[Rhodes22-list] 2003 Polar Bear Winter Camping Trip

[Roger Pihlaja]

Hi Everybody,

Well, I just got back from our annual Polar Bear Winter Camping Trip.  This year, we went up to Six Pines Ranch in Farwell, MI.  Farwell, is about 40 minutes west of my house in Sanford, MI.  We had 16 Scouts & 4 adult leaders along.  Farwell had about 4" of snow on the ground, which is not enough to build snow shelters.  So, we packed in all our gear & stayed in backpacking tents on top of the snow.

The big activity on Saturday afternoon was horseback riding.  Brenda Acklin, one of the adult leaders in my Scout troop, is friends with the owner of Six Pines Ranch.  The owner gave us a really good deal on the trail rides & invited us to camp overnight on his land.

Everybody got their fill of horseback riding.  Dinner on Saturday night was a potluck venison stew.  Mr. Woodgate contributed the venison & the rest of us packed in the potatoes & other veggies.  The owner & his family joined us for dinner.  The stew was really good.

Saturday afternoon was cloudy, not too cold at about 27 deg F, but with a 10 -15 mph wind blowing.  The forecast called for 1 - 3" of snow overnight, but the storm missed us.  Instead, about midnight, the sky cleared off & the temperature plummeted.  Sunday morning dawned bright & clear, but cold, about 4 deg F.  The wind was still blowing, so the wind chill was quite nasty.  I was OK with a ski mask & goggles, but I felt sorry for some of the Scouts that were unprepared.

The Scouts played a rather rough game of Capture The Flag after it got dark.  There's lots of "stuff" to trip over in the dark in a horse pasture, but plenty of room to run around.  By about 9:00 or 10:00 PM, most of them had had enough & were in their tents.  I cinched my goose down mummy bag up until there was nothing showing but a "blow hole" & didn't know anything until about 4:00 AM. 

Brenda came down with a touch of the flu overnight, probably not helped by the bitter cold.  She woke up early Sunday morning nauseous & with a fever.  Mr. Woodgate took her home.  Fortunately, we had an older Scout with his driver's license to drive Mrs. Acklin's minivan home.  After the sun came up, we built a fire, had breakfast, broke camp, came home.  We all managed to squeeze into 3 vehicles when we'd arrived in 4.

Except for Brenda, the rest of the troop made it thru the night pretty well.  This was their 1st Polar Bear for 4 of the Scouts.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium