My First Hot Tent Backcountry Camping Trip

This year there have been a lot of firsts for myself and my crew.  This past weekend it was my chance to go hot tenting for the first time. I knew that I would have to try this out first if there was any way of convincing my  hubby and son that this is something we could try in the future.  This is where Camper Christina enters into my experience.  She recently built a new hot tent, and I was lucky to be the her first guest.

I was also trying out my DIY sled for the first time on this trip.  I am hoping that it will hold up to the elements.  Friday night I made the drive to Christina’s place as we wanted an early start to Saturday morning.  This was a very smart decision as the weather was nasty, and it would have made for a long morning commute the next day.

We were up bright and early Saturday and we were welcomed by a foot of freshly fallen snow. What better way to start a winter camping adventure?! After packing up the vehicles, we headed to Go Home Lake.  This is where our overnight adventure would take place. We entered a road and found out that  it wasn’t plowed… yet… (We didn’t even have the sleds out of the vehicles when a plow went down the road).  At the parking lot, we offloaded our sleds, loaded all the gear (there was a lot), tied a tarp over all the gear and secured the sleds.  This was the part I was the most worried about.  Would all the gear fit? It did, but I think my next sled will be the 60″ sled. This one was only the 48″ version and if I were with my crew, there would be even more gear. Oh the things I will learn!

Off we went to find our perfect piece of heaven for the night.  My gear seemed to hold up on the first section of the trail. This was the flat road leading to the trail we would take.

Once off the main road, we entered onto the trail.  It’s actually big enough for a vehicle as you can see in the snow, but it’s mainly used by snowmobiles in winter.

The walk to our site was beautiful.  We had a clear sky and there wasn’t a sound in the woods as we went up and down along the path.  The only thing we saw in front of us were animal tracks, one set of tracks was actually from a couple of wolves.   They were going in the other direction but we commented on how cool it would be to see some that day.

It’s interesting how you just know you found the right spot. I experienced this on the French River trip I did this summer, and I had the same thing happen this trip. I just knew when we had reached our destination.  Our first task was to flatten down the area where the tent would be for the night (we actually did two areas as we couldn’t decide at first), but settled on this lovely spot below. 

Christina started setting up the tent, which we realized would be a bit of a challenge.  The corners are to be pegged/staked down, but we were sitting on rock.  We tied the corners to nearby trees, but the tent wouldn’t sit right on the ground. Eventually after some problem solving, I suggested we bury pieces of wood and try to create anchors and tie the ropes to that.  Success!! What was normally a 3 minute set up took a bit longer.  Again, things you learn in the backcountry.

With the tent set up, the fire was the next important piece.  It is essential to have a fire going as the temperature was dropping down to a whopping -29 degrees Celsius that night.  We wanted to be warm! Plus, if I wanted to get my crew convinced to do hot tenting, I had to prove that we can stay warm overnight.

Camp was set up, so we headed out for an afternoon adventure. We wanted to walk further down the trail to explore the area, and also to find water to fill up our bottles for the evening. It was gorgeous!  I love the smells and sounds in winter, and I’m sure I had a smile on my face the entire afternoon.

After a few hours of hiking around, we found a rock wall on the way back to camp and just had to have some fun with the big icicles that were hanging off the rocks.  I immediately thought about my science class and how these were acting like convex lenses, which leads us into funny picture poses. What can I say? I’m a little crazy, and it seems that Christina is too! Must be why we get along so well. 🙂

The sun was setting fast, and you just have to take the typical evening tent shot! The smoke was billowing out of the pipes, but you can’t really see that in the picture. 

Back at camp, we relaxed for a bit and had a drink before getting supper ready. It was nice and warm inside but I wanted to try out my new Buff that I had received in my winter gear box.  There may have been some jokes about how it doesn’t match my color scheme for the day LOL.  If you noticed, I had bright pink snow pants, red and grey hat, purple shirt, orange buff, red and grey jacket! bwahahah. What can I say… these are my camping clothes 🙂

During our planning phase for this trip, we agreed that we would split the meals. Christina would cook supper, and I would cook breakfast.  OMG! What an excellent cook Christina is!! I was treated to salmon, asparagus, and rice with peppers!  I mean, I knew what the menu was going to be, but wow! It was so good! Yes, that’s a lot of exclamation marks.  I don’t get to eat salmon very often, as I’m the only one who likes it in my crew, so I was happy to have it on this trip. 

The rest of the evening we chatted and enjoyed our little sauna as the temperatures continued to drop outside. With the fire burning, we also had to gather some wood for the next morning.  Luckily there were lots of dead trees here and it only took about 30 minutes to gather what we would need for the remainder of our night.

We stayed up until about midnight before heading to bed. The main reason for this was to keep the fire going as long as we could, leaving minimal upkeep throughout the night.  Christina got up every 3 hours to put more wood in the stove overnight so that we could have a comfortable sleep. No I didn’t sleep the whole night, I was actually awake each time the stove needed to be stoked, but that’s all part of the experience and I didn’t mind at all.

Sunday morning came and it was COLD outside.  With the fire roaring, we prepped breakfast. I had precooked bacon and made omelettes with 2 year old cheddar and froze everything for this trip.  This makes for a quick prep and quick cleanup.  

With our time running low, I just had to enjoy the lovely last bit of heat coming from the stove.  It was warm enough that I was able to sit in my tank top for the morning.  I also had to get a picture of my sleeping quarters (literally) LOL. 

So hot in the morning!

With the time creeping away on us, it was time to pack up and head out.  I thought it was funny seeing our snow shoes next to each other and just had to get a picture. I knew I had big feet, but compared to Christina’s they look massive! 

Having only packed a sled once, it was much easier the next morning.  I chose to sausage roll my gear in the tarp, tuck the edges in and tie the string along the loops like a sneaker.  I think that having bungee cords would be easier for quick release and access to gear, again things to learn and try, but I was pleased with what I had been able to do with the string.  Everything was secure and I wasn’t worried about having it fall off if the sled tipped over. Yes it did tip over twice on the trek in.

Our walk out was just as enjoyable as the walk in.  The weather was just as beautiful and I was able to capture a pretty cool picture of the sun on my phone. This was the view from our campsite.

A last minute surprise was waiting for us at the end. I looked up to watch a plane fly over and caught a glimpse of this rainbow. I was so excited as I was teaching optics in my science class, and this was an excellent example of a prism creating a rainbow!  I actually had to show my class this picture first thing on Monday  morning. 

By 1 pm on Sunday we were back at our vehicles. I had made it! My first hot tent backcountry winter camping trip.  I have been winter camping before, but like I said, this hot tenting was all new to me. I knew I could do it, and now I just have to figure out the logistics behind getting my crew to go. It does require getting a hot tent, stove, another sled, etc etc. But those are items that we will be able to purchase along the way.  Right now I was just excited to be able to try it out.

I have to say, I had so much fun this weekend with Christina! I am finding it hard to express in words just how grateful I am that she offered to take me out and share her space with me.  It’s not an easy thing to do when you really don’t know a person.  (Ok so I have written like a dozen things and erased them over and over).  Just going to end it here with a HUGE THANKS and I cannot wait for our next adventure together!!!