Winter time is, for some, the best time of the year for camping! There’s no bugs, no need to worry about keeping food cold in the blistering sun, and the activities are cooler! In the winter, it’s often easier to test out our skills or training since there’s usually a shelter nearby.

Winter camping for Troop 671 typically includes 3-4 cabin weekends during winter months. During any of these campouts, if conditions allow and they prove they have appropriate gear and training, Scouts may sleep outdoors in tents or improvised shelters they construct nearby. Hammocks are OK too, if you’re that adventurous!

Some cabins are wood heated, others forced gas. Sometimes it’s like being in a big giant open room house around a central heater – it all depends on the property. Occasionally, they’re colder than we’d like and that’s why we carry extra gear on our trailer in the winter. Our lowest recorded indoor low on a campout was 25, and the coldest outdoors temps when we’ve visited Ma-Ka-Ja-Wan in the winter have been in the -15 to -20 range.

Here’s a photo of some of our Scouts in early December, 2025, at Camp Oh-Da-Ko-Ta in Kenosha County, WI. Our area recently received a record late November  snowfall, and it snowed an extra 6″ during the weekend!