Cold Weather Camp 1

12/26/07 - 4th Day - After Breakfast. I haven't blogged in awhile because I've been pretty busy around here. Just got back yesterday afternoon from Phase 1 of our Cold Weather Camping course. I took the men in the fellowship on a two day cold weather camping trip to learn some preparedness and survival skills.

When I was planning for the trip, it didn't look like the weather was going to cooperate. That, and we couldn't find a suitable location so it looked like we might have to camp here on the land. At the last minute, our good friend Homer who has a large ranch nearby offered us his place for the trip. I still was concerned that the temps were going to be too warm to really teach the things I wanted to teach, but when we read that it might get into the high 20's, I figured that we would go ahead and go. We were to leave on Sunday afternoon and return on Tuesday afternoon. We would hike two miles into the camp site and make camp by a creek in some woods deep into the ranch. Like I said, we expected warm temps during the days, and at least one night in the high 20's. This trip is to be (if the Lord wills) the first of 4 phases of cold weather training. This first phase is designed to teach some basic camp craft and cold weather knowledge, and to make a very important point about excess and unneeded gear. I had prepared a gear list with the "normal" gear that would be carried by a camper in cold weather. To the men, it likely seemed that I was being a little strict on what they would be allowed to bring, but remember, we would have to carry our packs 2 miles in each direction, and the overall purpose is to teach survival and preparedness where all this gear is not available. Anyway, one of the points of the trip was to show the guys that even the "strict" list that I allowed was WAY too much stuff that they don't need. During this trip I allowed tents and sleeping bags, but we would learn to make shelters and firebeds - so that the fellas would know how to build them for the next trip, when tents and sleeping bags will not be allowed.

After the strenuous walk into the camp, I think the guys were more conducive to my idea that "less is more". I was trying to emphasize that we don't need all that gear, and that they need to know how to survive and thrive with far less. The first thing we did was to build an "A-Frame" shelter for Elder David, because he had elected not to bring his tent, since his was a huge family tent that weighed about 10-15 lbs. So we all pitched in and built David a shelter. David did most of the fine tuning, and he did a really good job:


David was the biggest nut I had to crack, because he is a California boy and he DOES NOT like cold. It took some convincing to get him to believe that with a 0 degree sleeping bag in a shelter like this that he would not freeze to death.

Chris also did not bring a tent, and he got to work excavating a hole between some fallen trees. He made a good makeshift shelter and covered it with a tarp and some cedar boughs:


Chris was in the army in the first Gulf War, and he has lived in a camper on his land with no heat, a/c, or electricity for a year, so I figured I didn't have to worry too much about him. He would only drown if it rained. The problem with army guys is that they think they know survival, but they usually only know survival when there are scheduled and protected supply lines. It always tickled me to read in army cold weather survival manuals where some of the advice is on how to install a woodburner in your tent. Chris, like an old army guy, showed up with a supply of MRE's - once again a victim of the army supply line methodology. I informed him that MRE's are heavy, and that a 30 days supply would probably way well over 100 lbs. Regular armies require supply lines, and that mentality does not work in real survival situations.

The rest of us got our tents put up, since it was getting late and would be getting cold soon, and then we got the camp fire started using a BlastMatch fire starter that I have had for many years. I taught the group some handy individual coal cooking tips, and we all prepared our individual meals for the evening meal. We were only allowed to bring long-term preparedness food with no glass jars, bottles, or other such packaging. We were allowed to bring the pre-prepared long-term preserved foil packet meal packs that are now available in grocery stores, but we could bring nothing that was cooked at home or that would not last as long-term storage food.

We sat around the fire and talked for a few hours, then I decided to head to bed.

The temps started to drop pretty quickly, and soon we realized it might be getting a bit colder than we thought. I was hoping that it would really dip down, maybe into the teens, but the prognosticators had called for a low of 27 degrees. When it was down near 30 degrees at bedtime, I had further hope that we might get a really chilly night.

The first night was a bit rough. I had bought a new 0 degree bag because I use my other bag all the time in my cabin, and after close to three years it had lost some of its "loft" and thus would not be as insulative as it was when it was new. I bought a new 0 degree bag at Stuff Mart for less than $40. The new bag was VERY narrow, and though it said it was 84 inches long, this must have been by some type of gorilla math because my 6'3" frame did not fit well into it at all. As a result, my right arm and head really never made it into the bag. I sleep light on a good night, so I didn't get much rest the first night - though I stayed relatively comfortable. I woke up early when I heard Logan stomping around outside, and I came out of my tent to find him staring wistfully at the fire pit where no fire burned. The gray coals showed no real life, and he seemed almost despondent at finding no fire at which to warm himself. He pronounced himself "very cold" and we went to work on starting the fire. I stirred up the coals and some of them glowed red, so we threw on some wood and kindling and blew on it until it flared up. Within 35 minutes, the rest of the campers started to stir.

Larry got up, and he had a fancy thermometer device. He announced it to be 38 degrees in his tent, and the lowest outdoor temperature was 18.3 degrees right before sun up. EXCELLENT! I couldn't have asked for a better first night. David showed up and he was NOT a happy camper. He had shivered all night in his A-Frame and pretty much everyone else talked about how cold it had gotten. My plan was shaping up perfectly.

We got to work on breakfast and on chopping and gathering firewood for a long day. After that, I announced that we would be building two "model" shelters, and that these would be the same shelters that we would all build on the next trip... the trip without sleeping bags or tents. I think everyone was a bit curious and maybe a little doubtful that the shelters would work. So I laid out the plan. Each shelter would face the north since the prevailing winds were from the south and west. Each would consist of a "lean-to" shelter which would be faced on the north by a heat reflecting wall. Between the two walls we would build a firebed upon which the camper would sleep. Someone asked "who gets the firebed? you?", I said, "well, it would only seem right for me to get it, since this is my trip, but we can put it to a vote". Everyone laughed because they knew that I would not look kindly on anyone voting against me. David said, "I think there will be eight different votes". Well, I let them all suppose that I would take the firebed, and we got to work building them:


Here is a pic from the beginning stages of one of the shelters. You can see the "lean to" portion, and closer to the camera is the beginnings of the heat reflector wall. Larry is busy digging out the trench for the firebed.

Here I am inspecting the construction, while Elder David seems to be praying that he will not freeze up solid during the coming night.
Here is Larry digging the fire trench for what everyone thinks will be my shelter:




In this next pic, Liviu is excited to learn that he is going to get one of the new shelters with the firebed. He is close to my height, but with an added 50 lbs. or so, and he fit into his bag worse than I fit into mine. I figured it would be good for him to learn to build this shelter so he could teach his young family and someday his boys how to survive in cold weather:


As you can see, it warmed up some by lunchtime. Liviu is standing behind the second shelter. Next is a view of the partially completed shelter with fire trench. As you can see, you would sit under the lean-to while you build your fire and cook your meal. The trench is lined with large stones which are absorb and emit heat. The heat reflector wall blocks the wind and reflects the heat into the shelter. After your meal, when you are ready to go to sleep, you would spread the coals the length of the trench and cover it with 4 inches of soil. You then stretch out your bedding on the firebed and go to sleep:


The "lean-to" wall is to the south, the reflector wall is to the north. heavy boughs are later stacked on the west wall to keep out the wind, so the entrance would be through the east side. Now, at this point I informed Elder David that first shelter that we had spent hours building was really for him. I think he was excited to hear that. It had been my plan all along, because I was convinced that after the cold previous night, that if I could keep David warm on this second night, that everyone else would be pretty certain that they could survive without a tent and sleeping bag on the next trip.

When the shelters were finished, we split up into two 4-man teams and went out looking for some game. We had set out some live traps the night before, but we hadn't caught anything. On the way hiking in, we had seen a whole flock of turkeys, and during the night we had heard the wild pigs rooting around. We hoped we might run into something to shoot at, but we didn't. It was quite warm on the hike - getting up to near the 60 degree mark, and we were hot and sweating pretty good. I took my group on a 2+ mile hike, which included a 15 minute nap on a cool creek bed. When we returned, we chopped firewood and prepared for the evening. Before dark, we took another hike (about 1/2 mile) to find some appropriate rocks for lining the firebeds. You CAN NOT use creek rocks for a firebed, as they will explode violently when heated. There were no rocks other than creek rocks in our area, so we hiked until we found some, and each of us grabbed 4 or more large rocks to carry back to the camp. We made camp, got the fire burning nicely, cooked our evening meal, and Liviu and David started their firebed fires. They tended their shelter fires, while the rest of us curled up next to the main camp fire. We were in for a shock as it was in the mid 20's by around 9pm. We figured we were in for a far colder night than expected. I gave final directions to the shelter dwellers concerning their firebeds, then I went to bed. This time I really squirmed my way into my tiny sleeping bag, and I guess I stretched it out a bit because I fit in it a lot better. I stayed warm all night long, and slept late (7:15). I awoke to the announcement that it was 17 degrees in the camp. David and Liviu pronounced themselves "toasty warm" in their shelters on the firebeds. Liviu even stated that he was "hot" all night, and that he didn't need his sleeping bag. David was well pleased with the shelter, so much so that he snored so loud throughout the night that everyone heard him. The main hurdle had been cleared. Now everyone was convinced that the shelters with firebeds would work, and that they really did not need their sleeping bags and tents. Excellent. That had been the goal of this first trip.

Frost covered everything, so we knew we would have to wait for everything to dry out. A few of us decided to play poker on a frying pan:


Ok, so the cold weather survival camp (Phase 1) was a success. Phase 2 is scheduled for some time in the future. I'll keep you updated.

Peace,

Michael Bunker