My 9 year old son and I did an impromptu 5 mile out, over night, then 5 mile back Saturday and Sunday Feb 27 -28. We started at Porter's Gap and walked North East for 5 miles through Chandler Gap. We came to a little campsite with a fire ring at the convergence of 2 small streams. It was really the first decent campsite we passed.
I understand there was a 50k race through there earlier in the day but we got a late start so missed out on all the foot traffic. Passed one other hiker who was returning from a day hike. Barely beat two other hikers to the campsite. Of course they were more than welcome to stay but instead they opted to go look for another spot. Saw alot of coyote signs. Lots of furry left overs of squirells and rabbits, lots of droppings too. Trail was in super great condition I don't recall the first blow down. very easy to spot the markings as well.
Sat and Sun were both cool brisk days. Sat night was down right frigid. 26 degrees Sun morning. I knew it would be cold. I really don't have the equipment for weather that cold but before the night was over I was able to utilize the little 62 pound heater that came with me.
All of you ultralighters and minimalists can skip this part but I did manage to stuff a 5 lb firelog in my pack. There was plenty of dead wood aroung the campsite so we had a nice toasty fire to drink our hot chocolate by. My son entertained me with ghost stories. I think he made most of them up on the spot. Then when it was time to turn in around 10PM I went to the stream and filled up 2 Nalgene bottles. I then proceeded to heat the water on my pocket rocket and poured the boiling water back into the Nalgene bottles, closed them up tight and stuck one in each sleeping bag. These were only 40 degree Marmot Mummy bags with one of those thin liners that supposedly add 10 degrees of warmth (doubt it). The hot water bottle trick worked great. The water stayed warm and kept the inside of the sleeping bags warm and toasty until about 2:00 AM. My son got out to water the winter foliage and let all the heat in the tent out. From that point on we both shivered and froze until finally around 3:00 AM he crawled in my bag and we covered up with his bag. Finally we were warm enough to sleep again even if it was a bit cramped.
Woke up around 6:30 AM stuck my feet in my boots it was like sticking them into two blocks of ice. All in all we had fun. Part of the adventure is in making yourself a bit uncomfortable and seeing how you deal with it. I do think I'll invest in a warmer bag before I do anymore Feb overniters.
Follow the link to some pictures
http://www.flickr.com/photos/todd150hp/sets/72157623546420346/show/BTW I noticed when we came out on Sunday that they were doing a prescribed burn nearby. That got me to thinking maybe something I should check into before heading out next time. Never really thought about it. I'll make another post on what I found out about that.
