Algonquin Park: Camping Trip Logs: 033 - Winter Camping 2015 - Access Point #12

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Day 3

February 14, 2015 – Valentine's Day in the Woods

It was a slow start this morning, again it was very cold overnight. The coffee was started and we enjoyed a couple of cups while waiting for people to start arriving. It was expected that up to half a dozen people would be coming in for a day trip. We puttered around getting a bit more firewood and prepping the outdoor fire pit for socializing around.

The first visitors arrive and get a tour of camp.

It was impressive that people were making the drive to the park and coming in to the camp for a few hours as the day was cold and windy. We spent some time watching snow devils out on the pond surface before getting a roaring fire going to thaw out some lunch and ourselves.

The brisk wind whipped up snow devils on the pond.

Sausage on a bun for lunch.

The afternoon was mainly spent conversing around the campfire, a lot of us had not seen each other in quite a while so it was good to catch up with everybody. You can’t have a gathering without some kind of libation being served. I had done my usual scouring of the interwebs and found an interesting sounding drink – the Snake Bite. I’m not sure the lovely ladies found it to their liking but all the bearded gentleman seemed to.

Mixing up a round of Snake Bites.

Later in the afternoon there was some snow starting to fall as the day trippers prepared to leave. They said we were crazy to stay when it was going to be -30 or colder, but I think secretly they wanted to stay.

Saying goodbye to the daytrippers.

Markus playing in the deep snow.

By 5:30 it was getting dark and just five hard core winter campers remained. Dinner was prepared in each tent for those occupants and we had some fun “visiting” the other tent. Martin had a new ultralight setup that included a stove made out of titanium, I called it the tinfoil stove. It seemed to work fine but I personally would have doubts trusting it in a raging blizzard survival situation.

Snow falling in the early evening.

First winter trip with two hot tents.

Martins fancy tinfoil stove.

Day 4

February 15, 2015 – Cold In The Woods

This was the coldest night of the trip and in the morning my max/min thermometer said the low was -35.7°C. That’s cold! It was so cold that the LCD screen didn’t work properly and I couldn’t read the temperature until I got it home and thawed it out.

A chilly -35.7° C recorded overnight.

The day wasn’t really warming up much either, after the usual coffee and breakfast we ventured from the tent to find a sunny day, about -24°C with a strong wind making it feel much colder. Going about camp activities it took seconds for your fingers to go numb if you took your mitts off.

Martin had his eyelids ice up in the cold.

We didn’t do much through the morning except lounge around, but we were getting kind of tired of that so a decision was made to go for a snow shoe romp despite the bitter cold. We headed west towards a bushy area that seemed to be a creek between two ridges. Hopefully there would be some shelter from the wind there.

Jeff and I bundled up for the snowshoe trek.

Taking advantage of the treed valley to avoid the wind.

A laugh along the way.

Snowshoeing along the hillside.

While it was a chilly hike, it was nice to be out getting some exercise and enjoying the beauty of an Algonquin forest in the depths of winter. It’s a stunning place, especially with good friends to share it.

Snow laden branches along the way.

Our small crew snowshoeing through the trees.

In the warm tent it was all smiles.

Having a little fun in the deep snow on the lake.

Day 5

February 16, 2015 – Heading Home (to the warmth)

Unlike the summer, when you might want to delay your departure, today was all about getting things torn down and making the trek out. Cold is all manageable with commonsense and the right gear, but who wouldn’t want to be in their car with the heater cranked up if they could?

After a quick oatmeal breakfast we packed up sleeping bags and gear before starting on the tents. Loading the sleds and a quick check of the area for missed items and garbage and we were away on the packed trail leading out.

The hot tent pad after packing up.

Toboggans loaded and ready to depart.

Jeff was first. That's a first.

With a nicely packed trail from all the people walking it over the weekend we were out to the vehicles in an hour. Despite the temperatures remaining in the very low minus teens you still worked up a sweat pulling a loaded pulk up some of the hills on the Pinetree Lake portage. As Les Stroud says, if you sweat, you die. Luckily it was a short journey and we all made it out safely. The cars had a bit of snow to brush off, but more importantly they all started right up after sitting for days in arctic temperatures.

2015 Winter camping trip complete!

Back out to the vehicles.

It was sweaty, cold trip out.

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