Twenty years is a considerable amount of time within someone’s “three score and ten”. When a person is twenty years old, the age of forty seems very far removed. Yet looking back from sixty, the age of forty feels so recent. Time passes, often more quickly than we would like. And one day we realize that we have made many years worth of memories that are some of the best times of our lives.
Camping in the winter takes some skill and practice. Weather can be fickle, clothing and gear takes some refining, and the company is crucial to a successful trip. Planning and logistics take on a much more important role than when camping in the summer. The lack of something is often felt more keenly in the winter. And the companions can make or break the experience.
It has been my pleasure to camp with a group of men during the winter (and year-round) for over twenty years. All of us share a love for history and black powder firearms. We met at an annual group camp sponsored by the New York State Muzzleloaders Association and quickly formed a bond. After a few years of meeting at this group camp, several of us decided to branch off on our own to test and refine our skills more often. A camp in the winter was the first planned event for this new venture.
One of the men was a member of the American Mountain Men (AMM), an organization devoted to researching and recreating (as much as possible in the modern world) the lives and experiences of the western fur trappers and traders during the years 1820 to 1840 (https://americanmountainmen.org/). Two others were working to complete their AMM membership requirements by camping in all four seasons of the year. Eventually others would come into the small group and over time every man would become an AMM member. But that first camp in the winter (soon called “Winter Camp”) was something special and it became a tradition the group repeated every year, with the Winter Camp of 2025 marking our 20th consecutive year.
An old abandoned sugar shack in the middle of a forest property owned by a member of the group became the “home base” for Winter Camp. Over the years other shelters made of natural materials created annually on site were also incorporated to the experience, such as snow caves, upturned tree roots, canvas tarps, and pine boughs. Fires were started using the historically correct method of flint and steel and then the open fire was used for cooking and warmth. Clothing was made by hand from wool, linen, fur, and leather. Food and wool blankets were brought to camp across the snow via toboggans and wood and rawhide snowshoes.
In over twenty years of camping together, multiple times each year, the small group has enlarged in size from four to seven. We have grown close to each other, so close that it feels like a true “brother from another mother” situation. Each of us has gone through good times and tough times over the past twenty years but the support we give each other never wavers. And we have all continued with our AMM membership, even though we are slowed to varying degrees by age and infirmity. But nothing will sever the bond we have with each other and we will continue camping and enjoying each others’ company as long as humanly possible.
