Winter Camp

WOW! What a great weekend campout!

Minnesota had the biggest snowstorm in a long time this weekend, but it worked out just fine for our campout. We left Friday evening and got to Camp Stearns a couple hours before the snow started. It fell all night long and you can see what our Saturday breakfast looked like in the top photo. We were fortunate that we camped south of a high ridge which blocked most of the frigid wind driving from the north.

Saturday was devoted to cooking, sledding, and some sporadic scout games. With the near zero temperatures, keeping interest in games was difficult for the two scouts running the show. We had so many scouts that the troop split into two groups, each with its own heated shelter about 1/4 mile apart.

Saturday evening was spent at a nearby ski hill that was having a "Scout Days" special price. Since many roads were drifted shut and the wind was atrocious with windchill close to -20F, we were practically the only people on the hill. But, what they lost in lift tickets, they more than made up in food sold to the hungry scouts. I just stayed in the ski lodge all evening helping a couple scouts with advancement and chatting with guys that came in for breaks.

I slept in a tent both nights, as did another adult in his own tent. You can see my home this morning before I packed it up. Two other adults built a snow shelter and slept there Saturday night. Everyone else was smart enough to sleep indoors. :-)

The temperature dropped to at least -8F last night so I've now slept out below zero in a tent, in a snow shelter, and under the stars. My Cabela's winter bag does a super job down to about -15F.

At our reflection this morning, scouts shared that they learned some valuable lessons:

• need more layers of clothes
• need easier meals in cold weather
• need more fuel
• warming up inside makes your clothes wet
• cleaning dishes is hard in the cold

Next month, we do it again.

Scout On