My daughter and I spent the weekend in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in southern Oklahoma.
I learned that no matter what go outside. I used to save up and plan to make 3 or 4 trips a year to CO or NM for my backpacking/climbing trips. At least in the winter the WMWR is perfect, only 45 minutes away. We will now go at least once a month, at least until the temps hit 100 degrees.
We may even hit Arkansas before summer starts.
I learned I think I can trust my Platypus bottles for winter use. I was afraid that one good freeze and they would be ruined. Well they took a couple good freezes and refillings with boiling water and held up well.
My Nunatak Arc Specialist w/2 oz overfill kept me warm to around 12 degrees. I slept first with a Torsolite and GG Thinlight but woke up with cold legs and feet. I used the foam backpad from my pack, put it under my feet, wrapped my feet in my balaclava and went right back to sleep. I wore Capilene 1 top and bottom, thin nylon trail pants, R1 Hoody and a knit skull cap.
The ground was hardpacked dirt and the inflated Torsolite was very comfortable.
My daughter woke me up around 3AM to go potty. After that I slept with my Skaha hoody for the rest of the night, just to lazy to take it off. My Skaha is a size large and there was plenty of girth in the quilt to stay covered. I think the 55" is probably the smallest sized quilt I would want. One thing I noticed in the cold is that my quilt does not get coated with moisture from breathing like the hood of a mummy bag does. I have slept in the quilt into the 30's but not this cold.
My daughter slept in my Arc Alpinist with 4oz overfill and did so quite soundly. She was on my Thermarest Pro 3 with another foam back pad under her torso. She said her legs were a little cold so I put the other pack under her legs and she was comfy after that.
My Black Diamond Firstlight was coated with a light layer of frost on the inside. A slight tap on the wall created a mini snow storm that my daughter enjoyed. The door was zipped about 3/4 closed and the rear vent was open.
After sitting out all night my Simmerlite white gas stove started up with no issues at all, no big surprise there.
My MSR Titan 2 ltr is for boiling water only. I tried to fry some eggs and they came out ok but for pancakes all I could make was pancake flavored batter balls. My daughter coated them with syrup and liked them anyways.
My daughter loved her 3/4 Hi-Tec boots from Big Five on sale for $25. The boots had great traction on the granite of the park. I even introduced her to some low grade bouldering. "Trust my feet Daddy" was the mantra. I was a little nervous about the traction they had but these are tough little boots. Decent leather and I also coated them with some Nikwax.
Sorry this is so long but just a few things I learned.
