We're headed to Fort Kent tomorrow for a cross country skiing adventure on the 10th Mountain Division trails at the Maine Winter Sports Center in Fort Kent.

We've never been to the area so in anticipation of the 5 1/2 hour drive north we invested in a Yakima roof rack for our cross country skis so we could take the smaller, more fuel efficient car. Our minivan gets about 10 miles to the gallon less than our compact wagon and we think over the course of the winter, having a rack on the smaller car will make a big difference on our overall travel costs this year.

We've also been getting our gear organized, which includes the new headlamps I bought everyone for Christmas so we can have a nighttime cross country ski adventure.

My friend Carl - a wealth of helpful information lately - suggested we also consider packing hot water in our water bottles before hitting the trails up north. Of course I should have realized that there was the strong possibility our water would freeze after even a short time out on the trails up there.

Carl uses an insulated container for his water bottle but after checking them out at a couple of stores, I decided they were too pricey for everyone in the family to get one (they run about $10-12/each and don't include the bottle).

I opted to make something I thought would help keep the water from freezing in our packs on the trip.

I used fleece left over from a previous project and cut to fit each of our water bottles (all different shapes and sizes) and sewed the side and bottom seams. I added a small pocket for an elastic closure at the top.

Then I took an idea from a tote bag the girls made a while back to make a square bottom so that the bottles could stand upright.

Basically, I sewed a triangle at the bottom corner of the bag on each side and trimmed the excess off.

Check out these step-by-step directions if you're interested in how to do this.

The bottles don't stand up perfectly but they'll work well-enough for us on the trail I think.

I ran a little short on material for the large bottle but I'm hopeful it covers enough to keep the contents from freezing.

Do you have any helpful winter gear suggestions? I'm always interested to hear how other people manage their gear in winter on the trail. Post a comment if you've got a tip to share!

Oh yeah, Go Pats!