Re: Boating the Upper Chesapeake
so how do you keep warm in a tent? do you just not heat it, and bundle up?
You camp on top of the snow, or shovel off a patch of clear land?
I thought about making a small tepee, infront of the tent, then draping the back of the tepee over the tent. Then the fire in the teepee might heat the tent some.
I keep warm by sleeping on top of a self-inflating sleeping pad, inside a 0-degree rated sleeping bag. If it's above 20-degrees I sometimes get too hot in the bag. The only part of me that gets cold is the tip of my nose. I also make sure to change my clothes just before going to sleep so I'm sure my clothes are dry.
I pack down the snow where I pitch my tent by walking on it. That gives me a firm base when sitting inside; I want the tent floor to be fairly firm and I don't want to risk tearing the floor if it were to sink into soft snow. I also want to be sure there are no sharp branches hidden under the snow.
I would never allow a fire near my tent. The synthetic tent fabric is too flammable, and there's risk of smoke inhalation or CO poisoning. The thin walls of the tent cannot retain heat so any heat source is only going to be useful while it's generating heat, and I would never go to sleep near an unattended fire.