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Boundary Waters Quetico Forum

Winter Camping and Activities

Alder Lake - 4 days This Past Thursday through Sunday

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Date/Time: 04/29/2024 05:02AM

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Alder Lake - 4 days This Past Thursday through Sunday

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Previous Messages:
Author	Message Text
George	01/14/2013 12:20PM We were out there as well. Good times sleeping under a tarp in the rain witha wet foot box:P Not the first time this has happened to me. About 10 years ago we got rained on going in and it fell to -17 that night. Needless to say I bought a hot tent right after that trip (though I still sleep outside it is nice to have aplace to hang out and dry out your clothes during the day/evening). I ALWAYS STRESS to the winter camping newbies: It is essential to bring a very good (i.e marmot preclip) rain jacket and pants to use as an out shell. Prefer light weight. They always want to bring snow pants (which are horrible for layering....I prefer rain pants that can be opened up along the sides via zipper to cool off).
tg	01/14/2013 10:46AM We were not far from you Friday-Sunday. Hiked in to Daniels Lake Friday pm in the rain, fog, pitch black darkness. Snowshoes and skis were dead weight. Navigation/orienteering was a major challenge-we couldn't see the shoreline from more than about 50' away. All we could see were plenty of fresh wolf tracks-everywhere we went. Lake was covered with inches of slush/standing water so we had to setup on land. Tent kept us remarkably dry and warm but it was at times rather unpleasant outside. As you experienced when it came time to break camp our tent was fused to the ground-not fun to chisel out. But we still managed to have a great time! I'll type up a full report too but wanted to comiserate. tg
Minnesotian	01/14/2013 10:29AM Ugh, that sounded pretty challenging with all the rain and then frozen.
cjacoby	01/14/2013 10:06AM Every trip has its challenges and adversity - this one in a unique way more than others. 24 degrees and clear on the way in through east bearskin on Thursday, heavy winds in the afternoon. Rain overnight into Friday until noon. Back down to 30 Friday night but then up to 40 overnight with more rain. Dropped from 40 to -10 in 24 hours, with a -10 reading Sunday morning. Chipping the tent out of the ice Sunday morning was not too much fun - but the smooth glide of the sleds over glare ice made for an easier out. Will post a detailed trip report with photos later.