Bad Decisions and Good Lessons

Three out of the last four big hunts I’ve been on have been truck camp-type hunts. The kind where you sleep on a somewhat cozy bed and cook somewhat normal meals. For me, that’s sleeping on a $29 air mattress, corner to corner, in the bed of my 11-year-old truck and cooking spaghetti on my two-burner Coleman stove. It’s not luxury by any means, but it provides better protection from the elements and, normally, a little bit of added warmth by way of a buddy heater. I like that style of hunting, and in a lot of places, it’s the most efficient way to hunt. This can be especially true in Arizona.

After my November elk hunt, I started to focus on what would be my big out-of-state hunt for 2024. I’ve got a couple of points for deer in Colorado, and I figure it’s better to burn them in an area that I can hunt every couple of years rather than to play the ridiculous game of point creep. Now, because of my last couple truck-style hunts, I’ve really been wanting to hunt an area where I can get eight, ten, or maybe even twelve miles back into an area. I’d be forced to load my pack with seven days of food and be prepared to self-sustain for as long as it took for me to find a mature mule deer buck. With this in mind, I figured it was time to get acquainted with backcountry camping in freezing temps and snow.

After chatting with James Yates about my decision to do a second-season backpack hunt, I decided I’d better pick up a teepee-style tent with some kind of titanium stove. I’d known about this system for a while but never had a real need for one. After some deliberation, I decided to go with an Argali Absoroka 4P tent and a Seek Outside medium U-turn stove. The Argali has a bit more room without any weight penalty from its competitors, and the U-turn stove seemed like the only option for a shelter of that size. Once I got them both in hand, seam-sealed the teepee, and burnt in the stove and pipe, it was time to get out in the cold.

Per usual, I had limited time, so I wasn’t going to be able to stray too far from home. Over the last week or so, I’d been eyeballing Four Peaks, which hangs in the distance above Fountain Hills where the office is, had accumulated some snow. Four Peaks always looks odd to me because when it gets snow, it rarely has that snow-capped look to it. It’s actually the opposite – it has grey, rocky peaks with snow just below them. The peaks are too steep to really hold any snow, so it all falls about 300 feet lower, giving them a snow-footed-type look.

With that snow just 40 miles or so away, I figured that would be a good spot for my first overnight rip with my new shelter system. I plotted a spot on a map where I could hike about four miles up and over a small range just at the base of the northernmost peak. It was high enough in elevation where I was sure there would be snow, but close enough to the house that I could make it there after work and only have to hike in the dark for about two hours.

After a solid hour of bouncing down the washboarded-out, rocky road, I arrived at the “trailhead.” There was barely a pull-off, so I figured the trail I was planning to hike up the mountain on would be hit or miss. Well, it turned out to be a complete miss. Within the first 50 yards, I knew I’d be bush-whacking through burnt oak brush in eight inches of crusty snow all the way to my suspected camp spot. I’d been working on being comfortable navigating off-trail in the dark, so this would be another great opportunity to improve upon that skill.

After about an hour of hiking, I realized the wind had picked up significantly. The place I planned to camp was on the spine of the ridge, so right then, I was starting to get a sinking feeling about the night. Nevertheless, I pushed on to the top. Once I got up there, I hiked around, trying to find the most wind-blocked areas or something like a big boulder, but with the large footprint of the teepee, there wasn’t much. Finally, I found a spot that seemed like it wasn't getting the full force of the wind and was large enough to fit the teepee.

Before I even unloaded my pack, I told myself this was going to be frustrating with the wind, but as long as I kept my composure and staked everything properly, I’d be fine. Well, just as I expected, the teepee fought me tooth and nail until I finally wrestled every stake into the ground and guyed out every point with a large rock. Once the teepee was up, I started building the stove and sorting my gear inside. I was starting to notice that when a big gust would come, the trekking poles I had taken apart and used for a tent pole would flex at their meeting point.

I got the stove set up, but I wasn’t feeling great about any of it. The trekking poles were starting to flex more, and the wind was only getting stronger. I sent a quick inReach message to my fiancé, saying, “I'm at my camp spot set up but think I’m gonna get blown off the ridge.” Within five minutes of that message, a gust of wind had blown one of my stakes out of the ground, in turn putting more tension on the pole, which broke the tip of the trekking pole, causing the whole teepee to come down on top of me.

I packed everything back up and headed down the mountain out of the wind. Once I got behind a little rock bluff, I checked the map to see if I could find another flat spot within a reasonable distance. Nothing that looked too promising, but there was one small area where the topo lines seemed to spread out. It was another mile away, but I hoped I’d find a place on my way there.

Another oak brush mile later, I still hadn’t found a flat spot. The spot I’d seen on the map may have worked if it weren’t for the wind. Now it was decision time. Do I start towards the truck and get back at around 3 AM, or do I push down the next ridge and hope I find something? I chose the latter, thinking of how much of a wasted trip this would be if I hiked for six hours in the dark.

I hiked down a creek bottom to where there was a single, dead cedar tree. The tree was on a slight pitch but not as bad as what surrounded it. There wasn’t nearly enough room to pitch the teepee, but there was some wood for a fire and a place to take a little rest. I busted some of the limbs off the dead tree and took out a little bit of firestarter. I started a small fire and figured I’d eat the dehydrated meal that I’d lugged out there.

Once I ate the meal, I figured this was as good a spot as any to stay the night. I didn’t need anything over my head as it wasn’t going to snow or rain, and I had brought all the necessary layers to be comfortable even without a ground pad. So, slapped on my Kelvin Lite down pants and jacket, got in my sleeping bag, and drifted off to sleep under the dead cedar.

I honestly don’t think I woke up more than twice in my brief, four-hour sleep, which I feel isn’t too bad for a night on the ground. The trip was a complete failure by the standards of trying out the teepee, but it was a good lesson in being prepared with a proper laying system. It was probably in the upper 20s that night, and without the shelter and proper insulation layers, I probably would have had to head back to the truck.

I may not have accomplished what I set out to do, but in a way, I got more out of the experience because of it. I learned I’m fine sleeping on the ground without a ground pad in sub-20-degree temperatures. I learned I need to purchase the carbon fiber tent pole that Argali sells, specifically for the Absoroka 4P. I learned that a teepee may not be an ideal shelter for extremely steep areas, especially if you’re new to the area and will be arriving in the dark. Luckily for me, there is still plenty of time to test the teepee before I head eight miles deep into the Colorado backcountry.

Gear Aside: Kelvin Lite Down Jacket and Pants

I’ve had the KLD jacket and pants since the day they released the product. I knew it was going to be a staple in my kit from the day it hit my doorstep. The jacket and pants feature 900-fill Primaloft Gold down blend throughout the chest, upper back, arms, and hood, with 60 grams of Primaloft Gold active synthetic insulation in the armpits and lower back (high compression areas). The face fabric of the jacket is also much more durable than your average puffy jacket, making it the ideal piece for any static situation in the mountains.