Winter camping is a lot of fun as long as you properly dress and keep your gear dry. One of the biggest concerns in my experience winter camping is just finding a place to park as the snow banks tend to be high with limited cleared parking areas in most of the Adirondacks.
Camping gear, at least bedding, wire, light, axe is back in my truck. The last thing to fix, the lights in the floor of my truck have been reconnected, all of the other things are working well. The cruise control works perfectly in my truck, and I checked the fluids today. The plan is to leave Wednesday directly from work for the Adirondacks. Should be a nice adventure.
I’ve been thinking this summer of doing more hammock camping. The idea would be to pack a small day pack with some food, the hammock, matches, flashlight, and maybe a backup battery pack for smartphone (for music/entertainment). I would hike back along a trail somewhere, find a place to spend the night along the trail, build a fire, cook on a small lightweight frying pan.
I did something similar for Memorial Day Weekend 2023, when I camped up on Cole Hill State Forest. It was a lot of fun, not too much work to set up and take down. Some nice sunsets and evenings in the woods, with a very simple camping set up and good meals cooked over a small open fire. I should consider other state forests and land around where I can do something similar.
I’ve stayed away from doing a lot of backpacking in the past, because i have memories of camping in Boy Scouts, where a night in the woods meant a heavy pack, loaded down with gear, and a tired back after hours of walking int he wilderness. But I don’t think I need to bring big pack frame with me for most trips, I could go much lighter, and camp much more minimally especially during warm summer nights.
How will Coronavirus change my camping plans for this year? ⛺
There is a lot of unknowns about the Coronavirus and how it’s going to play out but I don’t expect major changes to my travel plans compared to other years. 💭
Simply said, when I’m wilderness camping I’m already quite self isolated and don’t necessarily interact with a lot of people except maybe when I visit the store 🏬 or get gas ⛽. But I still anticipate significant impacts on my summer plans…
I expect cheaper gas prices than I had originally budgeted for which will save me money 💵.
I’ll probably want to buy all of my groceries at once 🍏 close to home to minimize the time I’m in public at grocery stores.
Will public swimming 🏊 pools be closed? I might have to find alternative venues in the backcountry to cool off and go swimming in this summer.
If Coronavirus continues into the summer I should look at getting a box of latex gloves for pumping gas. 👋 While I’m no germahobe, I don’t want to get Coronavirus if I can avoid it. I have nitrile gloves for butchering game 🔪but they’re expensive and kind of nasty to burn (they produce trace amounts of cyanide gas) after they’re tossed.
I am still looking at getting a screened in tent 🎪 to use for extended camping trips, to provide more comfort on rainy days and during black fly season.
Does work from home 🏡 mean potentially I could work from camp using my smartphone and when I get a laptop with mobile internet? 📱 Interesting possibility. Maybe take two weeks camping at the Green Mountain National Forest? Why not!
Will there be greater demands for backcountry campsites ⛺, especially roadside sites should state campgrounds be closed this summer due to Coronavirus? Will this mean that more people will be competing for prime roadside sites? More litter and irresponsible campers in the back country? More law enforcement?
Will places like Moose River Plains and Piseco – Powley Road be on the cutting block 📉 due to reductions in state funding due to losses relating to the Coronavirus PAUSE? Does this mean gates will be locked or roads less maintained?
Both of these victories were possibly a result of being lulled to sleep by, and waking up to, disorienting new surroundings. I kept my hopes low for the second night, when I’d be a little more used to the pattern and I’d be camping alone. I thought I might lie awake thinking about The Blair Witch Project. Nope. This time I was out in five minutes, barely surfaced from my deep sleep when I heard (I hope) deer circling my tent in the middle of the night, and hit my snooze button just once the next morning. After the third restful night, I abandoned my sleep anxieties and started evangelizing: “My sleep has been amazing,” I told anyone unfortunate enough to ask how the experiment was going. “I think my circadian rhythm is already changing. You can just feel it, you know?”
I know I sleep a lot better after a night in the woods. In the winter months, when I'm home all of the time, I find it hard to sleep, waking up early, although lately I've improved my sleep a lot by going to bed early and getting up early.
