Originally Posted by Tourist in MSN

These are general comments on winter camping. I have not done winter bike touring but do ride my bike in the winter.

When I have winter camped in Minnesota and the U P of Michigan in December, days were extremely short. Often set up camp when it was dark or getting dark. You will be further south with longer days, but still you are looking at some of the shortest days of the year. You will want reliable batteries. Keep your cell in a pocket inside your jacket to keep it and the batteries in it warm.

Some on this forum have said that stoves that use a butane fuel mix work fine in teh cold, but I would not go anywhere that time of year without a liquid fuel stove. A butane cartridge, even in cold weather however can give you enough hot water for coffee in the morning if you start out with a warm canister. I have had my butane stove fuel canisters in my sleeping bag so that they are warm enough in the morning for coffee water. I am assuming you are not using restaurants for all your food. But if you are predominantly using restaurants, then maybe this is not an issue.

If you have not winter camped before, you will have great frustration trying to get the solid water out of your water bottles the next morning - if they did not split which would cause even more frustration. If you have a good water bottle that will not leak a drop (like a Nalgene bottle), I have often taken a water bottle in my sleeping bag at night to keep it from freezing.

Butane lighters do not work well in the cold, you may need to keep them in a pants pocket to keep them warm enough to work. I usually use a Zippo lighter fueled with white gas for camping. Matches are also good provided they do not get wet.

I used to wear a rain cover on my helmet to cover the vents. And thin stocking cap. I eventually bought a winter helmet that is warm enough that it is also sold for skiing.

Do you have ski gloves? A friend of mine that winter commutes has some weird looking gloves for biking that I do not know what they are called, but they look like ones that Commander Spock could wear while saying "live long and prosper".

Have a positive attitude. When you pull out that Milky Way bar and find it is hard enough that it could break your teeth, you need to smile and say to yourself, one more lesson learned.