alone in a backcountry hut during a snowstorm

Definitely got a way later start than I wanted to, but it's only a couple miles to where I'm spending the night. I made it. We already got some wood. This one has an axe. If you're thinking this place looks familiar, I have been to one that's similar. There's a few of them in the area. A lot of them are just three-sided with an open door, so this is another one. But this one has an axe. Has less wood, but has an axe. Lots to do. I'm gonna get a fire started, make dinner, set up camp. Lots to do. Got one of these ones. I love these stoves. Not the best splitting log, but we'll make it work. It is supposed to snow here tomorrow. I'm not really sure if I'm spending one night or two. Kind of depends on how I'm feeling tomorrow. I brought enough food, but I'm kind of just playing it by ear, seeing if it snows or not, see if I'm high enough elevation, see if it rains. We're just gonna see. I'm going upstairs soon, so I'm gonna put this big guy in. Hopefully keep the fire going for a while. I'm gonna close these a little. First things first, we need light. I always bring string lights. I just feel like the place is not a home to have string lights. You can find the littlest thing to hang a string light on. I feel like I go to these places because sometimes I want to compromise. I want to go into the backcountry, but I also don't want to sleep in a tent, so these are kind of a nice in-between where it's not a cabin. I don't have walls and a door and things like that. It's still very open. It's outside, but I have a wood-burning stove, and I have a picnic table, and there's just I have a loft. I have my own loft, so I feel like there's just little benefits to doing adventures like this as opposed to backpacking with a tent. I might never love tent camping, but I love being outside. Who needs a pillow when you have a jacket and pants? I'm gonna lay here and watch YouTube. I'll see you guys in the morning. Good morning. I decided not to film this morning because I woke up, and I feel like sometimes when I'm filming, I forget to just enjoy the world around me, so I just took a couple hours, built a fire, and I've just been watching the snowfall, and honestly, it's been really nice and really pretty, and so then I decided to start filming to show you guys. Breakfast of champions. Bad news, there's mice, which you would expect in a shelter like this, but because I've been to these before and it's also been the dead of winter, I didn't really have to deal with the mice because I think they were just like, I don't know, do mice go in hibernation? They were sleeping, so it wasn't an issue for me, but I think because it's been such a mild winter, the mice were out and about. They were up in the loft, so it was a little not as fun. I saw a wood rat. I only have this much water left. I'm going to melt snow. We'll start melting snow and then filter it. It takes forever to melt snow, but I feel like that's the easiest water source, and it's everywhere, and it's mostly new. I'm still going to filter it though, just because you never know. Just to help it melt better, I'm trying to just take the slushy stuff on top. I'm going to do another pot before I filter this. There's some in my water. The power of a new filter. I was still using my Sawyer from the PCT and my CNOC from the PCT, and it would literally drip, like a drop a second. It was painful. I haven't gotten a new CNOC yet, but I do miss the gravity filters. And just like that, I have a full bottle of filtered snow water. I'm very slowly working up the motivation to finish chopping that log. I did half. Okay, the smaller half this morning, and that's what I've been burning, just because I don't want to burn more of the wood that's already cut. So I'm chopping my own, but I'm not great at it. Sawing wood. Yeah, I'll saw wood all day, but chopping wood, not my favorite thing, but we must do it. So I think after this cup of tea, I will. I'm gonna get changed out of my pajamas and into my work clothes, finally. Of course, it starts snowing harder the minute I'm ready to go chop wood. My main issue, well, besides the fact that I have to chop the wood with an axe, my main issue is the chopping block that they picked is incredibly slanted, and I don't want to waste another log bringing it out to be a new one, so I'm just chopping on a slanted block. Well, a little slippery. Thankful break from chopping, some lovely people showed up, and we just hung out for a little bit, and they warmed up, and they're off again, so now it is back to chopping. I'm gonna put it back in when I'm done. I need a flat surface. This thing is driving me crazy. I feel like these knots are gonna be an issue. That's kind of fun. If you're wondering why I'm not chopping a lot of it smaller, it's because that's difficult. Also, this stuff will fit in the fire, and this wood has a lot of knots, and when you're already not good at chopping wood, knots are just too much for me. Melting more snow. I still haven't decided if I'm staying or going. I don't want to go, but I don't want to fight the mice, so I want to stay, and then I'm like, well, if I stay, I could just not film, and just enjoy it, and have a good time, and go camping, but if I stay, I have to fight the mice. So these are the life decisions I'm going through right now. You see this? I swear, it's like two uses with the Sawyer water filter, and that stupid little thing pops out, and I know they give you replacements, but it's just like, why does it not last? And then it's just, it's so much harder. That drives me crazy. That just fell off the roof. This good shirt. I'm returning the log, though I will say, much better chopping block, so I'm not going to replace it, but if you do, that one's in. I think I'm done going out there for tonight, and I feel like when I'm not actually chopping wood, it's a little chewy that we're gonna put our jacket on. If you're wondering why I'm eating like this, I'm trying still to use up all this like food in my car. It's like non-perishable food in my car that's just been hanging out, because I want to replace it with other options, but then I keep not eating it, and so now we're just, we're eating it, and everything tastes good out here, so this is the place to do it. I feel like I never eat ramen as a soup anymore. I just want the noodles, honestly, which I know I could buy separate ramen noodles, but like, they just are different. They're not quite the same. I did not realize how hungry I was. If you're wondering what food I have left, it's more fancy ramen, and we have popcorn, and we have soup, so really living large out here. I don't want it tasting like garlic when I boil water out here. Ramen was appetizer, rice is entree. Who knows, maybe I'll have soup for dessert, or popcorn, or more ramen. Should I stay or should I go? If I go, there will be trouble, but if I stay, it will be double, so you gotta let me know. Should I stay or should I go?