Winter Camp Reflection: Robin

For our PAD30/40 class this was our first overnight trip and a test for most of us. I don’t know about everyone else but this was my first camping trip in February, and definitely my first time to sleep in a quinzhee. But before we did that we had a lovely 6 kilometre walk.

Six kilometres seems like a lot when you think about it but when you start walking it’s easier than you I thought it would be. Time flew by with the amazingly good weather and the good company to speed up the walk. I wasn’t rushing, I was treating the journey as a leisurely hike more than a class assignment. Arriving at Gaug Lake was the worst, when you’re at one end and you can see the distance for your destination, it makes the walk seem much longer than it was.

During our preparation for this camp we went to Gaug Lake earlier in the week and dug out a common area for a fire place, as well, our teacher, Mr. Martin, and a few students cut fire wood over the weekend making it much easier to quickly get a fire going for lunch. Lunch was very good, nothing like roasting a good smokie over a fire and having a good break from the work too. We had lunch after we piled up snow for our quinzhees, making it a nice break with time for us to cool down from our work and to allow for the quinzhees to settle.

Apparently 2 of the groups didn’t let theirs settle enough, because their quinahees collapsed, luckily it was when they were hollowing it out and not while sleeping. One of my friends was underneath the snow when it fell on him, the sound and sight of the snow falling made me and a couple others start to laugh but then we realized that he might need help and quickly went to help him. When we checked he was fine, we continued on laughing, this greatly lightened the mood making the work more fun.

For supper we had Sheppard’s pie, with gravy and cheese, I’ve never had this before, the cheese on top anyway, so it was great, so good in fact I had 2 servings. After dinner we all went to sit around the fire until it got dark. I was tired and full so I went to bed fairly early.

Just as I was getting comfortable in my sleeping bag I realized I forgot to bring a pillow, this was the beginning of an almost sleepless night. I must have a curse because anytime there is an inflatable mattress that I am sleeping on it will deflate, and mine did just that leaving me to sleep on the hard packed and uneven snow. The cold wasn’t that bad; with the sleeping bags, long johns, and the shelter it was warm enough. I think I drank too much water before bed because I had to pee something bad, but I didn’t want to wake anyone else up so I bid my time and waited and waited. This was a bad idea; it just kept me up, by around 5 in the morning I could take it no longer and went to the area designated for urinating but in the process the dogs started barking. So much for not trying to wake anyone up!

For breakfast we had oatmeal, which was a very simple and good breakfast that also allowed us to eat it quickly and pack up for the walk back. The walk back seemed much longer than the one going to Gaug Lake but when I saw the school I knew the trip was over.

Other than probably the worst sleep of my life, this trip was awesome and I think it was like a dry run for the other longer trips in this class. I would do this trip again anytime but next time I’ll remember to bring a pillow.