Last Outing of 2011 A Double Overnighter

I managed to squeeze some time out of the end of the year. So I loaded up the pulk and headed out

It was 11 degrees when I pulled the sled away from the barn. The plan was to hike out to the Norse Hawk camp and spend the night there, then the following day head deeper out into the bush.



Sled loaded up for the trek. I'm fairly happy with the sled. The runners are micarta, the hull is fiberglass. The canvas is good condition if a bit discolored in locations. I like the way it loads and floats, the bumper edged is nice, and the tie down system is great.





Made it to the camp site, and unpacked.







I worked up a sweat getting the nights wood in, some standing dead birch, large quantities. The sweat froze in the bill of my Kromer before it had a chance to drip off.







Frying up some dinner.



Some pics of the fire after nightfall, there were so many good ones I couldn't pick just one.













I wish the mic on my camera was better, the wolves were howling heavy most of the night.







Later in the night I dropped the plastic sheeting on the front of the shelter. The change of temperature inside was dramatic! I talk about it more and show the 80+ degrees it got up to in the video and some of the images below.

From inside after the sheeting was lowered.



Outside.



Here is a shot of the temperature inside, about an hour after I lowered the sheeting.







I slept soundly, in fact I didn't wake up until after the sun had broke the horizon.



Time for breakfast.







Repacked and ready for the trail. I brought my snowshoes just in case, the weather was threatening snow, and the weatherman said it was possible. I didn't want to get too far back and have a foot dump on me without having my shoes.



For a minute I thought maybe the sun was going to finally break out and stay out. It's been battleship grey skies here for many days now.



It didn't last long.





















I know this doesn't look like much but it is about to be camp for the night. The video shows this part much better. The colder it gets with the overcast skies the noisier my pictures get, I think my camera doesn't like the cold and the gloomy skies.






The video shows dinner better too. I mix up some brown gravy mix, good and hot. Once I've got my meats fried up with plenty of grease in the pan, dump the gravy in. It thickens right away and makes for a good heavy filling and hot meal.











It had actually warmed up some as the cloud cover moved in and got heavier, made it up to 21 degrees.







It's been a great year, I hope everyone else had a good one. I'm looking forward to 2012 and a lot more backwoods bummin'.

Happy New Year!



Video summary, shows the camps and details as well as the cookin!