Solo Winter Christmas Camping

Well I know I told you guys last year that there would be no more snow videos on this channel but this is the first real snow we've even had this year. So how can I resist not getting out and doing a little Christmas video for you guys? All right well I think we found where we're going to camp tonight. It's a nice big open area looks like people have camped here lots of times. I can see an old post where they hung deer so like an old hunting camp and then it looks like to be a fire pit down here buried underneath the snow that we'll have to clean up. But another thing I'm looking at that makes me like this spot is it does look like there's a lot of down wood all around so that should be great for building a fire because I do plan on just hanging around the van most of the day so I would like to get a lot of firewood so that we can pretty much keep the fire going all through the day and into the night. All right so now that I've got the van positioned where I'm going to camp for tonight I want to get a campfire going so I'm going to start cutting wood right away. I think this will take a minute because like I said I do want to cut quite a bit because I do want to have a fire all day long. All right so we got some rounds of wood over here. I am going to cut them down with the chainsaw into normal firewood pieces. The smaller rounds they feel pretty dry and light but as I got down to the base of the tree that was more in the snow it definitely feels a little wetter so we'll go ahead and get all this cut up but I'm going to make sure to stack the dry stuff on top and hopefully we get a good bed of coals going some good heat and then we can just stack some of the wetter stuff around to kind of keep things going overnight. So like many of my subscribers Ben is not a fan of the chainsaw so he oftentimes just comes in and sits here in the truck or in the van until I'm done cutting all the firewood. My buddy we're all done cutting you can come out now. All right well I'm ready to get the fire going and I've gone out and I've broken some small branches that did feel really dry they broke very easily but they are coated in snow and ice so what I want to do is give myself the best chance for getting them going so I'm going to cheat a little bit and use some charcoal lighter fluid that will kind of flash and get them burning and hopefully melt off all that snow and ice allowing them to catch fire but I also want to have something in the fire that's going to burn for a little while and give all of my wood the chance to actually get going so what I'm going to do is also is I'm going to take some of my bar oil from the chainsaw and I'm going to soak this paper towel in it that way that bar oil will burn for a long time and allow some of my wood to actually get a chance to get going so hopefully everything will go well and we'll get the fire going. All right so I've got everything just about set up there's a few things I want to still do to make things feel a little bit more Christmassy but it's about one o'clock and I'm starting to get pretty hungry so I'm just going to make a quick lunch but I also have something very special planned for Ben because on today the day of the filming is actually December 21st which is Ben's birthday so I've got something special for him for a little lunch treat. All right so I've got Ben a little candle one years old today I can't believe that it seems just like yesterday that I got him and he was just a small puppy but really excited he's just been such a great part of my life and happy birthday buddy I also got him some new toys so that he can play around outside but I better let him have this pretty quickly because the candle's starting to melt so I'm going to blow it out for him and then we'll let him have a little fun birthday lunch. Are you excited about that bud? You look kind of nervous. Go get it. Like I said I have a couple more things here to set up to add a little holiday cheer to the camp. I just strung some Christmas lights on the awning but it wouldn't be a Primal Outdoors Christmas without my favorite childhood decoration snowman. For those that haven't seen some of my older videos this is a decoration my parents got back when I was like six or even younger and I've had them ever since. All right well I think we're all set we've got snowman working and the lights are working definitely feels a lot more Christmas-y in camp now. I think I'll go ahead and turn everything off for the moment because it's just not that dark yet but I just wanted to make sure everything was working. All right well we're getting into the evening still just a little bit of light mostly the glow of the snow which is always really cool but I thought it'd be most appropriate to have a cup of hot cocoa on a cold night. Fire's burning pretty decently even though the wood's not fantastic but really don't have any complaints there. Got the lights going definitely feels very Christmas-y out here. So tonight we're just going to go with a can of classic stag. Normally I like to add a few things to it just to kind of hearty it up a little bit but tonight I'm just about keeping it simple. It's just been a busy day so just a can of stag that will do the trick. I'll tell you what that hits the spot cold out tonight pretty comfortable next to the fire but hot chili definitely helps warm the inside. Yeah very good yeah it's just actually a nice evening I mean like I said it's chilly I don't know what the temperature is but obviously it's cold enough to snow but it's not windy so that makes it real pleasant to just be able to sit out like this and enjoy the fire and have a little meal and of course don't forget our hot cocoa. Just a real nice night to be out. Well I've just been sitting here still and just enjoying this evening kind of thinking back and reminiscing over the past year the good times the bad times time spent with friends family friends that were lost over the year and just realizing how delicate life can really be and how often we we take things for granted and maybe not appreciate what we have when we have it. Recently heard a story and it referenced life like smoke like smoke from this campfire and sometimes the smoke can almost have structure and seem like it's solid but it only takes a simple breeze to change its shape or even make it go away completely so I think that's a good lesson and just realizing that if you are hyper focusing on something that maybe you don't have and or maybe you're arguing with a family member or a friend over something that probably is petty maybe it's a good time to sit back and reevaluate. Is this argument really worth arguing over? Is the thing that I feel like I need to have is it really going to make my life that much better? Anyways just a few things to think about as we close out 2025. Anyhow folks I'm going to enjoy my whiskey. I'm going to sit by the fire a little longer and then I'm going to head off back into my van and go to bed for the night. I hope you guys did enjoy this video. I hope you had a great Christmas. A happy new year and I'll see you guys again outside. the great outdoors