Fairview Snowcave Campout 2016

It has been a few years since we've been able to do a snowcave campout because of lack of snow, and lack of a good location to go. We used to go up Farmington Canyon, but now they have a gate at the base that only allows snowmobiles through all winter.  So we had to search and find a new location this year.  Everywhere we checked out we were told we couldn't camp there, or there wasn't enough snow.  Finally we decided to drive 2 hours south to the location my dad's scout troop had just gone the weekend before for their camporee.

Unfortunately when we got there, the parking area was very muddy, and there wasn't much room left to dig caves.  We walked around and checked it out anyway, and were told by a guy there that they were going to have a vintage snowmobile race (with 90 vintage snowmobiles) there the next day, starting at 6 AM.  We decided that wasn't where we wanted to be, so asked if he had any other ideas.  He pointed us to a parking area down the road a bit and suggested we try there.  We checked it out and decided to go for it.

We ended up digging 7 caves right into the snow pile along the edge of the pavement parking lot.  (we had 8 boys and 8 adults)  The digging actually went really well, there was a small section of ice, but other than that, the snow was perfect for digging.

Some things we found useful were:

• to slide a sled into the cave and have the person digging fill up the sled with snow then push it back out when done.  The person on the outside dumps the sled over and slides it back in.  Then he shovels the snow that came out up on top of the cave.
• To use hand saws to cut out blocks of snow that were easy to throw out the cave opening.
• Inflatable, solar powered LED lanterns work great to lighten up the entire cave.

We did stew for dinner, and then ziplock omelets for breakfast.  You make an omelet in a ziplock baggie and then drop that into boiling water to cook.  Then you eat it out of the bag.  I tried a different recipe this time, and used my dad's Apple Omelet recipe.  It was really good!  Here's the recipe:

Apple Omelet:

• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 apple diced
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• Salt
• Sprinkle some Cinnamon & Sugar in there too

It was a great location for the 8 young boys who were all on their first snow cave campout because they could get off the snow, and the cars were right there (though we never needed to allow anyone inside the vehicles to warm up, they did great!).  Maybe next time we'll find a place to go where we can hike in a bit and really survive.  I enjoy doing that and the boys feel quite the accomplishment from it.