All the beautiful picture posted by those fortunate enough to live up north reminded me of a story. I hope you enjoy it.

I have never been a fan of crowds or bugs. And, I loved the winter months for the beauty of the snow and ice and the way everything just felt so clean. This insane point of view led me enjoy the wonder of winter camping.

Devils Lake State Park in Wisconsin is a beautiful place to be in summer and even more so in winter. I and another young buck camped there and had a wonderful time. No bugs, few people and absolute beauty everywhere.

In the center of the park is a beautiful lake filled with fish. Surrounding the lake, more or less, are rock walls where climbers would practice and hone their skills. There was also a trail of sorts that led to the highest points of the rock formations. The surrounding view from there was breathtaking, at least for a city guy from Chicago.

Well, I happend to mention to a friend, Bob, who lived in Kenosha, WI, that Devils Lake was a great place for winter camping. He said he'd never camped in the winter before and asked if we could try it. So, a couple of weeks later Bob, his teenage son and I took off for Devils Lake.

My gear consisted of a four man White Stag tent and a 3 pound Coleman sleeping bag. I had a few pair of very heavy nordic style wool socks, a good down parka and Navy knit cap. Also wore a great pair of Vasque boots and some good gloves. Whenebver I went winter camping, I spread a couple of Army blankets on the tent floor and brought another to put on top of me. I was always snug as a bug in a rug.

I don't remember the year of this trip with Bob, but I do remember we spent the night of December 18, the longest night of that year, camping in at least two feet of snow. Well, Bob, his son and I sat around a nice campfire that evening and ate Doritos while listening to a Blackhawk's hockey game on the radio. When the game was over, Bob's son turned in and plopped himself in the middle of the tent, where he would be flanked by two warm bodies. Smart kid. An hour or so later, Bob and I joinded him and, with little conversation, I went to sleep. I think it was around midnight.

At about 2:30 AM or so, nature called and I needed to make a short trip into the woods. I got my boots out of the tent's vestibule, knocked the snow and ice off and got dressed. When I returned from my nature call and was getting back into my sleeping bag Bob asked how I was doing. I said I was great. He then asked what time it was and I told him 2:45. Well, Bob moaned and said he was freezing to death. He said everytime he began to fall asleep, his toes hurt so bad he had to bend over and rub them to try to warm them. Bob was an older guy and maybe had circulation problems. I loaned Bob a pair of extra nordic socks and assumed he'd be okay going forward. I then went back to sleep.

About three hours passed and I turned over in my bag. Bod asked if I was awake and then asked what time it was. I looked at my watch and saw it was 6:45 or so. I then saw an opportunity to play a joke on old Bob. I told him it was 3:30. You should have heard the moan he let loose.

That was the longest hour of his life, I'll bet! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> I hope you didn't wait too long to let him know it was almost 0700!

When I was in basic training, my "battle buddy" refused to get up with me and make a latrine run (we had to go everywhere in pairs - oh, the stupid games you're forced to play at basic!) - so I stepped out of the tent and peed on a tree, and crawled back in and went to sleep. We had roving guard duty the hour after that, and he said "hey man, lets run past the latrine" (well, porta-pottie) and I said "sorry buddy - you wouldn't help me out an hour ago!" and we walked a while, he said "screw it, I'm going to pee on this tree" and I said "don't do that man!! The drill sergeants are running around with NVG's watching us - I'm not going to get smoked because you had to pee!" (I was making this up, of course). Ten minutes later, he says "I can't hold it any more, man! I'm peeing my pants!" - my joke backfired because I had to sleep next to him in a 2 man shelter the rest of the night!

He actually peed in his pants? Too funny.

ahahaha! how long did you wait to tell him the real time? lol


diceman, that story reminds me of one of me in 1st grade in the mean libraians calss, when she wouldn't let me go. =]

Both funny stories guys!

I wore a full beard then and around my nose and mouth it was frozen. Had to break the ice with my fingers. The underside of the tent's roof also had a nice ice lining.

I told him pretty quickly it was time to rise and shine. I'd hate to see a grown man cry and I think he was on the verge. We got up and got a fire going. When the sun came up, believe it or not, there were some hard-core guys just sleeping in the snow in their down mummy bags and zero shelter.

Yeah. He was an interesting character - I'd need 1/2 a death chat to tell stories of my buddy I nicknamed "Duck" (his first name was Donald) to the point that you'd get an accurate feel for the guy. Great guy - not very "squared away" but very smart and always meant well. He'd do crazy things like wear his BDU T-shirt backwards and inside out. And he always had orange stains on his shirts... took us forever to figure out that it was his "Stridex" acne pads that were bleaching out his shirts! Peeing his pants was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen! He inadvertently called our Drill Sergeant by his first name one time... I'd never done so many pushups at one time in my life!

ahahahahahah! i know a couple people like that.
just so genuinley funny you can't really explain it.

i've been saying the same thing for years as far as the advantages of winter camping.

no bugs
no people
i can regulate my body temp. by layering.in the summer i just sweat.

i use a deer drag harness i bought for 99 cents at gander mtn. and tie that to a sled.100 pounds in a sled is easier than 60 on my back.

not to mention,i think the woods are at their most beautiful when white.

i can also relate to your friend.i can remember those long nights that seem to never end and i will probably have more of them in my future.

some people ask me if im nuts for camping in jan. or feb. when its -0.i tell them its the best if your prepared.

for those who havnt done it,give it a try.just make sure your prepared.

I have some pictures of a couple of my trips and wish I could post them. However, they were taken with a film camera.

take pictures of the pictures!
i do that sometimes if i have to.
i really want to see the pics, if you can do that. =]

I'll give it a try EMF.