What did you do today?

[Charlie Horse]

I'm actually thinking about testing gear for cold weather camping again soon. Last year I tested my sleeping bag in -1F and windy and it worked great. I need to figure out my cold weather clothing/boots now. Next I need to figure out animal shelter solution if I intend to use goats and bring the dog. When I had my yak, there was no worry about cold since there's nothing my state could throw at a yak that would make it feel even slightly chilly. Goats and the dog are another story. Of course I've always wanted a reindeer too so perhaps someday you'll see me out there packing with yaks and deer in the cold, goats in the summer. I think cold weather survival skills are something worth working on and learning. How the mountain men did it, I do not know. My infinitely compressible, crazy warm, water and vapor shedding Wiggy's sleeping bag sure is a precious commodity and its hard to imagine understand how people in the past could sleep with just some kind of buffalo hides or wool blankets (considering the weight of those items vs modern nylon stuff). On TV you see the cowboys with a bed roll and nothing much else on their horses as they cross the country, but I suspect in reality there'd be three to five mules or horses following with a bunch of crap strapped to their backs. Everybody packed back then.