5 Days Solo Camping -22° in an Icy El Niño Winter

[Music] is [Applause] Little Lacy [Music] CR [Applause] [Music] here [Applause] that was a bizarre situation really tough day getting in on the roads in the car and then the easiest haul of my life over ice no resistance it's been a bizarre winter with El Nino so there's almost no snow it's been way above normal temperatures but the ice should be decent the snow on the Lakes can actually really slow down ice development so even though it hasn't been bitterly cold the ice has been able to form because there's not insulation on [Music] top looks good so where did it go from here got this huge Lake hold to myself there's a nice jackpine stand right over there beside those Cliffs I think I'll start there one more test now that I'm a little further offshore Yep this is excellent look at this Crystal Clear I could drive a truck on this at this point I didn't go all the way through cuz then I can dig it out like this which is always fun and have a look down there well this is awesome if I can make something work in here I'll be very happy it's kind of dense doesn't look like there's anything flat the lack of snow is a blessing and a curse it makes travel way easier but it's also really helpful for leveling out a tent pad and packing in the tent so it's secure so I'm debating setting up right here on the ice on the edge of the shore where there's a a decent snow drift here where I can use that snow to set up the tent I think I might do that it's right across from these Cliffs so it's got the the beauty factor and it's getting fairly late still an hour of daylight or so but that goes fast with all the chores need to be done here yeah this is going to have to be it I could debate it all night and set up at midnight this is going to have to do take as much snow as I can Each corner of the tent has a little pot it that's where the leg rests and with those in now it's got structure move it wherever I want tuck in as much as I can here to make sure I don't get too exposed to the wind that's the downside of setting up on the ice but what a you I'm very happy trying to free up some logs and rocks to use as anchors for the tent lovely evening pulled out what I could to create tieout points and got rocks and sticks on the corners just enough time no firewood tonight but it's going to be mild that's why I started the trip today really nice to not have to worry about firewood on day one especially when it got derailed say more about that later what an evening I was close to turning around going home today as much snow as I can for the skirt really helps keep out the draft and thankfully there's supposed to be more snow coming tomorrow oh finally done set up in here just going to get these legs out so it doesn't freeze to the ice I've got little sticks under everything here so that nothing freezes to the ice cuz that makes a huge mess when it's time to pack up to rip your gear off the ice but it's pretty cool in here I can see right through I can see a rock right here ice is popping outside I don't know if the micel pick it up but the temperature change now that the sun's gone down Ice uh contracts makes these L pops okay did it [Music] ow [Music] come on there you go oh no fire tonight but candle and a hot mug of tea I'll go a long way mild I think it's - 7 right now so it's not bad at all yeah about M six or seven so yeah it'll be an easy night and then tomorrow get back to work get lots of firewood I'm excited and for dinner just got some crackers and cheese that'll do for now I did bring my alcohol burner so I could cook something up but I'm good with that I'm so Zed the wind is blowing pretty hard on those Cliffs there you can hear it but I'm Dead Calm here so that's good location ice popping stars are popping out too perfect end to a long day it's good and hot so I left the car a bit after 1:00 p.m. this afternoon which is only 4 hours of daylight to get in here here set up find a spot and all that which is not very much solo uh I got here so late because I got into a pretty big pickle in the car I was trying to drive down some different roads to access some lakes that are not accessible in Winter by car normally but because of the lack of snow I I gave it a shot ended up hitting a really icy patch and I'll show you what happened you know those posts you see on your feed where a car is just drifting down a hill of ice helplessly that was just me I ended up here very lucky lost traction going up this hill and just slid down I was like half sideways at one point could have gone really bad but let's give it a shot oh 3 hours that took there are eight hours of daylight right now and I still have to find somewhere to access a lake so I don't know what to do tempted to go home oh boy shoot shoot shoot yeah so that took 3 hours to get out of that ditch cuz just because of the angle I had to go up and there was some stumps in the way of my wheels and yeah it was a tricky spot so a late start today and I was very close to just saying forget it I'm going home too late to start something now but glad I'm [Music] here reheating my thermos water on the alcohol stove this morning get it back to Boiling for tea the alcohol fuel worked great at these temperatures no problems lighting it but at colder temperatures it needs to be uh there a long sleep 12 hours in bed my brain's a little fried uh at colder temperatures you have to pre-warm it and I'm gonna Heat this up too a water bottle cozy starting to freeze as well even in the Cozy whoops and as you can hear the snow has begun light just had granola for breakfast seeds nuts and fruit time to get some firewood snow's coming down pretty heavily right now though there's been some uh fatalities this year because of the warm temperatures and people expecting good ice and not finding it so Aaron was kind of concerned about that she made me a promise to wear my pics at all times so if you go through the ice you can claw yourself out I bring this bucket in with me and it may seem like an odd choice but it's a nice little nightstand it's a seat with swivels if I want to grab stuff over here it's a nice height and then it's storage when I'm hauling in hard storage where I can put sort of delicate things so I like it this one right here looks perfect it's got a natural lean it's the right diameter not too big not too small it's got its top on so it shouldn't be too wet wow it is really coming down so I was going to take that one there but it would have been hard to retrieve then I tried this one but the fiber wasn't good it was a bit rotten and this one should be perfect I can get it to fall on the ice where it'll be easy to get and I cut out a wedge and it looks good nice Snow's let up smashed into the ice here broke apart but I don't even see a dent in the ice that's how hard it is no nothing oh yeah sounds good smells even better so I'm making some progress on this log but it's been harder than it should be I do bring a spare blade for just this occasion swap it out I'm not sure the last time I replaced this blade so it's probably due there's a little pin that goes through the blade a hole in the blade and this clip you can see that just slides into it come on there important not to lose those clips cuz they're impossible to find in the snow I bring a couple spares of that too oh yeah it's biting so much more that little shower jumped a good 2 in of snow which is really nice to KN it and the wind is from the north today so the tent's pretty exposed to make sure it's well buried so it can't go anywhere and I worked up a really good hunger with the dull saw so I'm going to have a little boil up isn't that black ice beautiful I'm also glad to have all this snow so I can bury my drinking water hole and that'll keep it open it's a lot easier than yesterday plenty of it now and I've got water on the alcohol stove lunch will be ready in a sec got some tea and water boiled up and shrimp pray with rice should be delicious got a few chores done while this was rehydrating got some boughs here cuz it's getting really slippery on the ice and got my poles for the tripod for the pipe fantastic oh I can't believe how long I was using that saw blade it was three or four times harder before that's it final chore that's a good feeling wow so intricate ah it's a good feeling at the end of day too all this HH brown black bean mix cheese onion Sriracha is going inside this huge burrito but it's too much it won't fit so it's really good a day of processing firewood doesn't sound that fun but somehow it really was in the snow now that I got something in my gut cheers tomorrow exploring no more firewood prep might be done with that for the trip so all the good stuff [Music] left chillier morning out there today blasted with a North Wind and a bit of snow overnight thermometer says -4 but I'd bet with this windshell it's at least - 20 and I got into a little bit of a pickle this morning when I woke up tried to unzip my sleeping bag which was wrapped around me with a hood and it got caught in my over bag which is like this thin synthetic summer bag so the frost can collect on that and it doesn't impact the down and it is so badly stuck I could barely get out like finally got it yeah I had to cut that that piece out and I've got needle and thread duct tape or a Tenacious Tape patch I think this will be best okay that's okay gorgeous day for exploring there's enough snow that I have grip now not sliding all around but not enough snow to need snowshoes so it's just perfect sun's coming out let's go so I'm back on the road that I hauled in on just going to look for tracks today maybe find a new Lake and I've got a a fair amount of stuff for a day trip but after last year when I blew up my knee and Aaron had to rescue me that was actually our last real winter camping trip I'll never go anywhere in the winter again without some decent emergency see supplies that was an eye opener first Fresh Tracks of the morning and I think it's probably a pine Martin or a weasel bounding big two-footed hops turned off that road onto a side Trail and who knows if it's going to get me anywhere but on the top of it looks like it might get me to another Lake [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] this Cliff seems like as good a place as any to stop and have a lunch break we got a thermos of hot water a freeze-dried meal and don't have any tea but sprag of spruce work what an awesome day this little Lake to myself that big lake where I'm camped to myself this whole area I haven't heard a peep it's awesome got this in my Kanga pouch keeping each other warm Spruce tea is great and this Mexican style of Veggie Bowl let's see pretty good for back to Camp temperature hasn't changed much all day and it's supposed to cool off more through the night so it should be the coldest night of the trip but still manageable and I'll still probably cold Camp I think I'll just light the stove and pick up a book uh-oh pad high on the menu tonight it's delicious just a meal kit nothing fancy but it is good I've had it before this is an over quilt so it Clips in with a strap that goes around the pad that just secures it Loosely on top okay let the stove go out see how cold it gets [Music] tonight [Music] this in that ice crack this morning I don't know if the mik will pick it up but it's booming over there the faint pop of the stove at - 22 it's like this David and Goliath battle Goliath is of course the cold my little stove is uh quite the underdog here's my watering hoow so open [Music] this is only the second time I've set up the hot tent on the ice first was last winter and it got down to minus 40 and the question that 100 people must have asked me was doesn't the stove melt down into the ice only a little it's surprising but it speaks to that David and Goliath balance it melts some water around the stove but they can't possibly fight against all the surrounding ice that's working to cool this area it just doesn't go far so when that water melts it also acts as a bit of a buffer so now the stove has to to warm that water enough to melt the ice beneath it and it just doesn't do it quickly not to mention I've got a heat reflector right under the stove and the wood piled around and then I have all these sticks on the ground to keep the wood out of the water because it does freeze again overnight so that's the other thing any progress the stove makes into the ice is erased as soon as I let it go out it'll freeze right back up that looks non-al zones for breakfast wind's randomly picking up and there is a a dead tree over there that I was a little concerned about and I just heard a big crack anyway it is gnarly out there now with this wind definitely well into Theus 20s that north wind is finally L up which means I can get on my way on the end of my pipe I've got an adjustable elbow I leave it in there loose and that allows me to turn it based on the wind direction you really don't want wind blowing right down the pipe because it'll blow smoke out the front FR of the stove very unpleasant just use my little mid that I use for operating the stove and yeah it's time to get on my way so today I'll be exploring the lake I'm on yesterday with the wind it was a better day to be on the trail and a small lake so this is a big one let's see how far I get [Music] Snowshoe hair tracks stopping for another Spruce tea break it was quite nice yesterday and I've come close to 4 km and I've got four or 5 km left if I want to go all the way around the West Bay of this Lake and back home which is the plan any tracks I'm seeing today are fresh cuz the snow blew over everything and this one here is almost I'm sure a fox it's a single track in a relatively straight line right in behind me there's a Beaver Lodge you can see the little mound of sticks with snow on it but also all these branches out in front in the lake that's just like a pantry for the beaver through the winter to to nibble on and they can make bad ice around them so I always give it a wide birth who knows what the beaver's doing around there but no need to get too close all right almost back to Camp kind of a drave day but still nice enough in Fair number of tracks I think maybe mink here along the cliffs lots of Snowshoe hair FOX also a little mouse or something like that Pine Martin and there were the wolf tracks on the way in on day one so not a bad haul for tracks 9 km of hiking round in the snow with heavy boots on she got me pretty tuckered out so I'm really happy to be back to Camp got Penny on the way with a nice roasted red pepper um sauce with mushrooms which I'm really looking forward to and a little scotch in the meantime always feels amazing to be in here after a day out in basically a household freezer it is now 17° C in here that's in the most central location of the tent on my bucket AKA nightstand AKA seat and that's a yeah that's a pretty good example of the temperature back here it might be closer to 15 or even 10 at the other far end from the stove but yeah it all feels five degrees feels balmy tropical compared to out there on cold weather trips I love reading about really cold scenarios like Arctic Expeditions Antarctic Shackleton and Jance and often I come back to the terror by Dan Simmons it's about Franklin's doomed Arctic voyage and it just makes you feel warm there had been four days of violent storm keeping the men inside in the days preceding Christmas the blizzards were so Fierce that the watches had to be shortened to 1 hour and Christmas Eve oh this never gets old you hungry here you go num NS packing up here just letting the stove die down and it's been a great 5 days to just reset the Mind back home and get so much information nonstop and it's probably not healthy for our little brains and out here just it's like fire versus ice and that's that's your only purpose is stay warm you're in this enormous freezer and you just have to keep your little pocket of it warm that's it it's beautiful so here's the end result as you can see it's already freezing up and there's not too much of a difference in the level it's pretty much flat all right that was a great trip time to haul out amazing hauling conditions and hopefully the drive home is a lot more uneventful this time [Music]

Channel: Lost Lakes

Views: 171,449

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

Id: psUKNNHSftM

Length: 39min 40sec (2380 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 13 2024