Trip 1: The beginning
Mission: Chillin' Like Villains
Date: 2-10 thru 2-12
Temp: Low-14 F High-34( I think)
Location: Gebhard Woods State Park. Morris, IL.
Purpose: Test our mettle and winter gear.
So this was our first mission. We have spoken on these type of events for a considerable amount of time and as of last we decided to stop talking and just go. Sometime a few weeks ago, we decided to hit up some winter camping and try it out. Jake and Nick have gone at least once or twice before this weekend to get a feel for what to expect. The weather leading up to this weekend has been very mild in comparison. In fact, for Chicago, it has been unseasonably warm. I suppose in retrospect it was a good time to start training. I also have to say we cheated a little by bringing in a couple chords of wood with us, so as to not piss off the Park Rangers and also to make sure we were going to have enough warmth. The weather reports all said it was going to be the coldest it has been yet this year (around 10-20F).
2-10-06
Friday. In Skokie we did a show with the 50's boy band icons: The Letterman. The show was average and we spent most of the jonesing for the upcoming trip. We were to rendezvous with Nick in Elgin after the show to arrive at the site whenever we could get there earliest. In the early afternoon Jake and I compiled a list of last minute needs for food and such. We divided it up into REI and Jewel needs. Jake took the Jewel run and I headed for REI since I wanted to gather a few more items being that Friday is payday. I picked up 4 mountain house meals, an extra fuel cell, a stainless plate, some GU for the ride out there, and a couple sesame snaps for a tasty treat.
The show went down and we finished up at about 12:15 am to start our first leg of the trip. The trip to Elgin was uneventful. We arrived in Elgin approx 12:45 am and started to go over our packs while waiting for Nick to arrive. We changed into our layers and watered up. Nick arrived baring gifts of Para-Cord and a Walkie Talkie since we had to take two cars. Car Loaded. We go.
When we got about 30 mins outside Morris, IL an amazing thing happened. Fog appeared. Thick fog like you see in 40's movies about London. We could see around our car about 10-20 feet in any direction. The moon was full and caused an almost eerie glow around the world. I insisted we should stop and experience it for a few minutes. When we pulled over it seemed the the fog was either turning into snow resembling Dippin' Dots or coming down almost invisibly. The air was charged with positive energy and in was not terribly cold. How amazing, I cannot actually describe. Finally sometime after 3:00 am We arrived at the Park and decided to do a little recon. We found the park has a very interesting layout. One entire edge of the park is a levy keeping back the Historic I & M canal. There was a small stream running through the center of the park and the camping sites we set way back.
http://dnr.state.il.us/lands/landmgt/PARKS/I&m/east/GEBHARD/PARK.HTM
Gebhard is not a big nor terribly impressive park but it was all ours for the weekend. Time to me is sort of irrelevant when out in nature and my personal philosophy is that a day is not over until I go to sleep or the sun comes up. So for intensive purposes it was still Friday for me. We checked out several of the so-called primitive sites. Which in actualality consisted of a cast iron or steel fire ring and about 20 yards of space surrounding it. We selected one and began to set up camp. I pitched my tent sans ground tarp rather quickly and went to town on getting a fire started. Nick, I have to say, has balls of solid fucking steel (pardon the language). He decided he wanted to give having only a tarp shelter for this trip to see how he fared. Jake and I agreed as we watched him set this miniature fortress of solitude into place that we were a bit a jealous of having that kind of gumption. I got the fire started pretty effortlessly despite the ever falling snow. We all settled in and chatted a bit. The snow made keeping the fire alive a difficult task being that this snow was very wet and soaking our wood quickly. After a while we decided that the fire was not absolutely necessary at this point we were plenty warm and did not need a meal. We all then piled into my tent to play some cards being that it is a three-man tent (overkill I know and heavy as hell). The guys left to their own shelters and almost instantly sleep washed over me.
About 9:30 I rose and we cooked some breakfast. I have since figured out that my stainless plate is not a particularly good surface for cooking eggs on a camp stove. I think that part of it that the stove gets too hot in one spot and scorched my eggs pretty bad, but it was a welcome feast indeed.
Saturday 2-11
We spent much of Saturday exploring our surroundings and trying out different pieces of gear. I tried three different methods of starting fires. The first method was pretty inane. I used the fire starter stick you find at the local camping or sporting goods store. I think they are essentially pine sawdust with some sort of glue that acts as an accelerant. This lit easily with a match and was little effort to get it moving. Second I tried something I have never done before. I used a Tri-Oxane tablet. If you have not used it I recommend it fully. You can light it with just a spark from flint and steel and it burn about 800 F. We have also found if it gets a little wet it burns hotter so it will ignite in any condition and get that wood a-burnin'. You only need about 1/3 the table which I think was about 1 square inch and it weight next to nothing. Next I tried a method Nick had heard of. We used cotton-balls impregnated with petroleum jelly. This was an interesting method. It was a little hard to get the cotton to take a spark and I opted for matches. After several tries I decided my Bic lighter would do the trick nicely. So we had a fire going. We went in shift too seek out other wood and suitable sticks so Jake and Nick could make walking sticks. We talked about purifying water and other survival lore. Really the most notable part of Saturday was the weather. When we woke the sun was shining and the snow was melting. After a couple of hours the wind picked up and the odd almost globular snow fell on us again. The sun reappeared and took the snow away. Not more than an hour or so later nick looked up and said," Looks like we got some snow incoming again. It dumped on us again in the same way a summer shower dumps a lot of rain quickly then moves on to hassle someone else. Jake borrowed my Boy Scout Handbook and I took a quick nap while the snow pelted the tents. When I woke it was about time for dinner. I cooked up my first Mountain House meal in a bag. Actually it was Natural High chicken teriyaki. Man was thats a tasty dish. I highly recommend it. The rice was flavorful and the chicken bits were nice and tender. I think i might live off these things for a while. I cannot believe you can boil a little bit of water, dump it in a bag and 9 minutes later you have a hot tasty meal that is nice and hearty. Finally the snow backed off again and we got a little sunshine and melty snow. Then, the cold came. The wind kicked up something fierce and had some nasty sharp teeth. We all decided to retreat to our respective shelters for some reading time and to rack out shortly. We found it odd someone was starting a little fire in the half shelter about 70 or so yards away. We have no clue as to who it was or why they were there. But they left us alone and we did the same. Saturday night was LONG and COLD. The temperature dropped to about 10-14 F. I found out a few valuable things during this time. First my shoulders are too wide to comfortably zip up my mummy bag all the way and how thankful I was for having a ground mat for the first time EVER. I have to say it is an odd feeling to know that 5 years ago I was a smaller guy. I suppose taking on work that involves pulling ropes and slinging stage weights around helped add some serious inches to my shoulders and arms. I also learned how important little things like disposable hand warmers can turn you night from DAMN FRICKIN COLD!!!! To Ahhh this isn't so bad. Sometime a little later I awoke to Nick saying his goodbye as he was sick. Poor guy felt awful. He was very apologetic to Jake and I, but to me, no harm no foul. You know your body best and it is better to save yourself pain and a worsening condition with some warmth and bed-rest when it is only an hour and a half a way. Live today to camp tommorrow. I hope you are feeling better bro. It was a bummer when you left. The rest of the night was cold and uneventful. I woke a half dozen time to shift my headgear around the to rub my feets together to get a little warmth. I must have been snoring horribly because I awoke with a sore throat and an enlongated uvula. Jake and I rose around 7:30 or 8:00 made some breakfast and struck camp and headed back for the city. All and all, not a bad little trip for my first time winter camping since I was a senior in high-school.
conclusions:
Date: 2-10 thru 2-12
Temp: Low-14 F High-34( I think)
Location: Gebhard Woods State Park. Morris, IL.
Purpose: Test our mettle and winter gear.
So this was our first mission. We have spoken on these type of events for a considerable amount of time and as of last we decided to stop talking and just go. Sometime a few weeks ago, we decided to hit up some winter camping and try it out. Jake and Nick have gone at least once or twice before this weekend to get a feel for what to expect. The weather leading up to this weekend has been very mild in comparison. In fact, for Chicago, it has been unseasonably warm. I suppose in retrospect it was a good time to start training. I also have to say we cheated a little by bringing in a couple chords of wood with us, so as to not piss off the Park Rangers and also to make sure we were going to have enough warmth. The weather reports all said it was going to be the coldest it has been yet this year (around 10-20F).
2-10-06
Friday. In Skokie we did a show with the 50's boy band icons: The Letterman. The show was average and we spent most of the jonesing for the upcoming trip. We were to rendezvous with Nick in Elgin after the show to arrive at the site whenever we could get there earliest. In the early afternoon Jake and I compiled a list of last minute needs for food and such. We divided it up into REI and Jewel needs. Jake took the Jewel run and I headed for REI since I wanted to gather a few more items being that Friday is payday. I picked up 4 mountain house meals, an extra fuel cell, a stainless plate, some GU for the ride out there, and a couple sesame snaps for a tasty treat.
The show went down and we finished up at about 12:15 am to start our first leg of the trip. The trip to Elgin was uneventful. We arrived in Elgin approx 12:45 am and started to go over our packs while waiting for Nick to arrive. We changed into our layers and watered up. Nick arrived baring gifts of Para-Cord and a Walkie Talkie since we had to take two cars. Car Loaded. We go.
When we got about 30 mins outside Morris, IL an amazing thing happened. Fog appeared. Thick fog like you see in 40's movies about London. We could see around our car about 10-20 feet in any direction. The moon was full and caused an almost eerie glow around the world. I insisted we should stop and experience it for a few minutes. When we pulled over it seemed the the fog was either turning into snow resembling Dippin' Dots or coming down almost invisibly. The air was charged with positive energy and in was not terribly cold. How amazing, I cannot actually describe. Finally sometime after 3:00 am We arrived at the Park and decided to do a little recon. We found the park has a very interesting layout. One entire edge of the park is a levy keeping back the Historic I & M canal. There was a small stream running through the center of the park and the camping sites we set way back.
http://dnr.state.il.us/lands/landmgt/PARKS/I&m/east/GEBHARD/PARK.HTM
Gebhard is not a big nor terribly impressive park but it was all ours for the weekend. Time to me is sort of irrelevant when out in nature and my personal philosophy is that a day is not over until I go to sleep or the sun comes up. So for intensive purposes it was still Friday for me. We checked out several of the so-called primitive sites. Which in actualality consisted of a cast iron or steel fire ring and about 20 yards of space surrounding it. We selected one and began to set up camp. I pitched my tent sans ground tarp rather quickly and went to town on getting a fire started. Nick, I have to say, has balls of solid fucking steel (pardon the language). He decided he wanted to give having only a tarp shelter for this trip to see how he fared. Jake and I agreed as we watched him set this miniature fortress of solitude into place that we were a bit a jealous of having that kind of gumption. I got the fire started pretty effortlessly despite the ever falling snow. We all settled in and chatted a bit. The snow made keeping the fire alive a difficult task being that this snow was very wet and soaking our wood quickly. After a while we decided that the fire was not absolutely necessary at this point we were plenty warm and did not need a meal. We all then piled into my tent to play some cards being that it is a three-man tent (overkill I know and heavy as hell). The guys left to their own shelters and almost instantly sleep washed over me.
About 9:30 I rose and we cooked some breakfast. I have since figured out that my stainless plate is not a particularly good surface for cooking eggs on a camp stove. I think that part of it that the stove gets too hot in one spot and scorched my eggs pretty bad, but it was a welcome feast indeed.
Saturday 2-11
We spent much of Saturday exploring our surroundings and trying out different pieces of gear. I tried three different methods of starting fires. The first method was pretty inane. I used the fire starter stick you find at the local camping or sporting goods store. I think they are essentially pine sawdust with some sort of glue that acts as an accelerant. This lit easily with a match and was little effort to get it moving. Second I tried something I have never done before. I used a Tri-Oxane tablet. If you have not used it I recommend it fully. You can light it with just a spark from flint and steel and it burn about 800 F. We have also found if it gets a little wet it burns hotter so it will ignite in any condition and get that wood a-burnin'. You only need about 1/3 the table which I think was about 1 square inch and it weight next to nothing. Next I tried a method Nick had heard of. We used cotton-balls impregnated with petroleum jelly. This was an interesting method. It was a little hard to get the cotton to take a spark and I opted for matches. After several tries I decided my Bic lighter would do the trick nicely. So we had a fire going. We went in shift too seek out other wood and suitable sticks so Jake and Nick could make walking sticks. We talked about purifying water and other survival lore. Really the most notable part of Saturday was the weather. When we woke the sun was shining and the snow was melting. After a couple of hours the wind picked up and the odd almost globular snow fell on us again. The sun reappeared and took the snow away. Not more than an hour or so later nick looked up and said," Looks like we got some snow incoming again. It dumped on us again in the same way a summer shower dumps a lot of rain quickly then moves on to hassle someone else. Jake borrowed my Boy Scout Handbook and I took a quick nap while the snow pelted the tents. When I woke it was about time for dinner. I cooked up my first Mountain House meal in a bag. Actually it was Natural High chicken teriyaki. Man was thats a tasty dish. I highly recommend it. The rice was flavorful and the chicken bits were nice and tender. I think i might live off these things for a while. I cannot believe you can boil a little bit of water, dump it in a bag and 9 minutes later you have a hot tasty meal that is nice and hearty. Finally the snow backed off again and we got a little sunshine and melty snow. Then, the cold came. The wind kicked up something fierce and had some nasty sharp teeth. We all decided to retreat to our respective shelters for some reading time and to rack out shortly. We found it odd someone was starting a little fire in the half shelter about 70 or so yards away. We have no clue as to who it was or why they were there. But they left us alone and we did the same. Saturday night was LONG and COLD. The temperature dropped to about 10-14 F. I found out a few valuable things during this time. First my shoulders are too wide to comfortably zip up my mummy bag all the way and how thankful I was for having a ground mat for the first time EVER. I have to say it is an odd feeling to know that 5 years ago I was a smaller guy. I suppose taking on work that involves pulling ropes and slinging stage weights around helped add some serious inches to my shoulders and arms. I also learned how important little things like disposable hand warmers can turn you night from DAMN FRICKIN COLD!!!! To Ahhh this isn't so bad. Sometime a little later I awoke to Nick saying his goodbye as he was sick. Poor guy felt awful. He was very apologetic to Jake and I, but to me, no harm no foul. You know your body best and it is better to save yourself pain and a worsening condition with some warmth and bed-rest when it is only an hour and a half a way. Live today to camp tommorrow. I hope you are feeling better bro. It was a bummer when you left. The rest of the night was cold and uneventful. I woke a half dozen time to shift my headgear around the to rub my feets together to get a little warmth. I must have been snoring horribly because I awoke with a sore throat and an enlongated uvula. Jake and I rose around 7:30 or 8:00 made some breakfast and struck camp and headed back for the city. All and all, not a bad little trip for my first time winter camping since I was a senior in high-school.
conclusions:
- I need a new bag that accommodates my wider shoulders.
- A new smaller tent would be nice. My tent was really made for the summers but worked as a shelter all the same. I am looking for a small one or two man tent with a little vestibule for my pack or a good Bivy Sack. The Black Diamond Light Sabre is starting to look REALLY nice right about now or something akin to Kelty Crestone 1.
- I need to lighten my pack. I have a lot of extraneous stuff that I never used or could find lighter substitutes for.
- I need new boots. These old thing need to stick to work duty not hiking duty. They do not breathe well and are heavy and love to have mud stick to them
- Mountain House food is GOOD
- HOT Mountain House food is better. :D
- Tri-Oxane is the shit and should go into everyone's pack as an emergency fire start and heat source.
- canned soup, while very convenient and easy to consume is heavy and not really all that necessary.
- I need a water filtration system. While I was thankful for the extra two litres of water beyond by 2 Nalgene bottles I brought, it would have been nice to save some poundage.
- I NEED MORE CAMPING!!!!!
Alrighty that is a lot to think about for now. I cannot wait till I get comfortable enough once again with my gear that I can focus on simpler things like enjoying the great outdoors and the beauty nature beholds.
For those of my friends who appreciate my eye for the world around:
The moon was nigh full and the bare trees tangled across my vision like the cobwebs of some ancient and ghastly spider hidden in the shadows waiting some hapless visitor to meander too close. Wispy clouds and the warmth of my breath like the most delicate silver thread that binds two souls together traced across the dark and cold blue of the sky, dark, almost black, but soft and pale like a velvet cloth. A silver glisten blanketed the land twinkling ever so slightly like diamonds in the rough beholden of a beauty found only in my lady's eyes. In my heart, I could not resist the urge to howl graciously at the Lady hanging silently over head and sing to Her my praise and love knowing Her response will be found in each moment ever after when I touch the grass or hunt tonight's dinner or the coolness of the water cleansing my skin and soul. We are truly blessed to live...
posted by Dustin L. Derry at 7:23 PM
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