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.