Winter Camping Weekend

It's a mellow hike along an old road that occasionally gets used by Dept of Natural Resources who use the lake for stock fish. It's pretty level the whole way with just small little rises.

It was only about a 2o minute walk to the cave. It is a super nice bivy/camp spot and has been used for years. There are only a handful of us who use it now and we try to keep it really well stocked with dry wood for these times of year. The cave is spacious enough for 4 people to lay out bags.

After dropping our packs we went out to the lake to see how thick the ice is. At first I was a bit leery about it but after some testing and poking at thinner spots I found the ice to be at least 4 inches thick everywhere. We wandered around the lake a bit before heading back to the cave.

A little after noon I got a fire going to warm up the cave and dry out the overhanging rock of the ice and wet. It took until the evening and a good fire going before the rock stopped dripping.

With a fire going we went out in search of some more wood and to wander the length of the lake. It was pretty cool the way the frost covered the trees and the snow still clung on in many spots.

A number of dead fir trees have cool looking fungus growing from them. Similar color to the turkey tails but huge and poreless.

Much of the rest of the day was spent gathering firewood from the surrounding forest and staying warm by it until I crashed for the night.

The next morning I finally got out of the nice warm sleeping bag which is way warmer now that I have the bivy sack for it. WAY warmer and my toes were not cold once in the nights. The night before I had eaten only half of the Mtn House meal so for lunch I melted snow down and boiled it with the leftover bag in it and it heated up the food nicely.

Had my hatchet with me for wood and I decided to cut the trail to the base of the wall open. It is the best time to do it now when all the leaves are off the plants and the path is more visible. There were a couple of trees down across it and the undergrowth had sprung back up during the year. This is looking up at our climb Nirvana that goes up the middle of the face to the arching crack above.

In the boulders below the wall there are a number of caves that were made by the piling of the rocks. This one though is killer. A massive boulder is split open into this corridor. The gap is only about 18 inches at the bottom and the walls are 15 feet tall. As I walked back into it I then climbed up, under, around, and then into the cave.

Inside there are 5 different caves that go off in all directions under the different boulders in the pile. I went in with my headlamp but the video is not good. There is one cave that is the deepest part that I could not, more so did not want to go in since it meant dropping through a hole with no foot hold below. I was not sure I would be able to get out so left it for later exploration. The caves are a really solid intro for anyone and caving. They are not massive or extensive but they are mostly safe.

Finally felt comfortable with the depth of the ice that we went out on the lake. 2 weeks ago when I was at the lake the ice was singing with the expansion and contraction. This time there was only one time I heard it which meant the ice is a lot thicker.

We did number of laps around the lake and Jax got to nose around in a bunch of the reeds and he chased a few rabbits with no results other than him panting.

The cave is killer at night and it only takes a bit of light to see easily. We knocked out with the fire burning itself out and the colder of the nights.

It was completely silent in the valley around the lake save for the sounds that Jax and I made. There was an occasional sound of birds, squirrels, rabbits hopping in the snow, and the random sound of snow falling from a branch nearby.

Monday morning we were up and hiking out by about 10 am. On the way out we stopped and explored the old homestead which was super cool and will be a different post.

We have a couple loads from the freeze dryer I need to post about now too with the second about done. The prior load came out amazing and the meals seem perfectly done.

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