Winter Camping Plans?

[ValleyBoy]

Our main winter campout is our district camporee that is always the last full weekend in January at Camp Lumpkin on Lake West Point.   it has been shirt sleeve weather some years,  one year we had rain falling sideways by the bucket full.  Ice storm one years with a low of 11 degrees which is down right cold for our neck of the woods. 

 

Being from the south what is a quinzee, to lazy to google search.

[LeCastor]

5 minutes ago, ValleyBoy said:

Being from the south what is a quinzee, to lazy to google search.

Here's a nice look at the quinzee from the pages of Boys' Life:

https://boyslife.org/outdoors/outdoorarticles/2992/how-to-build-a-quinzee-snow-shelter/

 

[MikeS72]

Interesting article, but I swore after leaving Colorado for Florida 26 years ago that I would never set foot in that awful white stuff again!  😁

[DuctTape]

the boys just camped this past weekend in the white stuff. in tents fri night, then lashed a ridgepole between two trees and leaned some others against. A tarp for cover and they had a lean-to. Two of them opted to sleep in it Sat night. Temps both nights were just under freezing. They cooked and ate over an open fire.

[MikeS72]

58 minutes ago, DuctTape said:

the boys just camped this past weekend in the white stuff. in tents fri night, then lashed a ridgepole between two trees and leaned some others against. A tarp for cover and they had a lean-to. Two of them opted to sleep in it Sat night. Temps both nights were just under freezing. They cooked and ate over an open fire.

Been there, done that many a time both as a Scout and a Scouter, but only once below freezing since becoming a Floridian.  We will be backpacking this weekend, with daytime temperatures expected at 81 on Saturday.

[MattR]

5 hours ago, ValleyBoy said:

 

Being from the south what is a quinzee, to lazy to google search.

It's a snow cave, only first you have to pile up the snow and let it harden. If you keep your sleeping bag above the top of the door it will be about 35 degrees inside. When it's below zero outside that's super nice.

[dedkad]

We live in California near the coast, so we have the luxury of being able to camp all winter long if we so choose. We try to do one snow camping trip per year and will tentatively put a few dates on our calendar, but the drought has interfered with that several times. There's a national park only 4 hours away with a bathroom in the campground that stays open year round and is slightly heated to keep the pipes from freezing. As a woman, this is a godsend. Squatting in the snow to pee is not my idea of fun. Since we often don't get snow until after the first of the year, we have to squeeze our snow camping trip into a single weekend instead of over the school's winter break. We leave on Saturday morning to avoid driving at night on possible black ice and trying to set up and stay warm in the dark. Arriving on Saturday mid-day gives the scouts time to dig snow caves to sleep in if they want. It's a lot of work for a one night trip, but well worth it. 

[chief027]

Our older scouts like snow trips but since e we have Klondike at our council camp (Chawanakee) next month. They prefer to find a place with a cabin and tents. Older scouts and adults in the cabin, and younger scouts in tents to prepare them for Klondike. This January we are staying and Camp Three Falls, as for black ice it pretty rare in CA unless going above 6000 ft