Sleeping out at 9440' and 4 degrees

This cache is only a 3 because you'll need a truck, dirt bike, atv or 4x4 to get to it. This cache is not located at the spot we spent the night. That spot has several pieces of “old sheepherder” art that is DEFINITELY not appropriate for younger cachers. We’ve place the cache in a much safer, cache friendly location. The cache shouldn’t be too difficult to find, even in the snow (maybe).

The actual location of our camp location is 39 47.361, 107 48.685. After having both sleds get buried or stuck, we post-holed our way back to the main trail. There were no real clusters of trees to provide protection from the wind and snow, but at least this location was on the main trail. The same trail that rescuers would be using in the morning. We knew right away that we would be spending the night out, so we started preparing. The snow was too cold to pack, so an igloo was out. We dug a pit and built the sides up to increase protection from the near horizontal winds. We gathered what dry wood we could find as the skies grew dark. Literally using the last match, we were able to get a fire started with a small amount of extra snow machine gas and small twigs. We sat on bark that lined the bottom of the pit, and got up every 20 -30 minutes to stomp around and get circulation moving and generate a little muscle movement heat. We left our helmets on and visors down the whole night in order to maintain heat and were able to at least breathe semi-warm air. The outer lay of our clothes became frozen, but the inner layers stayed dry and somewhat warm. Sometime early in the morning, we burned the last of our firewood. It was at that point that time really started to drag out at a snail’s pace. The winds did finally die down and the air became alive with hor-frost. It hung in the air and covered the bare aspens. Every once in a while an airplane would fly over and blink its lights down at us, never knowing we were down there, buried among the trees. Eventually, the sun started to light up the early morning skies. We gathered some more wood and the spare matches back up in the machines and started a new fire. It was good to be warm again. With our spirits renewed, it was time to plan our departure. While Tink tended the fire, it was time to dig out the sleds. The wind had made a bad situation much worse. Both sleds were packed solid from the windblown snows throughout the night. The Polaski sled was buried much deeper than first thought. A hole about 6’ x 16’ had to be dug and tramped in order to drive out. Next came the Tink sled. While digging it out we saw the Search and Rescue plane fly over. Shortly after that, the Meeker group came flying down the trail on their sleds. They were able to help get the Tink sled started and get us headed back down the trail home. Sleeping that next night, back at home in a nice warm bed, never felt better!
Oh yea, almost forgot, we spent the night out at 9440’ with a low temperature of 4 degrees at 6:30 am. Visiting the site again last week, during a warm summer afternoon was much better. :0)

Congratulations to happydogs67 for the FTF!