Solo Winter Tarp Camp - The Last Day of Winter

Well, how's it going guys? Feels like it's been a while since I've properly talked to the camera. I hope wherever you are, you're safe and you're healthy, that's the main thing. Crazy times, crazy times in this world of ours. I don't know what it's like where you guys are. I heard on the news this morning, it was two, but on the news this morning, it's on the way up here, it said that there's nine confirmed cases in the county where I live. Well, I don't really talk about it because I try and keep it private, but I live in upstate New York and yeah, my county is on a state of emergency. My son's school is closed for the next five weeks, at least. My gym's closed, which they took my membership fee for the month and then decided the next day that they were going to close, so thank you YMCA, it's very Christian of you. But yeah, my wife texted me as well on the way up here saying that they've been sent home from work and I got an email this morning from Eddie Bauer, well actually loads of places have been emailing me, stores saying that they're closing their storefronts for the foreseeable future, so I thought that this would probably be the last day for at least a couple of weeks that I'll be able to get out and do something like this because I think it's only a matter of time. Today's Wednesday, March the 18th, so I snuck away. They haven't yet, people are still allowed to go out and stuff, but I feel it's only a matter of time until they put everyone on lockdown. So yeah, I've got plenty of supplies, which is good. I've been stocking up on food. I've been doing it the right way. Well, I don't know if there is a right way or a wrong way, but I've been buying extra food since the beginning of February. Like I haven't just gone out and bought a load of food every week. When I do the weekly grocery shop, because that's what I do, I just would buy a little extra, you know. I was there the other day and I was at Walmart the other day and it was like as soon as they were putting stuff out, people were just taking like all of it. Crazy and a little selfish, but then again, if you're not prepared for something like this, then what other option do you have? So yeah. Speaking of when I was in Walmart, I had to sneeze, not because I'm sick. Believe me, I've looked up all the symptoms online. It's just my seasonal allergies. I had to sneeze, so I followed proper procedure and I sneezed into my elbow, but everyone in there turned and looked at me straight away. It felt like, if you've ever seen Monsters Inc, that animated film, like where the guy comes out with the kid's socks stuck to his back and everyone just like, and then all the guys in hazmat suits jump on him. That's when it felt like, but yeah. So well, for anyone and for anyone wondering, I actually, I work out of my house anyway, so I've literally just gone straight from my house into my car and then into the woods. I haven't been anywhere. I've been to any stores and anything like that, but I feel when I get, when I get back from here, this will probably be the last time you guys will see me for like probably two weeks I reckon. Like I say, I'm not sick. I don't feel sick. I don't know anyone that is sick or is tested positive, but I feel like for the next two weeks, I know San Francisco, talking to my friend who lives in San Francisco, they've already closed shut up shop for like the next two weeks and I'm guessing, I'm guessing that like all states will be doing the same. Which isn't the worst thing. I mean, obviously it's not great, but one of the reasons I haven't been on an overnight trip like this in a while is because obviously I've been having problems with my knee and I've been in physical therapy and it seemed okay. So my physical, my last appointment is this week, so my therapist pretty much told me like I needed to go out with a full pack on and do some hiking and see how it feels before I can release you and say you're done and you're healed. And honestly, it wasn't great walking in here and I'm pretty sure I know what it is because I, I mean walking with the heavier pack doesn't help, but it's, it's the snow, like it's the postholing. I mean, I'm not postholing very far, but it's that unevenness of like every time I put my weight down and then the snow gives way and you're like slipping and everything's uneven because in the parts of the trail that were melted, the snow's all gone. It felt fine, but on the sections where it's like the snow's still there, it almost feels like it's hyper extending a little bit. Every time it's like the snow gives way, as soon as you put pressure on it, that's when it starts to give me some problems. But yeah, I mean I have a steak to cook. I haven't cooked steak in the woods in what feels like forever. And I set up a little shelter, a little half shelter. I wanted to do the pyramid style shelter that I keep seeing, but I couldn't, I just don't think that tarp's big enough. It's kind of tough when you're as tall as I am. I mean, I'm not like super tall, but at six foot, six foot one-ish, I'm on the taller end of things. So it's like using, I brought my 10 foot by 10 foot and it just is a little short. So I made, but the shelter I made is pretty cool. It's almost like a little half-sized three-sided tent dealie. So it's pretty cool. It's quite low profile, quite small, doesn't take up a lot of room. So I've never done that before. Yeah, it's weird though. It's kind of odd because normally when you come up here, you want to disconnect. You know, you want to be out of the loop. You don't want to know what's going on, but actually now that I'm here and I'm out of the loop and my phone doesn't have any service and I don't know what's happening in the world, it actually is like very strange because you want to know. You want to be in the know right now. You want to know what's going on. So it's weird. It feels weird. I don't like it. Have mercy. Okay, time to get this stake on. I made an error again in forgetting my seasoning. Wow, it's so hot. Okay, while that's cooking, it's time to enjoy an allagash white Belgian-style wheat beer with coriander and carousel orange peel. Cheers, guys. Still very cold. So very, very cold. It's annoying that I forgot my seasoning. I don't know why I take it out. Actually, I do because when I run out of it in the cupboards, then I take out my camping gear and forget to put it back. I don't know if that's a word or not. From Maine with love. I keep wanting this allagash white. I keep wanting to call it allagash wilderness waterway, but that's the canoe route in Maine. It's on my bucket list of things to do. Okay, well, the silver lining is one thing I remember this time was a plate, so hopefully it's this. Oh, yeah. See how she's done? Cut into the middle of it like an animal. A little overdone. I was deceived by one end. It's all right, though. It tastes better than the last time I did it au naturel. Still need salt, though. I'm going to eat this, and then I'll get back with you in a little bit. Well, it's dark. Dark, dark, dark, but I mean, it's after seven, so that's nice. It's probably been two hours since I made that steak. It's pretty chilly away from the fire, to be honest. I can feel it. As soon as I get up, I feel the cold, but with this little fire reflector going, I've got a nice little spot to sit and perch by the fire using my spare clothes behind me as a backrest. I've got my sit pad underneath me, and then I've also got my rain jacket laid out on the floor, and it's quite nice. It's quite comfortable just sitting and relaxing. I say relaxing. I've relaxed for five minutes, and then start thinking about what's going on in the real world, and that just cycle keeps repeating itself, but it's nice. It's nice. This is like my least favorite time of year as well. I mean, don't get me wrong. I prefer being outside to inside any day, but late winter, early spring is not my favorite, just because everything's half melted, and there's no leaves on the trees. There's not really any animals out and about. Either like full winter or full summer, and I obviously love the fall. Fall's great, but yeah, late summer, early spring isn't my favorite, but this is nice. This is nice. Weirdly enough though, the fire smells like summer. I don't know if that makes sense to people, but it just does. It just, the fire smells, genuinely smells different now than it has done all winter burning wood. I don't know why. Maybe it's just that you can smell it better with warmer temperatures. I'm not sure why that might be. Maybe it's just, I don't know, maybe it's the mold on the logs or something, but there's definitely a distinct smell that smells like summer is around the corner. The fire's getting wicked hot. Anyway guys, I'm just gonna sit and relax, and if anything changes, I will let you know. But apart from that, I'll probably see you in the morning. I don't know how well you can hear that. It's about 3am right now. I don't know if you can see it. I'll hear it. It's very blare witch, but the wind's picked up quite a lot. It was very still, very calm, and I just woke up, and it's, I can hear it, it's pretty windy. That makes me kind of nervous. It's one thing I don't like. One thing that always is a little nerve-wracking when you're sleeping in a load of trees is wind. We'll see. Hopefully it calms down a little bit once it starts snowing. I'm not sure, but I'll keep you posted. Hello, good morning. Things are looking a little different, shall we say. Can you see that? It definitely snowed. It definitely snowed last night. I woke up in the tarp, and come down, I was touching my head. So yeah, it was a comfortable night's sleep. I mean, I woke up at three because of the wind, and then, like I thought though, the wind stopped. My alarm went off at six, because I forgot to turn it off, and there was snow. It was very pretty. I gotta get up. I gotta go, but anyway, if you like this, give it a thumbs up. Thank you very much for watching. I'll see you on the next one. Take it easy.