his weekend I went camping with my son's Explorer troop. Saturday night was cold, at 5 a.m. I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. Sunday night was worse, it was -21 C when we got up Monday morning and it was probably at least -25 C during the night. I had three sleeping bags and four layers on top, three below and when I woke up at 11 p.m. after two hours asleep I was miserably cold. I toyed with the idea of getting in the car and heading down the road to the small town nearby to see if the motel was still open but I soldiered on. It was so cold that when I put my hands outside of the sleeping bag they hurt. For some reason my body responds to the cold by wanting to pee which I had to do twice in that very cold night. At least after dashing into the night my toes were no longer ice blocks for a few minutes. It did not last, drafts seemed to slip into my sleeping bag everywhere. I am so over winter camping. If I never see the inside of a frost filled tent again I will not despair.
