The longest night of my life...

Okay...so Sara has been all over me about posting my last snow shoeing adventure. So here we go. A few friends from home (CA) and I decided to head out on one last winter trek before the snow melted. We backpacked up a canyon near Oakley (close to Kamas) only about 2 miles and stopped in time to start digging snow caves. Just to give you a good idea of how smoothly is trip was going to be...previous backpacking experience between any of us was ZERO!!! So, we all had backpacks that weighed in excess of 100 lbs a piece. Which is probably why we could only get about 2 miles up the canyon. I mean I already put enough pressure on the powder as it is with the current body weight that I carry. Put an extra one hundred bills with that and the snow shoes didn't make a huge difference in the 7 ft powder. When we found what seemed like a decent spot to dig caves we had about 4 hours of daylight left (which seems sufficient, right?). By the time we were done digging, and smoothing out the interior, it was pitch dark. Soaking wet (sweat and snow), no fire, no wood, and no food prepared...I almost hit the panic button and headed home. Oh, and we thought that it was a great idea to store our water bottles in the snow so as to have some refreshing, cold water available. THAT WAS THE STUPIDEST IDEA EVER!!! Note to self: can't drink frozen water. But we pulled together and got a fire started, got some food in our bellies, changed into some dry clothes, and had a second to relax and get warm for what would turn out to be the longest night I would ever spend in a snow cave. Right now you're thinking, "Blair probably froze his tail off." Let's first establish that I brought plenty of warm clothes, a tarp, & a 40 below sleeping bag...I wasn't cold at all. The miserable part about sleeping in a snow cave is that it's like laying in a hockey rink w/ no pillow. Also, having to use the rest room in middle of the night is a fricken adventure. Since we were able to drink plenty of water after thawing it out by the fire, it probably didn't help on how many times I got out of the cave to use the restroom. I honestly entertained not getting out of my bag for the 3rd and 4th restroom break. And the worst part about sleeping in an ice cave, in the middle of the Uintas, is the wild animals. I had one eye glued on the entrance of the cave the entire night, anticipating that some curious mountain lion, bobcat, or moose would come looking for that can of chili that I cooked for dinner. In the end...we left the caves having caught about 20 minutes of sleep total, packed up camp in like 5 minutes, and hiked out of there at like 7 am. Looking back on the trip, I would do five things differently that might help you on your next snow caving adventure...
1) Keep the water bottles in the pack.
2) Get wood and stuff for a fire before you start digging snow caves.
3) Take a gun to fight off any potential wild animals.
4) Stay by the fire all night (this makes it easier to use the restroom). Or bring a gatorade bottle into the cave and use that (probably not conducive for the female "snow caver").
5) Don't build a snow cave...just sleep in a bed at that sweet cabin you left behind.