Re: Snow Camping

going snow camping tonight...... i'm going with a boy scout troop to Pine Crest (up above Sonora / Twain Heart ) over night tonight to teach them how to camp & survive in the snow.. fortunately i have a really good sleeping pad and a -60 degree sleeping bag, so i should be ok.

Hot soup and chicken for dinner (with hot chocolate later)... i'm already looking forward to being back home to a soft, warm / toasty comfortable bed, and i haven't even left yet. lol i'm 53 yrs old now, ruffin' it ain't as fun as it used to be.

Forrest,

Do you make them leave their cell phones, IPODS, etc. at home? Or is that an unenforcable pipe dream?

Are you aware that it'll probably be snowing there all weekend?

Tom;

we have a rule on our trips, NO cell phones / Ipods during the actual camping part.

as far as the trip went, it didn't snow that much on us at all, but an irritating light rain off and on. 3 adults went, and 5 boys... the trip gave the boys a lot to think about and learn... all of the boys got either a little wet and very cold, or very wet and very cold... even the other two adults were cold (but dry)... i was the only one who stayed not only dry, but hot in my sleeping bag. lol (i have a -60 bag... i slept in my own 2 man tent alone).... thank goodness no wind, just a drizzle of rain here and there... two boys (brothers) made the stupid mistake of leaving their boots and socks OUT IN THE OPEN (as they slept) so needless to say, they were soaked from the rain over night... we had them put their socks (cuz they didn't bring any extras) over the fire to dry them out in the morning.

one thing that everyone learned (the hard way) was how important it was to keep your ground pad totally underneath your tent!!! you can't even allow the smallest part to show, if you do, water will eventually get into your tent at night and ruin everything..... that happened to all the boys (because they didn't listen to instruction).

we hiked only about 200 yards away from our cars, but it seemed like 10 miles as each step we took, we sunk about 1 /1/2 feet into the snow! all in all, we had fun still the same.. what was nice, is that there was no charge to enter Pinecrest, nor a fee to camp! (because of winter)... so that was a nice surprise.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/2010 08:42AM by forrestranger.

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forrestranger
i have a -60 bag...

Where were you planning on camping when you bought that monster?

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forrestranger
we hiked only about 200 yards away from our cars, but it seemed like 10 miles as each step we took, we sunk about 1 /1/2 feet into the snow!

Snow Camp-on usually means snow, no?

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eeek;
i bought the bag to sleep comfortably for snow camping. it's a Wiggys (when yer bored, read about the product).. http://wiggys.com/

what i like about it is that you can put it in the washer and dryer, they even recommend it. it also can get wet while camping, and it isn't the end of the world like a downfilled bag.. it will eventually dry out from your body heat... great bag imo, i'm very happy with it.

chick-on;

the original plan was to camp close to our vehicles, just to give the boys their first taste of what it is like to sleep in the snow... just feet away was snow just as deep as where we ended up, there was no sense walking 200 plus yards imo, but we did.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/2010 07:59PM by forrestranger.

That Wiggy guy (and a couple of his sockpuppet aliases) shows up on another forum I play on - good grief. Wiggy doesn't begin to describe it. Wiggy's claims are bogus and overblown, just like a lot of marketing hype for a lot of other products.

If it takes a -60 rating to stay warm in a Sierra winter, I'm not terribly impressed with the bag. If it were accurately rated and you were out in 0-10F temps at night, you would sweat up a storm. If you were comfortable it's just another inaccurately rated bag.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/2010 10:27AM by AlmostThere.

your opinion AlmostThere... all i know, is that i'm very happy with the bag.. and if you want to know more detail, i was not just comfortable.. i actually told everyone i was with, how HOT i got and had to unzip my bag to my waist 3 different times during the night to cool down.. whether it's a true -60 bag or not, for the price and the product, it's a great bag imo . it sounds as if you have it out personally for Mr. Wiggy himself, i also don't appreciate you coming off on me just because i have one of his bags. grow up and have some manners.

forrest, did u do any constructing of benches or whatnot in the snow?
to me that it a huge part of the fun of snow camping.
I would think the kids would get a kick out of that.

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no, i just went along for the ride at the last minute... they needed another adult, so i went.

It didn't even get that cold. Old Dude was in a 25 degree back on Sat. night near 7000ft. elevation.
bill-e-g uses a 15 in the winter and poofy stuff. Toasty warm.

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