It was never my intention to camp more than a mile or so away from the main road. I’m reasonably familiar with the cell reception in the Monroe forest area and in my experience it’s always been good. There are towers all over the place around here. Just to clarify, the area I’m talking about being in isn’t in some far-off remote area at all; it’s barely in “the wilderness”.
I’ve done winter camping once (for 4 days) and enjoyed it. It amazes me how adjusted you can become to the temperature to the point where you are conscious of the cold, but not disturbed by it (disturbed as in running to the car on a frosty morning and cursing winter).
I plan to do an overnighter coming up.
And like everyone else said: start small.
Accident/incident/death reports are a great way to learn from the mistakes of others.
Maybe someone here could point you towards a compilation of these that focus on winter activities/camping. Other activities like scuba diving and mountaineering have them and they are quite educational.
Often times these reports will have a person doing just a couple minorly wrong things that many folks don’t think are particularly dangerous in combination with a little bad luck or unforseen circumstance and bam they are often in deep ship if not dead before its over. Many such occurences are not nearly at the Darwin Award level of stupid/careless.
I’ll make up a fictional one right now.
Bob went camping alone for the weekend. It was a cold snowing weekend. He had a good day Saturday. Bob got a nice fire started first thing Sunday morning. It felt really good. He eventually decides to go a ways down the step hill to get some water from the lakes edge to make more coffee. At the lakes edge he slips, falls in the water, and breaks something major in the fall. He wasnt dressed very warmly because the fire was doing a nice job. And he is now soaked as well. The cell phone is now dead (or perhaps it doesnt work at the bottom of the hill or he left it back at camp or broke it/got it wet in the fall). Bob can’t make it back up the hill injured. Its a long chilly Sunday. Sunday night is even worse. Bob died of hypothermia because no expected him back till Monday morning.
What did Bob do wrong? What could he have done better or different? Even if Bob coulda done better, would you classify him as a raging idiot that was just asking to die?
Be careful out there and figure out the what ifs before they get you.
I’d rather do this with someone else if I could. Maybe I could ask around and find someone willing to come with me.
Read this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Side_of_the_Mountain
Both of my boys loved reading it. Who cares if you learn anything useful - it’s a good book!
I enjoy cold weather snow camping and even took our kids when they were small, though only for a couple nights for them…
It’s easier to camp when it’s below freezing than when the temperature goes up and down because things get wet and cold when it’s above freezing, and that’s harder to manage than cold and dry.
With good modern equipment the camping itself is quite safe, assuming you don’t do one of those idiot things like carbon monoxide yourself to death. If you have never been alone for a prolonged period you may find that part interesting. I doubt you will get your supplies and needs correct without a few briefer practice sessions.
It’s my opinion that the most dangerous thing you will do is be alone. Accidents happen. When they do, and you are alone, and it’s very cold, you die. I would not allow that to dissuade me; it is also my opinion that living longer or more safely is not everyone’s greatest good, and it may not be yours. But it is a calculated risk you should…well, calculate.
One tip for your shelter (whatever it ends up being): Bring several bales of straw, and use it to close off any gaps, and to make a big nest to burrow your sleeping bag into. No, straw isn’t as good an insulating material as whatever your sleeping bag is made of, but that doesn’t matter much when you have a few feet thickness of it.
My thoughts (no expert, just enough winter camping in 1-2 night trips enough to get to a few weeks total):
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Start small, with overnights then a three night stand or something.
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I have serious doubts about the legality, morality, and wisdom of trying to live off the land in Indiana in the winter. Is there a legal season at that time for whatever you’re planning on hunting/trapping, for the method you’re planning on using? Is it legal to do that in the area you’re planning on camping in? Do you know how much more calories you’ll want when camping in the cold? Do you know what rabbit starvation is?
Far as I know you can hunt small game in the Morgan/Monroe state forest from November until January. I would take all kinds of other stuff with me too, rice, potatoes, dried beans, etc. For extra nutrition and also because straight squirrel and rabbit every day would be boring.