Change of plans!

I'm going camping over New Years.
So the camping trip I've been talking about for (two months?!) on here, is happening, just slighty shorter and slightly safer.

I'm going to the Rider Hollow trailhead and bopping around there for a few days. Annoyingly, my stove seems to be missing a piece, but I'm only going to be there for a few days and perhaps I can still use it just by pouring propane in it without pumping. And this plan includes me having a car (Yay!)

So I'll be posting again on New Years or the day after. Thanks again, everyone!
Tata

Unfortunately it it all to obvious you havent tried this!
Like the clothes, borrow or buy before you camp. Oh well.

Good Luck and I hope things work out for you.

Probably not. And you're not pouring propane - sure you're not thinking gasoline?

Why do you keep making things up that you "think might work" instead of listening to experienced folks both here and in some of the links provided earlier?

Why do you keep making things up that you "think might work" instead of listening to experienced folks both here and in some of the links provided earlier?

Doesn't this make one eager for her trip report?

Loralee, I agree with with Marc...pouring any type of flammable liquid "hoping perhaps" it might work is a disaster waiting to happen. Even for an experienced outdoorsman. I used to have to do this every now and then with my 1970's model Svea stove and I prayed every time that I wouldn't blow myself up. So, take it from personal experience that this practice sucks.

I was a little concerned when you wanted to chop your hair because of a little iced snow on your head, but now the possibility that you may lose your hair altogether really concerns me.

But, as "O" said, I'll be anxiously awaiting the trip report!

Ah, yes - when I get settled I'll have a full trip report.

By the way, I realize that what I said before sounded a lot more ridiculous than what I actually meant.

I wasn't relying on my stove. I was planning to be out there for one or two nights tops, and I was a half a mile from my car. While
having a hot meal makes the experience much more enjoyable, I was happy enough to be camping and brought enough food which did not require a stove.

Also, I wasn't planning on pouring white gas over an open flame.
I had the idea that if I just filled the little dish beforehand and then lit it, it might be enough for my purposes, and it was.
First thing I wanted was a hot water bottle: mission accomplished. Then it burnt out, and I didn't mess with it much anymore.

Full trip report coming soon.

Hair still intact.

Very good...I don't think the Sinead O'Connor look would become you

Actually, what I had to do with my Svea was to pour a little white gas into the depressed area at the base of the stove to build up the pressure inside so it would exhaust the thin spray to light it. Hated it every time...

Okay,

The trip was phenomenal. This one wasn't hiking intensive, I just wanted to get some semi solo experience. By semi-solo, I mean alone but with a good chance of people around. I was right next to a ski resort, so the people were plentiful.

Because it was such a short hike, I got there with plenty of daylight. The main thing I wanted to try to do on this trip was to try my hand at fire building. I'd read the information on the other thread and done some online browsing but my guess is that it was much more delicate than something that could be learned online.

Rider Hollow, as it turns out, is a goldmine for decent firewood.
There was a fallen birch tree about 10 feet away from the lean-to, so I stripped it pretty shamelessly. Someone else had apparently build a fire, so there was some wood around, which was
nice too.

One thing I learned: bring matches. I brought two little bic lighters and both of them "broke" on me. My guess is that I wasn't using them correctly...but I don't know how you can use one of those lighters incorrectly. My other guess is that they suck.

So I was nurturing a small flame when a family came by and helped me with my technique. One of the things I learned from them was to get branches with had broken off but were still in the trees , because they were likely to be the most dry. We had some difficulty, because all of the wood was pretty damp from the rain a few days ago.

Another thing I learned: Firebuilding is significantly easier with a lot of people. You can have one person blowing, another feeding it twigs, someone else blowing on another piece..etc.

I had been trying to just get a flame and keep it alive, rather than build a very solid base first, so they corrected me there.
But eventually we got a roaring fire going. I'm putting in a picture because I'm shamelessly proud of it.



Spent the rest of the evening either maintaining the fire or gathering more firewood. Obviously didn't use my stove, because I used the fire to cook.

I opted for uninterrupted sleep rather than maintaining the fire all night and through a snow storm. Also, as someone else said in the other thread, my sleeping bag was warmer.

The next morning, I cleared off the eight inches of snow that got dumped on my beautiful fireplace and tried again. (By the way - I had checked the weather beforehand. The snow didn't catch me by surprise). Unfortunately, my second lighter died. Every once in awhile I could get a spark.

I had already tried and failed with the stove. Just to reiterate that point, when I went camping before I hadn't actually used the stove but I watched it used. I tried it in my driveway before I went, and thought mine was missing a piece. It wasn't, actually, I just misunderstood the mechanism. My friend was going to teach me how to use it, but he hadn't yet as I called off the trip. And now he's in California. I wasn't expecting to use it, but dragged it along anyway because I figured that there are worse things that I could pack and not use.

As my level of pride decreases dramatically along with my body heat, and I didn't need to conserve it for the stove, I decided to try and kick start the fire with the gas. (Before I considered that cheating)

Don't worry. I've played with bug spray and candles enough in my youth to know that it is important to stand back. I lost hair to neither ice nor flame this trip.

Also, I could only get my lighter to spark, so the only way I could produce any kind of a flame was to dip a stick in the gas and try to let the spark catch, and then use the burning stick as a light. I had already (somewhat) cleared the snow out of my fireplace and sprinkled some gas on the wood. Again, don't worry - I did not pour it over an open flame.

Another thing I learned: The importance of taking a few breaths of fresh air when blowing on a fire. A gulp full of smoke doesn't feel good.

But anyway, I didn't manage to get it going this morning so I decided to come home a night early. I would have been okay without a fire, but it wouldn't have been nearly as enjoyable and I wanted to remember a fun trip. And I had a blast. (And learned a lot!)

Glad things worked out. Keep in mind that on more ambitious excursions - multi-day with miles hiked per day, above treeline, etc. - a hot meal becomes and important part of being able to keep warm. Not just for the "hot" aspect, but making 5000 calories per day palatable (most folks don't like to drink straight olive oil or eat frozen butter). Another critical need for a stove is when it is your only source of liquid water. Sure, you may plan to make camp at a year-round flowing stream - what happens when a storm forces you to stop 3 miles short of that campsite with a strem? Of course you'll need to calculate how much fuel to carry with the assumption that you'll be melting snow or ice for all your water. This is but one example poor assumptions.

There's just a lot more to think about and consider in winter camping/backpacking that a lot of novices don't realize. I think that is the major motivation behind some of the cautionary posts in these threads. Reading an exciting TR of an epic trip is great. Reading about extremities lost to frostbite, hypothermia deaths, injuries or deaths of SAR personnel looking for your sorry ass, or even chopped off hair when it could have been prevented with a bit of knowledge is just depressing.

If I recall my 1970's stove technology, that is exactly what you were supposed to do to pre-heat the Svea 123. The Optimus 8R - and I still use mine - has essentially the same burner as the Svea, and the cup is underneath it. You could use an eyedropper to fill it, or a few strokes on the optional mini-pump, or a squirt of the tube stuff made for this purpose.

Sweet TR! Glad you had so much fun. The truely great part of your trip is the pride you've developed in taking care of business. Very empowering when you get to the point that you can start a fire in any weather, at any time of year. It remains the highlight of most trips to have a proud fire.

It's great you got a chance to practice building a fire.

Yep, you learned the problem with lighters, they can fail. I thought I included it in my last post, guess I forgot. Matches aren't that great either, especially when it's wet and cold, it's very difficult to strike matches without breaking them when you're shivering and your fingers don't work properly. Flint and steel work better.

I expect that we all have stories from winter camping and the fact that we are here to tell them says something. My first big one, a New Years traverse of the Adirondack high peaks, neither myself nor my partner remembered a flashlight. Thankfully, I grabbed a book of paper matches from the bar on our way or there would not have been much cheer. -35F a couple nights and I used two summer rectangle bags shoved inside one another. Hiked the whole thing in brand new summer alpine climbing boots. No crampons, snowshoes, ice axe, poles or skiis. We lived and I learned a lot. Some of my favorite memories.

Upon packing it, I thought it was a stupid extra thing to drag around but a thermos ended up being worth the bulk. I had something hot to drink after getting up in the middle of the night to pee. And I hate having to get up at my house - but getting up and going out into the snow is a whole other banana. You really have to be desperate to leave your warm sleeping bag.

Though a teacher told me that your body wastes energy keeping urine
warm, so you should always get up and go. Who knew?

Of course, at one point I knocked it over so instead of drinking hot chocolate I just got my sleeping pad wet. Wonderful.

How long was that camping trip, chip?

Two items to learn how to use and to pack next time:

Pee Bottle (clearly marked, with tape, that you can tell by feel in the dark)
A Lady-J or a Freshette FUD
(As far as which is better, you'll have to get that advice from the women in the forum.)

This in false.

peeing will not change the surface area of you body enough to lessen your heat loss and the pee in your body is warm. You waste that heat energy if you pee and toss it out. Keep the warm bottle in your bag using that heat to your advantage and prevent it from freezing until you are ready to dump it in the morning.

ok thats just gross.

The warm bottle in your bag actually makes excellent sense. And its easier than getting up to boil water.

I had a friend who took a 5 day solo trip in the Adirondacks and his 0 degree bag wasn't warm enough in the 7 degree weather, so he said that he got up every few hour or so to make a hot water bottle to stay warm.

You will want to pour it out won't you?
If it freezes that ain't happnen.

Loralee, my best recollection is that we were out 3 nights. As that was more than 30 years ago, I can't be sure. I am sure that I will not go out in the winter in the Dacks anymore without at least a -10F bag, a puffy coat in reserve and puffy booties to sleep in.

There is a definite inverse relationship between the temperature outside your sleeping bag and the number of times you will wake up needing to relieve yourself.

I prefer to wait until morning when I am getting up anyway. That is much more preferable to getting up in the middle of the night or using that women's funnel device. It could still lead to disaster within the sleeping bag.
It is bad enough being woken to the tinkling sound of one's male tentmates using their peebottles - no way do I want others to hear me!
A square-shaped bottle is recommended (if your water bottle is round) to enable identification by feel.

I agree, unfortunately reality often forces itself upon us!

Especially since the night is about 15 hours long.

I thought I wasn't sleeping well - turns out I'd slept fine. But crawling into your sleeping bag at 6 30 (don't know when I went to sleep, but at night I don't really want to be anywhere but my sleeping bag) doesn't mean you'll sleep until daylight - which, on monday, wasn't until after 7 AM.

On most winter backpacks in the NE in December - February, you don't want to sleep till daylight anyway. Waking, making breakfast, cleaning up, breaking down camp, and packing for the day (and trying to stay warm during that process, esp fingers and toes) is going to take several hours. Since the daylight hours are so few, you pretty much want all of that done by 7am, so waking at 4:30a is a benefit.

Lorelee:

Just caught on these threads - a little late...

I have been backpacking solo for over 20 years now, with at least a dozen weeklong trips under my belt in different states, not counting a 12-day trip trekking in Nepal. I don't know of any other woman who have done this - which doesn't mean they don't exist, it just means it is a rare occasion.
So kudo to you for going out solo.

I have gone a half a dozen times winter camping with my partner, in the Adirondaks and the Catskils. I am at the point where I feel ready to go out on my own in the winter.

PM or email me if you want to know my 2 cents.
[email]myrbou@yahoo.com[/email

are you for real??? You act like your madame currie or something. If you havent seen the calender its 2008