This was meant to be a 48-hour wild camping challenge to kick off the New Year on the North Downs Way. Instead, it turned into a disaster.

I wore the wrong clothes, hiked for hours in freezing temperatures, and couldn’t find a decent place to pitch before dark. This video is a breakdown of everything that went wrong — and more importantly, the hard lessons learned about preparation, layering, and planning for winter wild camping.

If you want to avoid freezing your fingers off or wandering the woods in frustration, this one’s for you.