How to Survive Winter Camping

If you're looking for something fun and exciting to do this winter, try winter camping. Don't give me that look, I'm serious. Winter is a great time of year to go camping. It's serene and quiet and offers you sights that you'd never see in summer, like ice cascading off of cliffs at Yosemite National Park. I have some video footage of that on my YouTube channel.

The key to a successful winter camping adventure is to invest in some good gear. You don't have to spend a lot of money, but you'll need the following essentials. These essentials are in addition to what you'd take along for a summer camping trip.

Winter Camping Essentials

• A 4-season tent. You can do it in a 3-season tent, but you'll be more comfortable in a 4-season tent, especially if it's windy or rainy/snowy.
• Tent footprint or tarp to keep the bottom of the tent dry.
• Heavy weight long johns that fit very close to your skin. Loose long johns are worthless. Pack a spare pair.
• A pair of comfortable waterproof, insulated boots.
• Gaiters
• Wool or synthetic wool socks and sock liners. Bring lots of spares.
• Wool pants
• Snow pants
• Non-cotton shirts and sweat shirts
• Heavy coat, preferably one that's water resistance and has a hood
• Gloves and glove liners, bring spares in case they get wet.
• Neck gaiter or Balaklava.
• Warm stocking cap.
• Sunglasses
• Sunscreen (Yes, you can still get a sunburn in the middle of winter!)
• Lots of fresh water.
• Nalgene bottles
• High energy food
• Hot tea, hot cocoa and marshmellows
• Lighters and Matches and firestarters of some sort.
• Whistle
• Camp stove
• A sleeping bag rated for winter camping, a zero degree or below zero degree bag is great.
• Optional: Sleeping bag liner to add more warmth
• Thicker sleeping bag pad, although if you don't want to spend the money, use your summer pad, but use a wool blanket folded in two underneath it to stop some of the cold from the ground from permeating through the pad and into your body.
• Shovels and I mean real shovels for digging a snow trench to build your tent in and for digging out the car should it get stuck.
• Tire chains are a good idea, too.
• Wood for a campfire.

Tips to Keep You Warm and Happy

When you build your tent, look for an area that will provide a nice windbreak. Then dig a hole in the snow just slightly larger than your tent. Do this for insulation.

At night, boil water and put that water in the Nalgene bottle. Toss the hot bottle into your sleeping bag for added warmth. This will also give you lukewarm, unfrozen water in the morning.

Don't ever allow yourself to sweat. As soon as you feel hot, shed layers. Moisture is your biggest enemy.

Change your clothes before bed. Moisture accumulates on your clothes during the day, moisture you might not feel, but that will definitely steal body heat.

No matter how cold it is outside, be sure to leave a vent open in the tent to prevent condensation or else you'll end up with frozen sleeping bags, which will then become wet sleeping bags once the sun comes up.

Drink more water than you think you need. Your body loses moisture faster in cold weather and dehydration can speed hypothermia.

Never get into your tent when you're cold. Run some laps, do some jumping jacks, get your heart rate up. That way your body heats up the sleeping bag faster.

And finally, when you try winter camping, be sure to car camp the first few times. Worst case, if you get cold and can't warm up, you can always get in the car and turn on the heat or just drive home.

Follow these tips and enjoy a wonderful winter camping adventure.

The Bridge Exercise

Can a Pair of Shoes Make You Thin?

I thought I'd heard just about every weight loss gimmick until the other day when someone special came up to me and said she'd just bought a pair of sneakers that advertised they were specially designed to help people lose weight. Interesting, I thought as my weight loss baloney flag instantly popped up in my mind. However, rather than immediately dismissing the shoes as another weight loss gimmick, I decided to check them out. After all, we do live in a technological age where anything is possible.

The sneakers looked like ordinary sneakers except that they had a thick, convex sole shaped much like the bottom of a rocking chair. I slipped them on and welcomed the thick padding, but found them a bit awkward at first. I felt off-kilter, which is the point, but I'll get to that in a minute.

Along with the shoes came a little informational booklet explaining how the shoes were supposed to work. The rounded soles force the person wearing the shoes to constantly adjust position in order to maintain balance. This works the core muscles, lower leg muscles and "burns more calories" than normal shoes.

I can't help but think back to a study that was published in the American Council on Exercise's Fitness Matters Magazine a couple of years back. The study compared the difference in caloric expenditure while sitting on an exercise ball versus sitting in a chair. Surprisingly, the differences were negligible, so negligible that they didn't make a difference in any of the test subject's ability to lose weight. I believe this will be the case with these shoes, too, although we'll have to wait for a peer-reviewed study to be released before we know for sure.

The bottom line is that no shoe will help you lose weight if your feet don't get out and take those shoes for a walk, run, jog, bike ride, etc...