Winter kayaking camping with a pulk!

[coldfeet]

Why? That's all I kept hearing from some friends when I told them I was going winter kayak camping with IndianChris. I'm sure we've all been through that question, why? Why? Because we want to, it's challenging, exciting, surrounded by nature and friends. How about it's FUN!

Instead of posting pics and the end of the report, here it goes now for those who don't want to read on, I don't blame you, I like to look at pics first then read..

http://picasaweb.google.com/DShwide/WinterKayakCamping#

Long story short, I'm getting a new knee next week and I wanted to keep going out before I get layed up for a while. I told IC that I wanted to go kayak camping and we looked for a legal place to do some car camping, unfortunatly because it's winter time the local parks are closed unless you have a trailer vehicle, that was out. To bad, all we want to do is go out and enjoy the winter evenings. We ended up finding a place to hide out for the night. I can't tell you where we went but I will say that we didn't leave any traces of being there. After parking the cars we got a few stares at us while loading up the boats from some locals. First I should say is that we both wore dry suits for the water for safety reasons. Do not try this without proper gear! We paddled app 1 1/2 miles and got to our designation. We also cashed some gear along the way like chairs, pulk, wood and cooking gear. After landing on the shore we headed up a short hill to find a good place to set up the tent and cook. As we walked the snow got deeper and deeper, sometimes up to 2 feet We postholed our way to the top wearing our paddling gear. After finding a spot we used the pulk and pulled our gear up to the top. We couldn't believe how tired we both were. It was also app 10:30 - 11:00. We set up the tent, started our stoves and cooked up a well needed meal. We sat staring at the Big Dipper, listened to the wind blowing and talked about lots of stuff. I learned at that time about Darren's brother and we held a moment of silence for him and all our loved ones. At this time we realized it was 2am. We boiled up some nalgenes with hot water. tossed them in the bags and got ready for some sleep.zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Boom! Boom! Boom!...what is that? It's hunting season and the hunters are shooting at 6:30am come on man! Can't a guy get some sleep? I drifted off to sleep again waking up at 8. We finally got to see a better view around us and oh boy was it beautiful! After eating a high fat meal and trying to unfreeze the eggs we went off for a hike of the surroundings. We found lot's of animal tracks (we hung our food) and then to our surprise some deer tracks. Time was going to fast and I had to be home late that afternoon for dinner guests (yes, I fell asleep while they were at my house, wife was annoyed with me a little). We started to load up our boats, saw some folks going for a stroll with their dogs and paddled back to the cars. The wind was hitting us straight on so it was a little tough going. I was nervous at times paddling which isn't good but what can you do? I stayed as close to the shore as possible without the waves hitting me from the side. IC and I practice self rescues as often as possible, some planned and some not planned . It was a great trip, and a big thx goes to Darren and his site because I wouldn't have ever done this if I didn't meet IndianChris on this site. PS, Jay the Iron Skillet continues it's travels!

 

[DiamondRidge]

sounds like it was a fun adventure! Good luck with the knee!

 

[Chip]

Dude ! Happy to hear you survived and enjoyed. It was cold out there !

Great pics. got to love the 12 pack of Saranac !

 

[coldfeet]

Ahhh, but what was really in that taped box of Saranac? "Only the Shaddow knows"

 

[Chip]

You gotta stake out that vestibule taught, man. How's that expert repair looking ?

 

[coldfeet]

In the words of Robert DeNiro, "You, you are very good doc". What keen observations you have. The ground was pretty frozen, Chris did bang in a peg app 3 in deep in the rear, I figured that if one of us had to use the john it would be easier not to steak out the vestibule, I knew that I was not leaving my bag, had the wide mouth Gatorade bottle in my bag . The wind was at our backs coming across the sound from your state. You could have slowed it down a wee bit. But how could you while you were hot tubbing it? I'm thinking about going out this last Friday for a final winter hurray Will keep you posted.

 

[spider solo]

Nice trip report, sounds like you had some fun !
Also good thinking with the pulk.
and
Good luck with the knee.

 

[Trudy]

Style points for including the pulk.

 

[coldfeet]

Thx for the points, but I'll be honest with you, it was difficult the next day getting the kayak to move where I wanted it to go with the extra weight on the back, I was nervous about rolling over which I usually do. But if it gets me another green square then it was worth it!