View topic - Interior Winter Camping

It is currently March 18th, 2024, 10:17 pm

All times are UTC - 5 hours





Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 21 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2
Author Message
 Post subject:
PostPosted: October 18th, 2004, 7:21 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: December 29th, 2002, 7:00 pm
Posts: 6330
Location: Bancroft, Ontario Canada
Dead trees can be cut down, here's the page from Ontario Parks:

Interior

Camping away from Highway 60 in the interior of the park is also permitted during winter. You may wish to use one of the groomed ski trails to enter the park interior but camping within sight or sound of the trails or in trail shelters is not permitted. Winter camping is also not permitted on designated summer campsites or within 30 metres of a lakeshore, trail or portage. We recommend that you camp in low sheltered areas where there is a good supply of standing dead firewood for warmth and cooking.


http://www.ontarioparks.com/english/algo-winter.html

_________________
><((((º>


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: October 18th, 2004, 9:26 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: July 22nd, 2002, 7:00 pm
Posts: 1896
Why I haven't seen "standing" in that blurb I don't know as I've looked at it a dozen times before. Yep, I guess I was lied to and have been passing it on as gospel. :oops:

I wonder if there was a level of confusion between summer use of designated campsites vs winter camping in non-designated sites or even campgrounds vs interior camps. I'm going to phone a friend in the park system and ask what gives.
Thanks for pointing that out. Just because I haven't need to cut standing deadwood yet doesn't mean that either me or somebody else won't need to.

cheers, Ted


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: October 21st, 2004, 9:13 am 
Offline

Joined: April 11th, 2002, 7:00 pm
Posts: 1153
Location: Barrie, Ontario Canada
Ted, so you're building a stove! And you have a 10x10 of Egyptian Cotton! I want to stay at YOUR camp! (Put up a photo when you're done.)

Jake, when you choose a place to camp in winter, the view is the last thing you consider. That's why the winter spots will be different than the summer spots. Instead, you look for standing dead firewood (poles) in abundance, shelter from the wind (Particularly NW wind), and if you're staying for a while, access to a lake to put a hole through the ice for water.

I look for a spot where if I cut one pole, I'll then have a perfect sized clearing for the tent, and 2 trees to lash the pole-to, to provide a ridgepole to hang the tent. This is very little impact on the site.

Use of a wood stove cuts wood consumption way down. Open fires used in conjunction with dome tents would likely use more, depending on how much heat you want (usually, by day 3, rather a lot!).

As for excrement, it's done way the heck back in the woods, off all trails except the one you just made, and the paper is burned right there and then. Nature deals with this in short order, and in summer, when travel is done by canoe, simply no one is going to be there.

You need snowshoes first. As Ted said, camp use requires them, period. In fact if I can afford the weight, I take a pair of bearpaws for camp work, and a pair of very long skinny shoes for trail use.

Skis are great for day trips, and for long hauls down lakes. If the sled is slippery and not too heavy, and the snow has a crust, you'll get a bit of glide with each step (which is welcome!). But they're not so good for hauling a load uphill through bush on unpacked snow. Also, the sled will tow a lot easier on the trail packed down by snowshoes.

For breaking trail you want BIG snowshoes -- no other substitute. You need the float. You may hear a salesman of modern snowshoes say: "These small modern shoes have just as much floatation as the old bigger ones, because is uses a solid membrane for a deck instead of webbing -- same square-foot surface on the snow." This is complete crap. Snow compacts. It is not a liquid. What matters is the area enclosed by the perimeter of the shoe. [/u]That is what keeps you on top.

Any wood stove is better than nothing, but it's convenient to have a stove (with pipe) that is light, has a flat top for cooking, has one removeable burner so you can lower a pot inside for quick boiling, can be loaded without interrupting the cooking, has a draft control, is sturdily mounted (for when you trip and fall against it while putting on your boots) and is not too bulky.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: October 21st, 2004, 9:26 am 
Offline

Joined: April 11th, 2002, 7:00 pm
Posts: 1153
Location: Barrie, Ontario Canada
Ah, I screwed up the underlining. Gimme an axe....


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: October 21st, 2004, 11:47 am 
Offline

Joined: April 18th, 2002, 7:00 pm
Posts: 419
Location: Beamsville, Ontario Canada
ahhh, the long awaited response from DaveH comes through...

to sum it up
1. skiis OR snowshoes, we'll be looking to invest in snowshoes instead of backcoutnry skiis. our skinny XC (yup ~55mm) will do for trekking around (coz they do fine for that so long as you're not towing). good advice on the surface area thing - makes sense.

2. woodstove - i'm now more partial to side loading as opposed to top loading. i'll be checking out lebaron's again to nail this down. the $30 price difference is a bit to suck up but it's an investment right?

3. tent - daveh, still need some info on this. i have an old canvas that comes with alum tube frames. will that do? what modifications do i make to prep it for hot-tenting?

thanks for all the advice esp ted and dave.....J


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: October 22nd, 2004, 8:33 am 
Offline

Joined: April 11th, 2002, 7:00 pm
Posts: 1153
Location: Barrie, Ontario Canada
Sure, you can modify an old pork-and-beaner tent. It won't be perfect, but it'll get you started.

You need a thimble for where the stovepipe goes through the fabric. An easy way to do this is to cut a hole about 14" x 14" in the wall, and sew in a sleeve that allows you to slip in a piece of sheet metal that size. The pipe goes through a hole in the sheet metal.

The pipe doesn't have to be vertical. You can have a near-horizontal run where it goes through the wall, then an elbow and a vertical section wired to sticks jammed into the snow.

If it has a sewn-in floor, you'll want to remove half of it, or maybe all of it. It's most convenient to be able to walk in -- with your boots on -- into a "working area" where the stove and grub box are. This is open floor, often dug down. The stove is supported by stakes, or a log framework run out beyond the wall of the tent -- depends on the shape of your tent. Then the other part of the interior is where your bedding/sitting area is, with ground sheet and blue foamies to sit on.

When you cut out the floor, leave 14" or so around the edges to serve as "sod cloth". This is taken to the outside and snow heaped on top to hold the walls in place and make an air seal.

I don't know about your pole set-up, but you'll have to make sure that any vertical posts are supported by squares of plywood, since you're probably setting up on packed snow 2 ft off the ground.


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 21 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2

All times are UTC - 5 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group