New Year’s Eve at Sprucewind0
Carrie posted in What's happening on January 11th, 2010
For a change of pace, I rented Sprucewind Girl Guide camp for New Year’s weekend. Traditionally we’ve spent New Year’s at a friend’s place at Marsh Lake but it was taken by the flood so we needed a new venue. Sprucewind was a great locale were we could all hang out but have good access to shinny-hockey, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing. A couple of friends said, “Well you need to sell this to me,” to which I responded, “No way. If hanging out in a rustic lodge and playing outside on New Year’s Eve with good friends doesn’t speak for itself, you don’t have to come.”
In the end 8 of us trekked out to the camp after work on New Year’s Eve to enjoy the time together. When we arrived we surveyed the un-plowed parking lot, then picked up some speed and dove in. The little Versa prevailed and plowed through the snow right at the lodge doorstep. The other small cars didn’t have any trouble either and it was actually the giant pick-up truck that got stuck and took us 20 minutes to get out!
I quickly ran inside to light a fire and start the slow process of thawing out the lodge. It took us a good 2 hours of blazing fire to get the lodge to a temperature where you could take your mittens off and not freeze your hands. At one point Ryan and I were starting to cook some Pad Thai for dinner (our chicken had frozen solid) and were dancing around the lodge in full battle dress (down booties, snowpants, Down jacket, wool toque and scarf and mitts) and we looked at each other thinking, “Are we having fun yet?” It was dark at 4 pm and the temperature was rapidly falling.
Soon more food and friends arrived and we shoveled paths to the outhouses and woodlot and a little parking lot. We chopped and chopped and chopped firewood and had very scientific debates on exactly how to bank the fire so that it would burn all night and we wouldn’t freeze in our beds. Eventually we found old emergency wool blankets in the corner closet and pinned them up against the windows to try and preserve some heat. While the lodge was not frozen anymore, you definitely had to have some indoor shoes and didn’t want to get too far away from the stove. We kept the corner closet door shut but our veggies froze so we pulled them out. We discussed the pros and cons of chamber pots and if it was really, I mean really, worth it, and the boys complained of cold toilet seats until us-girls taught them the art of hovering. As we dashed out to the outhouses or to get more wood, we watched the temperature outside gradually creep down and finally rest at 38 below, with not a breath of wind.
One of my friends asked me, “So you actually bring little girls out here in the winter? That’s hardcore.” I smiled and nodded but had to think that it would be tough to have young girls out here at this temperature. At the same time, this is what good camp stories are made of. “Remember the time we went to camp and it was so cold we couldn’t sit on the outhouse seats?” And I thought, this is what good Girl Guides are made of.
In the middle of the night the fire died down and I woke to the sound a friend getting up to make a dash for the outhouse. When she came back in she collected more wood from the veranda, chopped some more kindling, got the fire going again and banked enough to last us until morning. As I lay snug in my warm bed, tackily not offering to help, I couldn’t help but really appreciate camping with Northern Girls. This friend grew up in Stewart Crossing, in a cabin heated by wood, dog team in the yard, and wild game in the freezer. She knew what she was doing. I didn’t have to get up and supervise, or listen to her whine from her bed that she was cold. I could totally count on her skills to keep us warm for the night and I was so thankful I chose to go winter camping, at 40 below, with Northern Girls. Girls who weren’t afraid of cold weather, could light a fire in the middle of the night without turning a light on, and wanted to spend New Year’s eve in a frozen Girl Guide camp. Yeah it would be tough to have some young girls out there, but they would be tough because of it.
In the end we never did go skiing or skating; we just sat around and enjoyed each others company. The blue-moon light up the forest and when the cell phone told us it was midnight we broke leftover Christmas Crackers, put on paper crowns, played with silly kid’s toys, and hugged each other to ring in the New Year…and for warmth.