14 Days / 4 Trips in the Hot Tent | -35° and Deep Snow (FULL)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] how you doing good [Applause] [Music] probably six or seven inches i'm unarmed that's a nice one that is a sword it's pretty sweet that's a weapon you have some skill with the blade [Music] okay it's gonna be home today we're just setting up to come back in a few days and then we're gonna stay for a longer amount of time we're just doing a lot of the setup work as like a gift to ourselves in the future it'll be so nice to come here and have the whole thing set up a bunch of firewood split especially if it's bitter cold when we do show up yeah it'll be super nice so it'll be nice we've got we'll have the tent already brought in less stuff to haul in when we come all right send her down don't [Applause] you ready yep good amount of weight in there hmm order up [Music] all right we've done all the chores basically and it's so exciting now i think that we get to come back to this little paradise be covered in snow and just enjoy it hardly do any work just keep up our firewood supply it's going to be sweet i should do us for a couple days hopefully in a couple days [Music] um so smells like wood in here better [Applause] so there's the fan it's going to blow the heat around the tent nicely ice is pretty deep now it's close to two feet [Applause] [Applause] hmm thank you sir spoil me you know whoopee yay yeah it's nice piece i'm cutting these into splitting sizes while it's attached that way it just it's stable and holds it for me it's pretty convenient we'll bring the sled and pull them back to camp for chopping there it goes but it didn't timber there it is cute okay with any luck that'll be the end of the heavy duty sawing on this trip that's the rest of it do well hi red squirrel hey buddy you coming looking for some grumps here's a button we brought in a few chunks of chaga from home got a good stash there and we're just gonna start brewing up some chaga tea so okay we've just done our firewood prep and we've got some lovely chaga all right let's chuck a time we're doing a hot toddy style with some maple crown royale all right plop that in there it's really hot it's hot but it's good yeah yeah it goes down good after a day in the cold yeah it's finally warming up in here it took a bit for the stove to get hot enough to throw heat but yeah this is a perfect winter drink [Music] we're settling into bed it's very blustery outside and we went out just to go pee and brush your teeth before bed and it was a shock it didn't feel that warm in here but it really is a difference so yeah feeling really cozy good night [Music] hey what do we have inside this morning minus 11. still quite mild around here it can easily get to minus 20 minus 30 so that is not not bad at all i'm gonna wake aaron up with a pumpkin spice latte we had one yesterday it was actually pretty good it was the first pumpkin spice latte i've ever had in my life hope for the daily trip to the watering hole it is absolutely gorgeous what a day to be out exploring the true beauty of a hot tent [Laughter] try snow pants and mitts everything dry i've actually tried getting into this lake twice before and failed there's a creek that you have to cross at some point there's just rugged undulating terrain and then lots of trees and bush especially if you get down into the creek then it's really thick and bushy so hopefully we can break through today i just want to lay eyes on it on a map it's one of those captivating lakes that just looks perfect i think we're going to cross the creek here because this side is just rough it gets really rugged if we can carry on through here then i think we could continue we're well off track here we've been forced to go east of where we wanted because it's just impenetrable awesome for forest that way but we finally found we just kept taking the path of least resistance and now we found somewhere clearer where we can cut across back to back to get on our bearing we're almost there this is the creek this must be a beaver dam must be a big one oh my goodness i've dreamt about this lake on maps for so long look at it oh man we did it we made it oh it was a tough journey oh so glad you hung in there would not have been the same to see this alone oh my god this is beautiful can i can wow i wonder when the last time someone was on this lake yeah on foot it's probably been a while yep okay back we go this is really nice now welcome back we know where we're going we got a packed trail to follow oh yeah finally back to food and water oh yeah so nice getting the champagne chilling for this evening and this men girls pressure cooker whoa is absolutely loaded with veggies for a huge veggie soup i froze them in sideways i let it freeze this way so that we can pour hot water down at the bottom and that way the water will kind of boil down there rather than just burning those vegetables on the bottom but that's a massive amount of soup once we add the stock oh that feels nice getting a big fire going yeah it does so much less finicky than inside the stove yeah we're getting the hang oh i just got a whiff of the soup yeah even frozen it smells phenomenal i'm excited for that okay oh yeah oh man that steam i love the mangroves because the steam that comes out of it smells incredible we're ready it's game time oh man that smells good it smells like stuffing it does smell like stuffing oh it's getting foggy that's a soup dunk the bun and butter dunk in the soup and enjoy there we go cheers on cheers cheers 10 18 24 pretty blustery night out there again and we're uh we're kind of feeling in the swing of this hot tent life right now just three days in and get a couple more um but it's feeling good the canvas is just swaying around in the breeze but we're well protected and warm in here with the stove it's just a really good simple feeling really enjoying it that's it for us tonight see you in the morning hmm it's finally time for fishing this lake has burbot and lake trout i've got my heavy duty rod here which i'm going to leave as a set line you're allowed two lines in ontario and i'm going to put this nice glob of fish intestines kind of almost rotting and hopefully something will come by and just inhale that okay first drop for lunch today we have steak chili and garlic bread um that's hot of course i put a little bit of water in the pot just so that it doesn't burn on the bottom looking forward to this actually it smells really good and then find myself a spatula bread's toasted chili's heated we're ready to have some lunch the wind is up out there it's it's not cold but the wind is uh chilling so this is this is a luxury to come back into this and i've just been relaxing in here all morning reading my book so it's good life the whole morning's been a luxury the fishing's pretty boring today so i'm just really enjoying watching things on the camera i think a little sculpin just came along which is a favorite food of lake trout now i just need the lake trout to come by but anyway i came shallow here in six seven feet of water just to get a better view of the camera and be able to see the bottom be able to see my lure it's quite a lot of fun really a new dimension of ice fishing now there are a couple of minnows maybe shiners it's hard to tell it would be interesting to see it when i get home but this is this is actually a thrill recording fish is something like underwater obviously is something i've had an interest in for a long time it's interesting there's suddenly an explosion of snow fleas they're all over they're just they make the snow look dirty but then when you look at the snow more closely it's full of little moving specks there you go that is a lot of pen right it's a lot probably didn't need to add that last bit no oh well hope we're hungry yeah bit of red wine pasta lady in the [ __ ] vibes tonight last night flew by it's funny to think how much we intended on doing here and the the demands of winter just take up your entire short day we wanted to build a quincy um you're thinking of a polar plunge i thought i'd have a lot more time for fishing and other things chaga hunt you never even win it's funny the days are so short and there's so much to do yeah yeah lots of time processing keeping up with firewood and stuff like that and then a little bit of time for other stuff it makes you appreciate how much energy your home produces yes to heat water and heat your house like it really puts it in perspective it's an incredible amount so [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Laughter] do [Music] today we're gonna make ice cream from snow i've got four cups of fresh fallen snow there can of condensed milk need a tablespoon of vanilla and a third of a cup of sugar which we're going to substitute these honey sticks with you need a teaspoon of vanilla i'm going gonna pour it into the snow mix it in there wow that's a lot looking more like ice cream already okay it's been about 45 minutes it looks pretty ice creamy a little soupy but it's not that cold out today it's probably just a few degrees below freezing cheers mm-hmm that's ice cream that's ice cream that is actually ice cream wow kind of skeptical the honey's good in there too yeah all we need now a little bit of chocolate gourmet that is good finishing our trip with ice cream pretty good way to to end it and finally caught the little vole that's been raiding our camp red-handed this morning and funny enough he wasn't raiding our food he was just chewing on some lichen that was attached to some birch bark a good little bowl so [Music] [Applause] all right are you looking still standing still standing needs a little bit of restructuring oh lovely that smells nice in here it smells like a cabin yeah a log cabin oh that looks nice i'ma come a little [Applause] closer yep feels nice oh yeah so we found our spot for the quincy right here against this fallen tree kind of a cool spot we're on the edge of the lake so there's technically ice beneath us but plenty frozen that's no concern at all now it's time to pile it up so that took a lot out yeah but now we get to leave it for tomorrow not too bad it's nice to have two nights and be able to break up the work yeah you know all the snow we just piled here most of it has to be dug back out yep we got a little skating rink in our front yard [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so welcome home honey hello thank you thank you at the mill it was a long day but productive yes it's a very sad thing you look like you need a hot meal and stuff drink frozen [Applause] is it hot really hot yes too hot yes i don't care okay um is it's slimy yes yeah it's satisfying god love the sound of crunchy snow when it's cold like this you can see the sunrise hitting the top of that hill a bit of color to the sky but we're on the wrong side for sunrise as expected about -18 last night which is as cold as we have ever cold camped i was gonna keep the stove going but uh and set an alarm i did but i set an alarm too long one time as a test and it was out so at that point we were just cold camping it's time to get it rocking again it is cold all right it's time to dig this thing out i hope it's big enough it will be it looks small to me today but before we built them quite large and it felt like it was a detriment and the last time i tried to dig one out it collapsed on me oh god god god i'm here okay thank god so i'm gonna be doing it again today for redemption aaron dug out our very first quincy ever and that worked great so gotta redeem myself today and hopefully not get crushed [Applause] can you block the hole again please thank you okay i don't know if the gopro picked this up but starting to see light here which is along with the sticks another indicator that that's the place to stop digging okay i'm upright so oh i'm feeling so claustrophobic yeah because i can just barely get upright i'm gonna i'm gonna dig it out a bit more before i do that so we have a problem i think it's too short like just look at me here sitting like this you at least need to be able to comfortably go like this so you can move around in there especially with two people trying to get there and sleep in there yeah i think we bought [ __ ] again you know like if we're hitting our head on the roof we're gonna be dropping snow all over our gear john thinks it's like a coffin in here i think it's like a cozy little home he's a lot bigger than me though i got a full wingspan kind of ah you scared me i thought it fell on me so we just put all that effort into making a snow fort not going to sleep in there it would be it would just be a coffin a little too tight we didn't forgot to estimate exercise for john's length forget it we had a hot tent right here it would just be ludicrous to sleep in this thing but we'll have some fun in it and and eat lunch we're starving yeah it's lunch time [Applause] hey as you can see it's not uh it's not big enough in here we could fit one of us without my sleeping pad would not fit in here aaron's might and she could fit in here but yeah just wasn't big enough lesson learned we're getting we're learning more about quincy's every time so it's okay the lights coming through all green now it looks super cool there we go it's it's reminding me how quiet and peaceful it is in here absolutely no noise comes in from the outside you could have a freight train go by and you probably wouldn't know well i think we're gonna head to the hot tent get a fire roaring those are pretty good i know it'd be really good on toast cheers to being warm and dry drying out and head space and head space it's critical hmm that's a good batch actually great stars again tonight supposed to be cloudy but it's just been beautiful time to get back in that nice warm hot tub [Applause] so minus 18 again this morning and i stayed up all night well woke up every hour with an alarm to keep the fire going and it's such a comfort i mean being out here this morning in the cold and just around the corner here there's a stiff north breeze it's it's cold and it makes me really happy we're not waking up and and this it's a cool experience but the hot tent's the best beautiful beautiful morning man i love winter sometimes anyone in there nope so oh it's hard batoning summer sausage that's the first for me [Applause] these icicles remind me of bats hanging in a cave i don't know how well you can see this front one but it's really cool because it's not even attached here or under here so i don't really know how it formed that's crazy see nothing there nothing there like a magic trick yeah this one's cool but these ones look like bats to me that's neat hurry oh my goodness that's terrifying i should probably move it has such a sharp point i'd be severed oh wow look over here it's such a weird it's like a waterfall that froze [Applause] even just this shelf is impressive it's pretty eerie being under it oh it's extremely fun no one is ever gonna come here this is already a back lake no one would think to walk up here so it's not like we're just drawing something amazing that other people could have enjoyed for the record let's do one more you want to do it yeah [Music] it's way too satisfying we are we are children i wouldn't change a thing it's eerie how clear that that ice is there eh it is beautiful you can see it i don't you probably can't tell on here but we can see at least a foot if not more down the crack you can see there all the way in that's a crack device that shows how deep i bet if you've never really watched on lake ice before this might seem like what if that breaks this is rock solid you could drive a pickup truck on this there's there's no chance of what's going through this because at least at least two feet we can see and i'm pretty sure it's probably more like three it's time for us to go finish packing up and then we're gonna earn ourselves some nachos with our haul out [Music] good morning is minus 26 feels like minus 34. so we're bundled up we're heading to camp we got four kilometer hole in about two and a half miles and we're going to take kessia aaron's sister on our first winter camping trip there's a hard truck in today yeah heavy snow yeah all right we're at the lake the wind is up which is what's making this brutally brutally cold right now and there's this gritty fine snow blasting our faces so kind of getting like sand blasted here so we're gonna get going keep our uh our body temperatures up with just exertion these are some tough conditions this is kessia's first winter camping trip ever and it's you know mine is 25 now feels like -35 and this wind is sandblasting us with these little grains of snow so uh it's beautiful this is awesome i love this i'm part of winter but it's a tough way for kes to start hopefully she's doing all right up i can't break trail okay be right there so [Applause] you try not to get sweaty on your haul in but it's impossible following these loads through heavy snow you can't not sweat so we got to keep going keep working and get the hot tent going with the raging fire i came in here last week to set this up and bring in our new stove so it was nice we didn't have to haul in those items at least all right here's the new stove the niko alaskan in our took alaskan tent and this is gonna keep us warm kes is cold all right you guys lighting her up oh yeah all right it's uh midday and it's still minus 20. good later up i can feel it already heaven the top of the tent is already steaming too so this is a huge difference oh man the g stove oh the g stove would have been done doing nothing right now no it's so small it's a great stove great quality but the size isn't quite this type of weather all right now we are cooking 40 degrees celsius here by the stove as soon as you move out to the exterior walls it's not nearly that warm steam coming off the boots oh man it's the best sound in the world when you need it oh it's a dream so aaron would typically use the kite with a snowboard and it would pull her all around just like surfing on water but it's also just a kite if you want to have some fun [Applause] no yeah oh yeah there you go oh yeah this is getting pretty deep [Music] look at them shift that's weird [Applause] oh my goodness there's a lot of slush on there so we've got three nice chunks of chaga from our stash at home just gonna plop those in the pot there and when we come back we'll have some nice hot chocolate tea oh that looks fat woody sweet ready give her a push yeah me a mountain of snow oh it's hung up yeah another one ready for transport to the mill all right it is about six o'clock and we're finally done our work i'm gonna pile to see us through this cold night and that chaga tea is ready get some honey in there and cassia's first it's chaga nice it's earthy earthy yep warm yeah warm anything warm is good man for your first day of winter camping this was a tough one yeah we didn't uh ease you into it would you do it again or you got your experience and you're done i might do it again at a different site a different temperature um just it was just a trek in with how deep the snow was it was really hard it's nice to be able to get out in the winter change things for us a lot oh yeah being able to camp in the winter is like just a huge boost six months without it was always awful all right these two are settling into bed i'm gonna stay up a little longer still from the stove tonight [Music] so the wind and snow blasted us all night you can see this side is all covered in snow this side's all clear decent night overall could be worse i mean it was minus 25 and we stayed warm the stove did a great job so guess first thoughts on first night thank you for keeping the fire going you're welcome it was good it was nice to be warm inside but definitely like an intermittent sleep yep that's that sums it up intermittent sleep watering hole got totally snowed over last night the blowing snow filled in all the gaps now knee deep again being out here gives you an appreciation for so much stuff like turning on the tops turning up the heat it's also easy at home take it for granted sometimes [Applause] it's afternoon now still in the minus 20s we're packed up it's time to head out we're back at the quincy we built from last time it's pretty cool i haven't been in yet let's see what she looks like in here oh it's pretty dark still held up and nice we were told this that it would probably sag in a bit as it settles and definitely has um let's see hello so it's still intact but it's come down i don't know how much but probably at least a foot as it settled because um i was able to sit up pretty much sit up in here before and now i can i don't have the headroom so i knew that that happened but it's kind of neat to see hey hi how does it look it looks it looks cool you want to come in no that's fair just get another shot just to show yeah it's really stuck in you can see my head yeah i can't sit up so it'd definitely be even more claustrophobic for john and here we go crawling out i'm gonna try walking on top of the quincy it almost for sure should hold if it didn't that would be really concerning yeah pretty solid yep right up to the edge of the door wow camp heading out on our trek home let's hope because we broke a bit of a trail yesterday that it might be a little bit easier so [Music] spectacular morning here for hauling in past the halfway point to our hot tent camp some snowmobiles have come in since the last time we were here which is actually great because it packs down a nice trail and it makes hauling the sled so much easier by a factor of at least two or three they've actually gone to a lot of work to establish those because there are even bows along the edges to mark it so it's nice nice to be able to follow this and doing some fishing this weekend finally so i'll be camped on this lake for the three days it's got spectacular cliffs and terrain all around you can see why i love it however the fishing isn't the best so i'm not hoping to slay fish as people like to say i'm just hoping for one or two lake trout that would be that would be great for me i'd be very happy there are burbot in here as well but that is probably not going to happen in my experience on this lake in the winter it's been a tough bite so do my best see how we're looking inside first got some snow left everything up because i knew it'd be back before too too long so okay we've got some wood left here from last time that's not processed so i'll start with that [Applause] okay that'll do okay chores are all done give you a look in here got firewood stocked all around my cook kit sleep system dining wear a little table made out of a box and a seat for my bucket my food bag and just other gear should be real cozy [Applause] wow look at that just beautiful like a trophy i'm going to hang on to this this will be my my trophy if i get any fish it's nice under here that south wind that's supposed to bloss me tomorrow starting to kick up along with some flurries but it's nice and calm in here [Applause] wow i'm three feet away from the wall of the cliff and the depth is 71 feet got the underwater camera down there and there's some debris there's rock and uh i think i'm just really close to the rock there that that can't be plant life that's too deep it wouldn't grow down there but there's uh some debris no signs of fish yet so [Applause] [Applause] no marks on the sonar at all today so not a great start but uh i've got two more days to earn that trophy beautiful flurries coming down it's been really nice being under this kind of a cave basically overhanging shelf just getting to be out of the wind and snow but watching it peacefully a here piece of fat wood ah [Applause] okay it's about 10 a.m wind is picking up and it's going to get substantially worse so i'm going to find one spot to set up and i'm going to build like a little snow shelter around it to keep me out of the wind or i'm going to freeze to death today [Applause] [Music] foreign still smoke coming out of the chimney that's nice to see someone's looking for his hole i closed it up naturally he just made a new tunnel he just came in there ran away hey finally back to business here just setting up a set line with a micro spoon and a preserved shiner nothing on the sonar yet but at least i'm out of the wind and i've got this here for motivation i know what i'm working for [Applause] [Applause] oh this is nice this is a good setup i'm really glad i have this wall at least i'm pretty comfortable it's now six o'clock and i'm shivering so i'm gonna call it it's gonna have to wait [Applause] there we go didn't burn firewood overnight so i ended up with a lot extra but might be back someday so piled it up under those trees to keep it reasonably dry and until then it'll be a nice home for a mouse or a hole actually not done with this yet this is a spectacular lake to camp on the scenery is stunning but the ice fishing leaves a lot to be desired this is my sixth or maybe even seventh time ice fishing this lake and i have two lake trout to show for it ah winter can weigh heavy on the mind it's cold and it's dark and there's no avoiding that as the days pass rather than closer it sometimes feels like spring gets further away but i think all can agree that there is beauty here incredible beauty sights sounds and smells that won't be found at any other time and there's still joy to be found too joy to be had whether you have weeks days or minutes whether you have a full outfit or just some boots and mittens that joy is available not just to those who know where to look but more so those who bother to look in the season that is often spent indoors winter is not a prison for the outdoorsy or if it is then the inmates hold the keys to those in their seasonal selves i say break out and claim your share of this freedom there's a fresh world out there and it's longing for explorers [Music]

Channel: Lost Lakes

Views: 471,874

Keywords: lost lakes, camping, fishing, ontario, canada, bushcraft, backcountry angling ontario, winter, wilderness

Id: vmwKSM3ayhk

Length: 71min 11sec (4271 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 30 2021