NNY2011WCT! February 4-7

[Rush2112]

NFA, what's the ice thickness out there? I assume you guys had to cut a hole in the ice for the shakedown overnighter.

We left the ice unmolested.

Oh well, I'll find out when I get out there. I was trying to figure out how big I could make my quinzee this year.

[Jamie]

nfa: Are we going to run over the permitless-camping threshold on this one? I think I count nine, so we should be okay, but never trust a physicist's arithmetic.

I'm not going to worry about the headcount, as we should be under the number, but if not, we can move to an adjacent campsite or simply 100 feet into the woods...my experience has been that lots of people talk about coming to WCT, and significantly less actually show...

NFA, what's the ice thickness out there? I assume you guys had to cut a hole in the ice for the shakedown overnighter.

I haven't checked the thickness, but it should be fine for you and your temporary home...I've seen trucks out by the ice-fishing shacks, and the blocks in the ice-castle are 12+ inches thick...

Jamie

[CrackMunk]

Chilli is simmering . everything packed, just have to load and go in the morning.

[Jamie]

I'll be there between 11-12 now...Ben has Strep, so I've got to stay home with him until Gail can ditch work to let me go play in the snow with my crazy friends...

Jamie - nfa

[Bster13]

Who's actually planning to trek to the island for a night? I'm bringing my big tent and would love to save the space in the car by not bringing my tarp tent....thus staying in base camp each night.

[Jamie]

Who's actually planning to trek to the island for a night? I'm bringing my big tent and would love to save the space in the car by not bringing my tarp tent....thus staying in base camp each night.

I'm planning to spend Saturday night out at a remote camp, but probably won't if nobody else is up for it...

Jamie - nfa

[Rush2112]

I kinda like the idea of a remote camp. But I'll be setting up my tent in our usual spot and if I want to do a remote camp as well it will be with the quinzee. I'll have to scout out a place on the pond to make it on.

Also, no one answered my gun question. Do I bring the Mosin or not? If no one else is bringing guns, then I'm not either.

[Famine]

I'm not packing heat this trip.

[Bunsen]

I'm up for the remote camp, assuming I can kludge up an imitation of a pulk that doesn't require storing at home later. That's probably also where I'll try building a snow shelter -- my late arrival Friday makes construction projects look a bit impractical for the first night, so I'll just be setting up the Solitaire in the dark again.

I wouldn't mind doing some shooting, but bringing any of my own firepower would require an extra trip home (I'm leaving from campus, and even leaving them locked in the trunk is felony territory there). That wouldn't be a huge burden, but I was leaning toward not bothering.

[Rush2112]

I'm up for the remote camp, assuming I can kludge up an imitation of a pulk that doesn't require storing at home later. That's probably also where I'll try building a snow shelter -- my late arrival Friday makes construction projects look a bit impractical for the first night, so I'll just be setting up the Solitaire in the dark again.

I wouldn't mind doing some shooting, but bringing any of my own firepower would require an extra trip home (I'm leaving from campus, and even leaving them locked in the trunk is felony territory there). That wouldn't be a huge burden, but I was leaning toward not bothering.

Well my Mosin is available to any who want to use it. But again, if the trip to the redneck range isn't planned, I don't want to bring anything as it was essentially wasted last time.

[Bster13]

Festus and I will try to bring his boomsticks, but no guarantees w/ limited space in the car. Will know better when we meet up.

[Jamie]

I kinda like the idea of a remote camp. But I'll be setting up my tent in our usual spot and if I want to do a remote camp as well it will be with the quinzee. I'll have to scout out a place on the pond to make it on.

Here's a Gmap of Polliwog and a pair of possible remote camps on the island in front of our basecamp...

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie ... 0&t=h&z=16

Jamie

[Jamie]

A great trip with some great people...

I'd rather go camping with you guys than with the smartest, nicest, cleanest, most decent people on Earth!

Facebook Album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2 ... 04b766b109


Jamie

[CrackMunk]

had a wicked awesome time. thanks everyone

edit: pics
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2086610&id=1421594622&l=9169d2252e

[Festus Hagen]

Good times people! Had some great and interesting weather, got more testing experience with some gear I'm liking, great time with some great friends, and two of the best night's sleep I've had in quite a while!

I can't say Jamie's and my late-night-in-a-blizzard snowshoe across the pond was the height of heroism, but it was something I had never done before, that's for sure!

I'll upload some photos later on tonight... thanks everybody!

Here's the pictures I got... unfortunately I still suck at actually getting PEOPLE into my pics... sorry guys.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2 ... c2c963aa68

[Bster13]

My pics:

https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid= ... 6dc3458cc3

[Jamie]

I still plan on being there on thursday evening,.....am I the only one?

I had originally planned on leaving on sunday, but if my boss OK's it i'll try and stay till monday.

The Ice Castle looks awesome after dark, so it makes a great evening trip.

I didn't have time to go to the barrens hang this year, and hopefully the sleet/rain we are due for tomorrow won't slow my planning down, but yeah,...i'm gettin psyched for this trip.
Too bad it will be so nice up there, I was really hoping for some more challenging temps this year.
No matter, we should have a large group this time, which will make things fun too.

feuer...feuer...feuer...

We looked for you at Polliwog, and unless you were camping/dressed all in CadPatt we missed you...are you OK?

Jamie - nfa

[Festus Hagen]

As these things come and go, the list of "things I learned" gets shorter, but still there's always something...

At the 08 trip, we did go to the trouble of going to the redneck range, but not on any WCT's since. It tends to be a real pain in the ass, you've got deep snow which complicates setting targets, you have noplace clean and dry on the ground to set things down, you possibly have no feeling in your trigger finger A shoot-centric Chapter 007 trip during warmer times would be a nice thing. It's been a while since we've done a "SCT" just for the sake of a warm-weather camping trip, without a hike or paddle involved.

For those interested in winter camping in deep cold with a hammock, hammock socks seem to be a WIN. SirSharpe doesn't need a hammock sock because his Clark comes with zip-up panels which work the same way.... cool. The general consensus between NFA and myself is that the sock is best used to augment an UQ, although getting a sock with extra layers of IX installed can allow you to use it without an UQ in milder temps. The wonderful thing about a sock is that you get an airspace which is much warmer than outside. It's easier on you to breathe, your hands are often warm enough outside the sleeping bag to do things like texting home or posting to Facebook from the cellphone. Also the sock provides some extra protection from falling snow, which doesn't hurt. Makes winter camping with a tiny HH tarp a GOOD idea.

Although the first night at about zero degrees was respectably cold, the second night wasn't... don't think it got too far below freezing. This actually posed a unique challenge because of all the snow we got. When it started falling I was just wearing snow pants and a single layer of polypro on my legs... fine during the day but when the snow was falling I was losing too much heat through my legs, which melted the snow... and unlike my Gore-tex parka the snow pants are NOT waterproof. My legs soaked through as well as the wool gloves I had been wearing, honestly before I headed across the pond to the remote camp I got colder than I got on "the night of minus 36" a few weeks ago. Lesson learned, for next year I'll have waterproof gear to cover legs and hands. I might get the Gore-tex pants they sell along with my parka, or as a minimum standard a breathable, oversize rain pant like Frog Toggs. I reckon Gore-tex gloves don't need to be super-heavy or warm... if I need super-warm gloves there's no water to deal with, just snow and cold.

Carol's chili... awesome. Carol also has a badass shovel which many of us were lucky to borrow. Thanks Carol!

My Brunton butane stove was unreliable on the cold night, second time it has failed me on that. Have to do more testing with "4-season" fuel and see if it's any better (seems the Coleman fuel they sell at Wal-mart is not great for the cold). At least I had my alcohol stove with me, reliable as usual although sideburners are a little tricky to use sometimes in the deep cold (setting a cold pot on a sideburner can "suck out" all the heat it needs to pressurize the stove). Anyways, "yay" to backup plans!

[CrackMunk]

I learned a few lesson's:
1. snow is NOT comfortable!
2. make sure phone is in working order so hubby doesn't get sooooooooooooooooo worried!
3 I can thaw out a gallon jug of water with my car heater in 45 min, ( yes, I know my car is running!)
4. to use dead man stake outs would have been easier to dig out then the stakes I used.
and there is a few more

[Rush2112]

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid= ... id=2080162

Facebook album.

[Jamie]

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=1595473289922&id=1328640173&aid=2080162

Facebook album.

I cannot access this album

Jamie - nfa

[Rush2112]

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=1595473289922&id=1328640173&aid=2080162

Facebook album.

I cannot access this album

Jamie - nfa

Well, you're on my FB friends list so you should be able to access from there.

[Jamie]

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=1595473289922&id=1328640173&aid=2080162

Facebook album.

I cannot access this album

Jamie - nfa

Well, you're on my FB friends list so you should be able to access from there.

Yup, but it doesn't even show up when I look at your list of photo albums on FB...weird...

J

[MikeM]

I had the same problem "content not found"