Prepping for a trek with my son... What do I need?

[caedmon]

(Apologies for Cross-posting)

So my seven year old and I have resolved to do a three day ranger trek this summer. We won't be going to far, about two miles in, camp for two nights and a day, and trek out. It will be above the tree line in some local mountains. There's little in the way of burnable wood, and it promises to be chilly at night. Any thoughts about what we need to carry to keep warm & happy in period fashion?

[caedmon]

So one of the resources I found was this article from our own Le-Loup...

http://woodsrunnersdiary.blogspot.com/2 ... it-is.html

[Greg]

Well, if you want to be Tolkien-accurate, you could take a page from Boromir's book, by following what seems to be practiced military procedure in Gondor:

'I will add a word of advice, if I may,' said Boromir. 'I was born under the shadow of the White
Mountains and know something of journeys in the high places. We shall meet bitter cold, if no
worse, before we come down on the other side. It will not help us to keep so secret that we are
frozen to death. When we leave here, where there are still a few trees and bushes, each of us should
carry a faggot of wood, as large as he can bear.'

[BrianGrubbs]

For starters you will need to plan on what you're going to use to insulate yourself from the ground. How close to the tree line will you be? Close enough to justify a trip to collect pine boughs to make beds? If not, then plan on some extra insulation for the ground. Wearing a wool cape in addition to carrying a wool blanket is an easy way to double up on your insulation at night. You can even wear a wool blanket as a cape if you don't already have a wool cape, and wearing one of your blankets is much easier than carrying both of them on your back. Remember to take dry socks and a dry base layer to change into at night, the sweat that builds up in your clothes during the day can freeze you at night.

Plan on the smallest shelter that both of you can sleep comfortably in. Don't worry about being able to stand up in it, the smaller the space is inside, the easier it will be for your body heat to warm the space. With two people, one of them being small, count on using one blanket doubled up underneath both of you, and pile the cloaks and the other blanket on top...shared body heat is nice. Carrying firewood is a good idea, for cooking if for nothing else, but you won't be able to carry enough to keep you through the night. But, when you do build a fire, make sure you have plenty of good large rocks in it, these you can use in your shelter to help keep you warm when you go to sleep. They can be buried, wrapped in wool, or placed in an open hole, but be careful that they're not placed in such a way that you could roll onto them in your sleep.

Carry plenty of high calorie food. Your body burns a ton of calories keeping itself warm, so some jerky or nuts before bed is a good way to stoke your internal fire. Also, back to fire, keep enough fuel handy to make a fire if you have to get up in the middle of the night and are shivering uncontrollably. A quick fire and something hot to drink can warm you up really fast.

That's all I have time to put up right now, but I have some other ideas that I can post later. I'm interested to see other people’s ideas as well.

Brian

[Peter Remling]

For starters you will need to plan on what you're going to use to insulate yourself from the ground. How close to the tree line will you be? Close enough to justify a trip to collect pine boughs to make beds? If not, then plan on some extra insulation for the ground. Wearing a wool cape in addition to carrying a wool blanket is an easy way to double up on your insulation at night. You can even wear a wool blanket as a cape if you don't already have a wool cape, and wearing one of your blankets is much easier than carrying both of them on your back. Remember to take dry socks and a dry base layer to change into at night, the sweat that builds up in your clothes during the day can freeze you at night.

Plan on the smallest shelter that both of you can sleep comfortably in. Don't worry about being able to stand up in it, the smaller the space is inside, the easier it will be for your body heat to warm the space. With two people, one of them being small, count on using one blanket doubled up underneath both of you, and pile the cloaks and the other blanket on top...shared body heat is nice. Carrying firewood is a good idea, for cooking if for nothing else, but you won't be able to carry enough to keep you through the night. But, when you do build a fire, make sure you have plenty of good large rocks in it, these you can use in your shelter to help keep you warm when you go to sleep. They can be buried, wrapped in wool, or placed in an open hole, but be careful that they're not placed in such a way that you could roll onto them in your sleep.

Carry plenty of high calorie food. Your body burns a ton of calories keeping itself warm, so some jerky or nuts before bed is a good way to stoke your internal fire. Also, back to fire, keep enough fuel handy to make a fire if you have to get up in the middle of the night and are shivering uncontrollably. A quick fire and something hot to drink can warm you up really fast.

That's all I have time to put up right now, but I have some other ideas that I can post later. I'm interested to see other people’s ideas as well.

Brian

when you do build a fire, make sure you have plenty of good large rocks in it, these you can use in your shelter to help keep you warm when you go to sleep. They can be buried, wrapped in wool, or placed in an open hole, but be careful that they're not placed in such a way that you could roll onto them in your sleep-

-Be sure not to use rocks from a stream bed or near a heavily eroded spot. Rocks emersed in water will have absorbed some water and when put in a fire can explode when the water turns to steam.

[BrianGrubbs]

This is true Peter, I forgot to point that out and it is a very important thing to remember.

Brian

[BrianGrubbs]

Here's a fun read at project Gutenburg http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28255/28 ... 8255-h.htm

Brian