Camping Outside in Winter! Why?

[scoutergriz]

I can totally get the aesthetics and challenges of winter camping but the one thing I can't cope with is the lack of daylight. I've tried a little bit of winter camping in both cold and warm climates and I just can't get past the long nights. Camping with other people probably helps but I have a hard time entertaining myself for 4 hours each evening between sundown and bedtime.

Alan

I make long, involved meals (who cares if you eat at 8 or 9pm?) clean up, go for a walk, read a book, process firewood, daydream beside the fire, or just contemplate past trips, and am usually surprised when 11pm rolls around, then I sleep until before dawn, make breakfast and am ready for the day when dawn rolls around. you have to be REALLY comfortable inside your own head to solo in winter though....

 

[Blukanu]

Did one night in Jan when I was a kid just to say I did it. It was a miserable experience. Our old dome tent didnt have good ventilation and was soaking wet with condensation. It was dripping from the tent walls like it was raining. Some time after midnight I couldn’t stand being damp and cold anymore. I sat outside and waited for the sunrise.

 

[MichaelMerry]

Following this thread reminds me of that ancient truism: there is no wrong weather, only the wrong gear.

 

[Phil0110]

I've never been camping in winter before. Does it have much difference with summer? Do you take a solar generator https://generatorpick.com/best-solar-generators/ or what do you use to recharge your phone and warm up the kettle?

 

[Robin]

what do you use to recharge your phone and warm up the kettle?

wood stove for the kettle

 

[Gamma1214]

what do you use to recharge your phone and warm up the kettle?

even in the summer, I prefer camping areas where the phone is useless except as a camera.

 

[MichaelMerry]

I've never been camping in winter before. Does it have much difference with summer? Do you take a solar generator https://generatorpick.com/best-solar-generators/ or what do you use to recharge your phone and warm up the kettle?

There are lots of differences, particularly with how you care for anything that could freeze. As a contact lens wearer, for example, I have to ensure my saline is thawed when ready for it. We have to be careful with water, etc.

I use my phone for photos and, often now, navigation with the Gaia app. For trips longer than two nights, we carry a charging block.

For winter cooking, we carry a MSR dragonfly white gas stove. It’s reliable in any weather.

 

[Boreal Birch]

what do you use to recharge your phone and warm up the kettle?

We have always just plugged into the red or black current bushes that grow nearby.

 

[jdeerfoot]

No winter camping for me since the early-mid 1960’s with my scout troop. But I have been snowed on a number of times on shoulder season trips spring and fall. Most memorable was a mid-May trip in Ontario where we were snowbound in the tents for 2 days.