Winter camp reflection-Josh

This week on Tuesday and Wednesday our Outdoor education class was finally able to make the trek out to Gaug Lake for our first camp, the winter camp. With supplies on our backs and snowshoes on our feet we began the approximately 2 hour hike out to the lake at 9:00 am on Tuesday. After a few breaks we made it to the lake as well as our camp site and began to set up for the night. After placing our gear off to the side we cleared the central area and began construction on our quinzhees. After pilling the snow we took a break for lunch. This 2 hour break would also provide enough time to let the snow for our quinzhees settle, making it much easier for when we began to dig them out. This digging out of our quinzhees proved not only to be the longest part of camp set up, but also one of the most enjoyable in my opinion. Once we moved our sleeping gear into the quinzhees we gathered around the fire and ate our dinner. When that was finished the only thing left to do was converse with our classmates until we got tired and went to bed. Waking up the next day we ate our breakfast, repacked our gear, had a blast breaking our quinzhees, and started the hike back to the school at about 1:00 pm. I found this hike to be easier than the first since I was now used to it.

By far my favourite part of this trip was the construction and subsequent destruction of our sleeping arrangements. It may not sound like it, but building quinzhees is actually rather fun to do. Another favourite of mine was the food. Until this week I never thought eating oatmeal at 20 below could be that enjoyable, until the oatmeal got cold that is. Another very great, and probably overlooked, part of this trip was just being able to sit, eat and talk with friends around the camp fire, definitely a good night. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that my clothing system worked great, I never got cold nor did I sweat, a definite victory for me.

Unfortunately, there were some aspects of this winter camp that I fount not to my liking. Sleeping was slightly uncomfortable in the quinzhees, the temperature in my sleeping bag was satisfactory but the sleeping platform we carved out was uneven in a lot of places. I think we could have avoided this if we waited just a bit longer for the snow to set before constructing our quinzhees. That would have made the snow more uniform and less likely to moving around when we were shaping the inside.

To conclude it all I thought this was a great experience. If I were ever offered the chance to do it again then I would not hesitate to take that chance. Even though the night was a rather sleepless one everything else that happened redeemed this experience by far. The ability for the class to work together so well during the construction of our quinzhees and the preparation/clean up of dinner also made our winter camp a great one.