My backpacking trip to Algonquin park is coming up in two weeks. Since I’ve never done winter tent camping before I’m trying to get ahead on preparing for the trip. Fortunately (depending on how you look at it) I have a winter car camping trip planned next weekend. So I’ll have the opportunity to bring additional gear with me to test and may edit this list after my test weekend.

Sleep System

My sleep system consists of all the items other than clothing needed to sleep at night. It should be pretty cold at night, so the emphasis is on staying warm.

• Outbound Backpacker 3- I borrowed this tent from the college to test out on the trip, I’ll be sharing the tent and the weight with a classmate.
• Chinook Everest Ice Sleeping Bag – Also borrowed from the college, I’m hoping it’s an improvement over my -7 Synthetic bag.
• Sleeping Bag Liner – I’ve been using an old cotton liner that a family friend sewed up for me a number of years ago. It’s treated me well so far but might be time for a wool replacement.
• MEC Backpacking Pillow – Love this thing, it is better in a hammock, but seems to work ok on solid ground.
• Green foam pad – It’s bulky but without spending hundreds of dollars, it’s probably the thickest and lightest cover you can find
• Styrofoam pad with reflector – Much thinner than the green pad, but apparently the reflector helps with heat. Doesn’t add much weight and can wrap in with the green pad.
• Ear plugs – Helps to drown out the noise outside the tent

Clothing

For small 1-2 night trips I have had success keeping clothing simple by wearing one set of clothes for daytime and another set for sleeping. For the safety, sanity, and personal health of anyone who may join me on the ride home I also typically leave a full change of clothes in the car for the drive home.

Daytime

Daytime clothing will be worn on the hike in/out and at the site until sleeping time. To prepare for the temperatures and for the heavy activity of snowshoeing to the site the clothing should be warm, layered, and able to deal with moisture.

• Columbia Interchange Winter Jacket – This three in one jacket has worked well for me for skiing and other winter activities.
• Auclair Mittens – My hands get cold, so I want mittens over gloves.
• Glove Liners – Sometimes you need to get your hands out of the mittens and the liners help keep the hands warm while allowing extra dexterity.
• Neck Warmer – Cotton and light, but it keeps the wind out of the jacket.
• Toque – Any old one will do.
• Ski Goggles – This will probably be overkill so I will bring in the car and assess weather on arrival at the trailhead.
• Snow Pants – Not sure what brand they are, but they’ve served me well for about 10 years.
• Winter wool socks (Tight fit) – A tighter fit sock works well for me while walking.
• Canadian Tire Winter Boot – Standard Canadian Tire type boot with a removable liner. Since the liner is removable I’ll be able to sleep with them so they’re not frozen when I wake up.
• Polyblend base layer – Keeps me dry.
• Active Dry T-shirt – Also keeps me dry.
• Sweater – It’s cotton which is pretty much a bad idea in the winter because it won’t dry out if it gets wet and will trap moisture, but I’m usually able to use the same sweater for two days while skiing so I think I’ll manage.

Sleeping

Sleep clothing will only be worn at night and should work along with my sleep system to keep me warm. I’ll also sleep with the majority of my daytime clothing tucked into my sleeping bag to help keep it from freezing.

• Daytime items I’ll reuse – Base Layer, neck warmer, and toque.
• Sweat pants – I don’t want to sleep in snow pants and the base layer probably isn’t enough to keep me warm.
• Sweat shirt – I’ll sleep in a new and dry sweatshirt.
• Winter wool socks (Heavy and loose) – Cold feet will keep me aware at night. Key here is that these socks will be bone dry so it should help keep my feet warm. I’ll also fill my Nalgene with hot water and toss it in the bottom of the sleeping bag to keep my feet warm.

Cooking/Food

Food is a key component of my warmth plan. The goal is to keep food and food preparation as simple as possible while accounting for the cold weather and allowing for some comfort items.

• Food – I’ll post about my meal plan separately, however my plan of attack can be found here.
• Woods 5L dry sack – I like to pack all my food in this bag, it’s easy to clip onto the outside of the pack if I run out of room outside, it also can have a carabiner easily attached to hang it as a bear bag.
• Optimus Crux – This small pocket stove works great and will heat up a cup of water quickly.
• 250g Fuel Canister – I’ll have to sleep with this so it doesn’t get too cold otherwise it won’t work very well in the morning.
• GSI 1L Stainless Steel Cup/Pot – I’ve been taking this cup with me since my first trip last year. It fits snuggly on the bottom of my nalgene bottle.
• MSR Folding Spork – Lightweight and doesn’t take up a lot of space.

Fire!

While I’m not carrying many fire related items, this still deserves it’s own category. Fire is an important aspect of any camping trip for me. First from a survival perspective, fire will help keep me warm in good and bad situations. But assuming all goes well, the group fire is a big part of a trip to me.

• Stormproof matches – If you haven’t tried these, you should. Even just for the novelty of seeing it keep burning after you dip it in a glass of water. These things will light in any conditions.
• Wetfire fire starters – What can i say, sometimes i get impatient.
• Bic or dollar store lighters – I’ll usually carry one or two of these on my person as a backup.

Other Gear

And now for everything else that finds a way into the nooks and crannies of my pack.

• Toilet paper – Here’s something I hope I won’t use, but I definitely want to carry it in case it’s needed.
• Emergency toilet paper -Clearly my worries about backwoods bathrooms are strong. A small role with a waterproof seal, it doesn’t weigh much and I don’t plan on using it but it gives me a better level of comfort.
• Baby wipes – Nothing cleans up better!
• Hand sanitizer – It is better to wash your hands, but with scarce warm water i’ll probably settle on hand sanitizer for the 24-30 hour trip.
• Paracord 100-125 ft – I carry three 50 ft lengths but the third one I’ve been cutting up on trips.
• Bear Bell – Attached to the outside of the pack.
• Bear Spray – Probably don’t need it and may ditch it in the car, but it adds a feeling of safety.
• Fox 40 Shark – i picked the Shark because it came with a lanyard, it works well.
• Bruton TruArc 3 – I used to really like this compass, but since taking an orienteering and map reading class I’ve been meaning to switch it. It’ll do for now.
• Adventure Medical Ultralight Medical Kit 7 – I may remove this from the pack depending on whether or not there is a group kit. Either way it’s always good to have the basics available incase things get hairy. I’ve added a tick kit and some blister packs into the kit as well.
• Mixed painkillers – Generally keep Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen, and Naproxen Sodium in my kit.
• 2x SOL Survival Blankets – Probably only need one, but a spare can’t hurt.
• Princeton Tec Sync Headlamp – I quite like this lamp because it rotates and has 5 brightness settings including a red light so you don’t blind everyone else while trying to see your food at night.
• Mechanix Original Gloves – Good working gloves, not at all fire resistant but they’ve saved me once or twice picking up a smoldering log from the fire.
• SOL Origin Essential Survival Kit – I bought this because i was too lazy to make my own survival kit. It’s proved surprisingly useful on trips with a small knife that works for small work and an extra flint. Makes it easy to carry a lot of useful gear in my pocket.
• Folding Saw – In case we need to cut up some larger wood.
• Nebo CSI EDGE™90 – Small tactical flashlight, I like to carry this to supplement the headlight.
• Stubai Pulley – Was the cheapest one I could find when I needed to get one quickly at MEC.
• 4x heat packs – For emergencies.

This post was written as part of the Humber College Winter Camping course. In preparation for a winter backpacking trip to Algonquin Provincial Park each student is asked to present to the class on the topic of a piece of gear required in a winter camping setting.

Water is one of the most important aspects of trip planning and the winter weather will require some additional planning to ensure I maintain a reserve of liquid water. In this post I will outline some gear options to deal with the challenges of keeping my reserve water liquid.

Lucky for me, it’s supposed to go down to -20 degrees Celsius this weekend, so I’ll have a chance to test my plans before going out to the woods.

My typical approach

On a typical trip in any other season I carry five water related items with me:

• 1.5 Litre HDPE widemouth Nalgene bottle – This bottle is filled and attempt to maintain this as a clean source throughout the trip. Ideally this bottle only contains home tap water or on trip treated water at all times.
• GSI 600 ml aluminum backpackers cup – With a little duct tape around the bottom of my Nalgene, this slides right on and fits snuggly.
• 1 litre sippable bottle – This is used as my drinking bottle and is where secondary water treatment takes place when i’m concerned about water quality.
• Water filter – I’ve tried a couple, but so far my favourite has been the Katadyn base camp gravity filter.
• Iodine tablets – Aquatabs are my go to. They’re small, easy to use, and you can barely taste them in the water. I use these as secondary water treatment or when my primary treatment (filter or boiling) is not available.

This approach won’t work

Based on the likely weather, it will probably be too cold for this approach. Most importantly I need a way to be sure that I have a source of liquid water available to me at all times.

My options

• Never stop moving – Since moving water won’t freeze my supply is safe while I’m hiking. But once I stop moving I’ll probably run into an issue.
• Melt snow – Snow should be a fairly clean source of water. As long as I can get it in a pot or in my cup I should be able to warm and boil it over a fire. Given the water will be already clean the single treatment will suffice.
• Get it from lakes and streams – At this time of the year the water in the lakes and streams should be safe. Algonquin has reported a high sodium content in the water recently and I will be able to check water reports before heading out on the trip. This water will also need to be once treated for safety.
• Find a way to keep my water from freezing – And this is where the gear comes in.

The gear options

• Change nothing – I could just sleep with my HDPE bottle. Before going to bed I could fill the bottle with heated water as well to keep me warm.
• Insulate my bottle – Some ultralight campers claim that insulating your water bottle with something like bubble wrap can be enough to prevent freezing. I’ll test this over the weekend at home.
• Use an insulated bottle – A light insulated bottle should be enough to keep the water from freezing. Essentially bringing a lightweight thermos to keep the water just above freezing. I’ll be borrowing a insulated bottle to test with but will also research some additional options over the next few weeks.

 

Image – “Just Frozen Water” – Peter von Bagh – Public Domain

This post was written as part of the Humber College Winter Camping course. In preparation for a winter backpacking trip to Algonquin Provincial Park each student is asked to present to the class on the topic of food in a winter camping setting.

In this post I will outline my planned approach to food for a winter trip. In a subsequent post I plan to outline my meal plan and food pack list.

Approach

My meal plan will aim to account for the following factors:

Lightweight – Since we’re planning to hike up to 6 KM in snow shoes to reach our site i’ll endeavour to keep weight to a minimum.

High Energy – It’s going to be cold and we’re going to hiking with a lot of gear the body will warm itself by processing proteins and simple carbohydrates. Good high energy foods will help keep me warm.

Easy Snacking – While on the trail I want to be able to ensure it’s easy to snack to boost energy.

Calorie intake – At 6′ 4″ and about 180 lbs I should burn about 2,500-2,700 calories on a regular low activity day. Between hiking on snowshoes carrying a 30-40 lbs pack and sleeping in the cold, I anticipate significant additional calorie burn.

• Hiking – I estimate we’ll spend about 2-3 hours hiking in a 24 hour period. Carrying the heavy pack on snowshoes I estimate i’ll burn an additional 500 calories an hour at minimum
• Sleeping and being cold – In addition, sleeping in the cold and just generally being cold should also up my burn rate.

Since I certainly don’t need to pack on additional pounds but also don’t want to starve on the trip i’ll aim for 3,500 calories a day with a 2,000 calorie reserve in my pack in case of emergencies.

Limiting Animal Products – I’ve been a pescatian for a couple years now and have recently shifted to full time vegetarianism. Recently i’ve also been experimenting with a near vegan diet. While this trip won’t be vegan for me I will not pack meat or fish products. I suspect dairy will remain a fat and protein staple in my backpacking routine until I find better substitutes for my go to items.

Lessons learned from past trips

While I’m relatively new into the world of backpacking (and certainly winter backpacking)

Soylent – This trip needs some happiness

I’ve been experimenting with Soylent for a while now. It’s nutritious, make you feel full, and honestly doesn’t taste that bad. However, it does have two major problems that will eliminate it from my pack on this trip.

1. It’s probably the best thing i could eat however, it sucks all the joy out of eating!
   While it’s great for a meal replacement when you’re on the go or too busy to prepare food there’s something about a delicious hot meal around the fire with friends. Keeping morale up will be key and food will play a key role in that.
2. It freezes!
   I had the opportunity to do cold sleeping trial run recently in a friends backyard. To test this theory i brought a bottle with me. Sure enough, when I woke up in the morning the bottle was frozen solid.

Freeze Dried – Why? and Why Not?

Freeze dried food is awesome, lightweight, and will definitely be a part of my meal plan. However, on my first backpacking trip I carried all dried and freeze dried foods for a three day two night trip. I survived, but that trip taught me some valuable lessons.

1. Lots of freeze dried food means lots of water.
   This could be a challenge on a winter trip. Lakes and rivers may be frozen. Snow may be limited or difficult to melt. I don’t want to get stranded without food because I put all my eggs in the freeze dried basket.
2. Freeze dried takes time.
   While this won’t be a problem around the campfire at night it’s not the best trail food. Which brings me to my final lesson learned …

Quick and easy snacks

On the trail I want to be sure to have easy access to high energy snack foods. To accomplish this I’ll need to find foods that are:

• High energy
• Doesn’t freeze or require additional heat/water
• Tastes good to keep me motivated and moving.

I’ll also need to be mindful of my packing plan. For easy access on the trail I’ll need to pack this food in an easily accessed pocket in my bag.

No cans!

Algonquin Park has a ban on all cans in the backwoods.

Some initial food ideas

Given the above, my initial thoughts on food are:

• Backpackers Pantry Pad Thai – It’s vegan, delicious, and full of great calories. Sure it’s high in sodium, but so is all packaged freeze dried food. I’m looking forward to enjoying this around the campfire.
• Cheese – This is probably something I want to work towards replacing on future trips if I stick to the no animal products approach. However, until then it’s a great trail food. Just grab your knife and cut off a piece. It’s high calorie and high in fats and proteins that will warm me up.
• Dried Fruits – A good source of simple carbohydrates and depending on the choice they don’t need to be entirely dry which makes them a little easier to eat if water is low.
• Nuts – My personal preference is for nuts with a high oil or fat content like peanuts or cashews.
• Energy/Protein bars – Probar Meal bars are my go to. The Superfruit slam bar is also free of chocolate which is ideal as I am trying to avoid caffeine
• Mint Tea – Since I’m avoiding caffeine, I’ll use mint tea to warm me up in the morning.

 

Image: “Backpacker’s Pantry”  – Hajime NAKANO – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0