Techniques

My friend Spring sent me this message the other day, and I thought it would be a good topic for a blog post.

Cold Feet

So, as we set our goal to make this our most active/outdoor winter ever, I am worried about my poor circulation and cold feet. Any suggestions, for warm feet especially? Or under-layers, etc? I don't want our goal to fail because I was too cold to do it!

My Response

That's a great question. And no doubt cold feet will thwart winter outdoor activity. I have several suggestions for you that can help to keep your feet warm...

For your feet:

• Get a really good pair of warm socks. Something like Smartwool heavy/expedition weight, or Darn Tough Vermont boot socks. Make sure they come up to just below the knee, completely covering the calf. They may be somewhat pricey, but they will be really comfy and warm. Make sure they are not too tight as to restrict circulation.

• Underneath those warm socks, wear a thin polyester or polypro liner sock. This will help wick away moisture, keep your feet dry, and eliminate any itch you might feel from the thick wool sock. Again, make sure the liner is not tight.

• Make sure that whatever footwear you have on (shoes, skates, etc.), it is not tight or restrictive. This will cut circulation and contribute to your feet getting cold. You may have to size-up if you are wearing thick socks.

For your legs:

• Keep your legs nice and warm. By keeping your legs warm, the blood circulating to your feet will be warm too.

• Don't wear cotton, especially against your skin, it will make you cold as soon as it gets damp. If you are wearing long underwear make sure it is polyester or wool. A couple of my favorite places to get deals on long underwear is the Sierra Trading Post, the Patagonia Freeport Outlet, or the Patagonia online store (check the web specials section).

• Whatever insulation you wear on your legs, make sure it isn't baggy. The looser fitting it is, the harder it will be for your body to heat up the space.

Nutrition:

• Make sure you are hydrated. Dehydration easily leads to getting cold.

• Make sure you aren't hungry. Insufficient calories can also lead to you getting cold.

Anything else?

I just covered the basics, there are many more things that could be discussed depending on the activity and temperatures encountered (i.e. thermal insoles, overboots, etc.). Does anyone else have anything that they would like to add? Please let me know in the comments!

It has been on my mind for quite some time to take a first aid course. I figure that since we spend so much time in the outdoors, away from 911 and ambulances, that it would probably be useful to have some clue as to what to do if (when?) things go wrong.

The student outdoors club at the college where I work recently announced that they would be organizing a wilderness first aid (WFA or wiffa as they say) course. I jumped at the opportunity and also asked my 10-year-old daughter if she was interested in joining me. Much to my delight, she said she was! How often does one get to combine outdoor adventure, father/daughter relationship building, homeschooling, emergency preparedness, health/wellness, and meeting new people into one activity? I am always on the lookout for ways to integrate multiple goals into a single activity, and this seemed like an especially good opportunity.

The course consisted of two eight hour days of instruction. Approximately half of the time was spent in the classroom learning and the other half was spent in the outdoors practicing scenarios. I was very interested to see how my daughter would respond to this type of setting. She hasn't spent any time learning in a classroom, never mind with a group of college kids nearly twice her age.

At first things started off rather tentative: she was very quiet and whenever we were asked to break-up into partners for practicing the scenarios, she wanted to be with me. By the end of lunch on the first day it was like a switch went off, she completely changed: she was confidently participating verbally during the lecture sessions, partnering-up with different people for the scenarios, and even volunteering to act as a victim for in-class demonstrations.

Testing consisted of 3 multiple-choice quizzes as well as continual evaluation by the instructor over the course of the two days. On the final quiz, she kicked-my-butt by getting 100% correct while I managed to get a rather surprising number of questions wrong. She has an amazing ability to retain information, some of the answers to the questions on the final quiz were not covered during the class but she learned them inadvertently while flipping through the instruction book.

Needless to say, she earned her WFA certification and made her father proud. Congratulations Celine!

If you had told me years ago I'd one day be extolling the virtues of tenting I would be incredulous. I didn't grow up tenting. Vacationing with my family, yes. Staying in cabins and B&B's; but sleeping in tents - no. That was for hard core type folks. Or as I have found later in life, folks with kids who want to go places but don't have a lot of money to do so.

Although our tent travels haven't yet taken us farther than our region; the northeastern US and Canadian maritimes, the amount we have done has convinced us over and over again how great an option tenting is for families. And not just for getting away into the woods. The photos on this post were taken on our last summer trip to an agriculture fair in our state. We weren't tenting for the outdoors experience so much as an inexpensive place to stay for the three nights of our trip.

I think whether you're in the woods or in a farmer's field tenting is a great way to go and here's why:

1. Tenting is cheap.

   We are not cheap-skates but the truth is we have 3 growing children and one modest income. If the choices are an over-the-top vacation every five years or monthly tenting excursions I'll take the latter. We've discovered you don't need much to have time away as a family. Time to reconnect, time to be together and make memories. All you need is a good tent, a desirable location to visit (we prefer natural beauty over human-made constructs hands down), food, clothes and you've got the makings of a vacation. To make the experience as pleasant as possible (let's face it, it rains) you'll want to buy the best tent you can afford. But remember you're saving thousands of dollars by not going to Disney - you can afford the better tent.

2. Tenting is portable and versatile.

   I suppose these two go without saying but they bear repeating. Our family decided to invest in gear that would serve us well for both campgrounds and the backcountry. I don't care what those RV advertisements claim, you can't experience true "away from it all" outdoors anywhere you can drive an RV. The upside of choosing a tent over other options is that you don't need to upgrade your vehicle, go into debt or spend a large sum of money just to get your family outdoors. And if you do it right, ie: invest in a quality tent, you'll actually enjoy it. (Just ask my dad, the "you'll never get me tenting man" whose mug & tent is featured in the below photo).

3. Tenting is fun.

   Any way you go involves a certain amount of work and set up, tenting included. But I personally think tenting is a lot of fun. Keep in mind I don't actually pitch the tent, nor deal with the clean up at home - but my husband who does all that thinks tenting is a lot more fun than a hauling trailers, storing a large vacation vehicle all year round and going into debt. Tenting is as close as you can get to nature without actually being exposed. Our children's fondest memories, and some of my own, are of nights in the tent together - listening to the rain, hearing the wind sweep through the tree tops and watching the sun's glow warm our breath in the morning. Or more recently hearing the farm horse "plop, plop" next to the tent in the middle of the night. Can't get more nature than that!

Want to know what kind of tent we use? Damien 's written a great review of our tent. Please ask any specific tenting questions you might have in the comments. We'd love to answer them if we can and help your family along the way to enjoying the outdoors together.