Winter Campout Trial

Well, it wasn’t quite the epic trek over the frozen tundra, heck, we didn’t even make it to Brown County, as originally planned, but we did complete the first of our monthly campouts in January.

I’ve been intrigued and excited about the idea of wintertime camping ever since I saw an Instagram post of some guy setting up his bivvy next to his bike in freshly fallen snow. And then there was a story from one of our adventure-loving customers about camping in Alaska and waking up under two feet of snow. Surely, a night in a tent in normal midwestern conditions would be nowhere nearly as demanding, but it might be really fun!

Brown County beckoned as being supremely beautiful, not too distant, and yet likely to be a tad warmer than northeastern Illinois. Unfortunately, finding a suitable tent proved to be a little harder than anticipated with the current supply chain dynamics. The tent arrived just a handful of days before the end of the month, and if we were going to do a January camping trip, Brown County would have to wait.

In order to keep preparations to a minimum —since time was short— we decided on a quick guerrilla-style overnight in a location easily accessible from our home. We figured this would be a good way to test our equipment. This may be a good time to point out that during all my planning and dreaming about winter camping I never intended to be COLD. The whole point was to figure out how to enjoy wintry weather and gorgeous snow, and then retreat to a cozy hideout for a good night’s sleep. This is why car camping, or staying close to home (or a friend or relative’s home with easy access to the great outdoors) was the way to go for me: we needed to be able to lug everything needed to stay warm in winter conditions. We also needed to make use of what we had and not spend a ton of money on winter-specific equipment, especially since we were already buying a tent.

So this is what we lugged, mostly on foot this time.

• Alps Mountaineering Tasmanian 3 Tent. This tent consistently figures in gear reviews as the best budget-friendly winter tent. While it is NOT an expedition-style tent, at under $350, it’s quite affordable, and definitely will keep you warm and dry in cold but calm weather, with plenty of room for your gear. We added a mylar emergency blanket as a footprint for extra insulation from the ground.

• 2 Sleeping bags each.

• 2 sleeping pads each (2 ultralight backpacking inflatables layered on top of 2 older self-inflating pads (we did not actually inflate those, but simply unrolled them for even more insulation from the ground).

• 2 extra blankets for layering as needed.

• Bottled water.

• Flashlight.

• Fire starting supplies (we stashed firewood ahead of time).

• Compact collapsible chairs.

We wore all the clothes we planned to hike and sleep in, including layered tops and bottoms, hats & gloves, plus extra pairs of socks for sleeping. Since we had to carry everything, and it was already quite a heap, we decided not to cook food on this trip. Instead, we ate a larger meal before heading out, and set out early enough that there would still be enough daylight to set up our tent by.

We camped on the last day of January, which, as luck would have it, turned out to be the warmest night of the week, with overnight temps only going down to the mid 20’s. We actually got quite warm setting up the tent, though by nightfall we were grateful for the roaring fire, and congratulated ourselves on having set up our burn pile ahead of time.

With everything we brought along staying warm inside the tent was not a problem, however we both had trouble getting comfortable on inflatable mats. While they are the last word in ultralight backpacking comfort, they are tricky to reposition oneself on due to their relatively narrow profile. This —and not the cold— was the primary reason that we woke up quite groggy, and not as exhilarated about our outdoor adventure as we were the night before.

We’ll have to search for sleeping pads that are more compatible with the needs of middle-aged campers. Because I’m still very excited about winter camping, but we’re also trying to keep it real here. We don’t want to create a bunch of awe over things that mere humans would never undertake. Instead, we want to promote the idea that adventures can be fun, bite-sized, frequent, spontaneous, and definitely non-life threatening, and the trial-and-error aspect is an adventure in itself. Though nowhere near as demanding (or, indeed, forbidding) as epic adventures, microadventures have the capacity to lift your mood, enhance your health, broaden your horizons, and quiet your mind.