cold and you know it blow your nose
If you have a cold and you know it blow your nose
If you really have a cold, then grab just one of those
If you really have a cold blow your nose.” Go to InsaneScouter for the rest of the article at https://insanescouter.org/p/5331/141/The_Scouts_Winter_Song.html

 


 
 

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