Sunday, February 1, 2009

Winter camping.. in the backyard!

High today: -12 F (31st)
Low today: -26 F (31st)

Celine and I went winter camping in my backyard. She wanted to try it out near a shelter before committing to a 10 mile ski and being stuck in 20 below to find out we forgot something vital. ;) To simulate a real experience, we went skiing a few miles on the trails with our packs then came back to cook and camp! The night was absolutely spectacular, nearly clear.. but no aurora.
Luckily for us, my yard is huge and woodsy and it really felt like we were out there.. no traffic noise, no houses to see, no nothing! Just a bird or two tweeting in the early morn. (Did I ever mention how much I love where I live???? If not, here's my plug.) I was thinking how cruel my roommate could have been by following our tracks and scaring the bejeebees out of us in the silence. Luckily that did not happen! :)

We made a few mistakes which I won't repeat aloud, but it's a good thing that winter camping has such a steep learning curve. The only time I went winter camping was at the hot springs, which was a total advantage since we could heat frozen things up.. like lighters.. oops!
22 below by morn and we lasted til 9am! Woo! Our friends were putting bets on how long we would make it.. ha!
Fun experience and I'd do it again, but I think I'd take a cabin any day rather than frozen exposure! :)

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