By Chelsea Winairski
Second-year Outdoor Education student
Around the first week of March this year, our Outdoor Education class ventured into the wilderness for a night to sleep in the snow. It is my favorite trip we take because everyone is so independent with what they do. You make your own shelter, and cook your own food, it’s like having your own little community. Even though I thought it was cold out when we went, it was still a really fun trip. It was cool to see how much the time and preparation came in handy, not to mention how the skills we learned earlier this year helped us on this trip.
We started to plan for our wilderness adventure about two weeks before. We broke into three groups so we could plan and account for everything. We had one group that was in charge of food, one group that was in charge of the community gear, and one group that would make a list of personal gear so everyone would know what to bring on the trip with them.
Contributed photo Dave Conley
GROUP — Taking part in the adventure are, from left, Austin St.Pierre, Kim Stoddard, Chelsea Winiarski, Gage Caissie, Cassidy Woo, Leader Matthew Bartlett, Adreanna Philips, Billy Apgar, Elizabeth Hood, and Nate Fox.
We divided up the food so everyone could buy something that the group needed. After everyone bought the food and brought it in, we separated it all into little packs. That way everyone would be able to carry their own food in their backpacks when we hiked out.
The day of the trip, we all went into the gym, packed our backpacks and tag-along sleds with everything we would need. It wasn’t long before we loaded everything in the back of Dave’s truck and drove off. Driving to the take-off point was so fun. Matt, Cassidy, Adreanna, Elizabeth, Kim, and I were jamming out to music getting pumped up before we started our trip. When we arrived, it was kind of cold outside. We were next to the lake that was frozen over with ice and you could see the snow drifting across.
After hiking over a mile across the snow covered ice with our snowshoes, we came to land at the other side of the lake where we would call home for the next day. Everyone began building their shelter and making a fire. It was really awesome to see how they all turned out.
To start our shelter, Kim, Tammi and I built up the side walls with snow. Then we put a tarp over the top with a tall ridge in the middle, so the walls of the tarp created walls like a tent would. I think our shelter was pretty great. Although, next time I think we should work on making it flat because all night we were sliding downhill in our sleeping bags, but that just makes sleeping more fun.
When you go winter camping like we did, you want to make sure you have plenty of synthetic layers. The more layers you wear the more body heat you will be able to capture and hold in. If you start to sweat you can take off a few layers verses only wearing a big heavy jacket. You also want to wear layers of socks so your feet stay dry and warm. I was pretty warm on this trip, except for when I slept, but I have never really learned how to stay warm while I’m sleeping.
Before bed, we took a night hike. We used a map and compass to plan the route, so we knew we would end up in the same place. We wanted to go for half mile turn 90 degrees, half mile, turn, half mile, turn, half mile, until we were back safe in our snowbanks. The hike was really awesome! Kim was our leader and she was so focused on the compass and going in the right direction, she was literally walking straight into trees. We laughed so much during the hike and Kim did a great job leading the group.
This year was great, although, next time I think I’m going to work on making my shelter flat and staying warm when I sleep. Other than that I think the trip was great and I wouldn’t change anything else. I cant wait for next year to come around to see what nature has in store for us!
