If you’ve read any of my other posts, you’ve seen that we usually take a June trip to the BWCA. In the past, we’ve also taken a winter trip. The last several years we haven’t made it for a combination of reasons: bad ice/warmer weather, our husky aging (him being the main reason we would go) and not wanting to leave him behind, school etc. But the winter of 2022, after a hard goodbye to the best good boy-we decided to return for a winter trip!

This time we did things a little differently-we decided to cover a lot of ground and travel in a loop. All told I think we decided we crossed 13 lakes over 14 portages. We towed our gear in sleds, used classic cross country skis for the majority of our lake travel, and snowshoes for the gnarly portages and really deep snow.

Day 1 we packed up at home, drove the 5 hours north and crossed one of the longest portages ever, 428 rods (plus a small one) before making camp on Tuscarora Lake.

We also slept in our 4-season (‘fourth season’) mountaineering tent, ie. “cold tenting”. Mostly this means, lighter sleds (compared to canvass tent counterparts) and colder/wetter sleeping conditions. Which brings me to my FIRST TIP for loving winter camping.

#1 The Hot Water Bottle: This is a 2 part win. When you melt your water and/or boil it, you can put it in a Nalgene bottle to keep your sleeping bag warm all night. Note; this must have a solid screw top lid and it must be the hard sided, not soft bottle. Be smart where hot water is concerned. Never hold a bottle in your hand while pouring boiling water into it or any container, and don’t do it over body parts in general….lap, feet etc….the bottle is also HOT, so you shouldn’t touch it with bare skin. Aside from having a nice, toasty sleeping companion of a hot water bottle, this also guarantees that you have at least one bottle of non-frozen water in the morning!

For us, we wake up and plan the day over hot coffee….which brings me to my second tip…

#2 Hot Bevies: I don’t just mean drink them…I mean have them all day. My best advice for this is the Yeti Hotshot Mug.

The lid for this mug doesn’t leak, perfect for setting down in our sleeping bag while you work on your oatmeal, and stays hot for hours! What is better than hot coffee, tea or chocolate during a snack break in the snow? Nothing, nothing is better.

For this trip, we ate on the go! Snacking before and after portages, and opting for a quick lunch as seen here on the sled. Pringles (a bit of a running joke with us) don’t freeze, and the salt is perfect for both replenishing and baiting your thirst-it can be hard to remember to drink water when your face is frozen. Which brings me to my next tip!

#3 EAT GOOD FOOD: People ask me what I like about winter camping….no bugs, no people and all the food!!! Eating helps you generate heat as your body digests, and your body is often plowing through calories as you break trail so the need for food is great. Plan accordingly. We rarely pack dehydrated meals when we camp, and in winter, a sled makes it easier to pack a little heavier so its tempting to plan more complex meals-don’t. My advice; this is the time for instant/dehydrated meals-however you get them. You have hot water anyway if you are melting snow, and anything that has steps for cooking just gets cold before the other parts are done. Dehydrated meals that reconstitute (and don’t get cold if you use a coozy) are easy, fast, light and delicious. Eat up!

Our last day, we broke all of our own trail through several inches of fresh, wet snow. We woke up knowing we still had enough food to be out one more night, and 7 portages ahead of us would be okay to split into two days. But when we poked our heads out of the tent to lots of fresh snow, still falling…and an entire tent of condensation, we decided to try for it.

This brings me to my last two tips…

#4 Layers: Not only wearing the right ones (see my post on choosing base-layers) but also having something to change into, and managing your layers to avoid hypothermia.

This incredibly unflattering and blurry photo is what it looks like to move for several hours inside Gore-tex…in above freezing temps, and falling snow you have two choices…get wet from the outside or get wet from the inside. In this case-I knew I’d be at the car or worst case, back in the tent but with dry layers to change into.

My final tip is the most important and can be one of the hardest….

#5 PMA: Positive Mental Attitude. At face value, winter camping sucks-insert Jim Gaffigan voice “wanna carry all our stuff, have cold toes and sleep on the snow?” Winter camping can be hard; it’s cold, it’s dark and it’s physically taxing. Winter camping also brings incomparable beauty, solitude and the accomplishment that comes from physical challenge. A golden attitude isn’t easy to maintain at all times-for us, usually it means that even if one person is feeling low, the other is usually there to keep the stoke. Maybe music is what you need, maybe snacks (Gushers help) but find what it is for you that can keep you excited even when things get slow, hard, dark and cold. A smile never hurts to keep things looking more glass half full than half empty.

We finally made it to the car on the last day checking the map and compass a few times to make it through the snow! We arrived in Grand Marais for beers, fireplaces and hot showers. It took some time to dry out everything, thaw out the rest and heal our muscles…but it was beautiful, we had a wonderful time and we’ll back for sure!

Thanks for reading folks! Enjoy some time outside this winter and have some fun on your Days Off!