So, about that snow load, eh? - Copeland Forest, January 18 2012

It has not been a very wet winter, or even a very cold winter. The local ski hill is hanging on by dint of ski hill life support; namely, snow machines. One can hear their operating budget straining more often than one hears trees cracking int he cold. Snow is on the ground, but there isn't much of it.

There is enough to capture animal prints. On the top left are squirrel prints. In the middle you can see where a bird came down, moved around and then flew off. On the right are human tracks but to the right of those you can see mouse prints. Judging from the spacing of them, the mouse was really hoofing it. One wonders if the bird was doing a victory dance or a frustration dance.

Today was cold. It was about -8 out there as we wandered out to look at the shelter we'd built back in November. The idea was to check if it had held up under the crushing snow load. Given the lack of same, we were pretty confident that it had.

 We were right! Not only had it held up but it could still support the weight of an 8 year old with ease. In the bottom picture you can see the lower side of the shelter, the one we roofed with balsam and fern. Very little snow fell through. That was pretty good roofing job. The winter has been so mild that the fern was still green.

The other side, the one which was more Eeyore-house like had let more snow through. If one were to start a fire in the shelter this would be the best place to do it. Smoke and heat would go up through the sticks and not light the whole shelter on fire. Of course one would have to be mindful of too many sparks, though I would think that most sparks would not have much of a chance in -8 degree weather.

We build quite a cozy little shelter. It looked much more inviting to spend the night back in November than it did today, but I could still see surviving a night in it if I had to. Interestingly, the deer did not share this opinion. There were no animal tracks at all around the shelter until we showed up.

If you are building a shelter in the woods in the snow, remember to keep moving. If you do not then your toes will freeze. At the same time, remember not to move too much. If you do then your perspiration will freeze and raise your risk of hypothermia. Also, note that -8 is the sort of cold that sucks up moisture. You want to have a water source nearby in -8 temps. Eating snow is fun but not a good survival tactic. If you eat snow then you get too little moisture relative to how much body heat you loose. Imagine sucking on ice cubes on a hot day and you'll get the idea.

 It was a lovely day though. We spent about 2 hours outside. The walk to the shelter did not take long and we played there for a while. Then, on the walk back to the cars, we did some penguin style tobogganing.

This should probably be a layman's Winter Olympic sport, right along with rushing to catch a bus in sleet whilst wearing high heels. I mean ski jumping is economy, grace and motion but there are things we do in everyday living in the winter that are also truly athletic - though not always graceful.

One of the penguin run featured trees, open water and a roll of abandoned fencing. The water stays open pretty much year round because it is fast flowing. Amanda fell into a stream last winter and assured us that it is not fun at all.

In the foreground of the top picture on the right is one of our trees. Do you remember which one? It is differnt from the one pictured directly to the right.

Another note about trees, do you remember how similar balsam and hemlock looked? Balsam needles had stems, teeny tiny ones, and hemlock had blisters but they looked very similar. Interestingly enough, they carry snow load differently.

The Bruce Trail is running a heritage tree scavenger hunt. Each tee you find has a code word. The one for Hemlock is HAVEN because in the winter deer often fins shelter under hemlock trees. On the right is a balsam and a hemlock. Supposing you could not build a winter survival shelter if you got lost in the woods, which one looks like safe haven?

Yup. it was a good day and really nice to see our shelter just where we'd left it.If ever we do get a good snowfall I can see it changing into a very cool snow cave.

Just for fun, here's a puzzle picture. Can you identify one tree, or two? Which one (s)?

Oh, and the winter is not very snowy, but is sure is a good one for snow crystals! Me, I'll take it on faith that no two ever repeat.



Here is a link to various snow shelters:

http://www.wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/shelter/snow/index.html