Who here is excited about snow camping?

[OneClick]

I always make sure I don't write off the first half of November. Michigan can still produce some really nice days. Or I can head south and hit summer-like temps. I'll plan one more fast/light hiking trip...then get excited about snow. Mid-march is a long, LONG ways away.

[Shug]

I am not.
Yet.
But I shall be when it comes.
Shug

[curlymaple42]

Looking forward to using my tarp doors I won last spring at a hang for more than just a little wind and rain brake. They did come in handy though. We set up a couple extra hammocks for my daughter's friends whole volunteering up north at the girl scout camp and I used one set of doors on my hammock and one on another hammock as the ends of our rigs faced the lake with wind and rain! Worked great.

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[BillyBob58]

+100

And they never come back and say "Umm... we wuz wrong..."

We once got a weather forecast that called for 10 inches of snow, and it ended up that there wasn't enough snow in the entire county to make a snowman. Then last year we got a forecast for "trace to an inch" and got more than 8" and the lack of preparation by road crews caused a gigantic mess.

Makes you wonder if their accuracy improves with 1 year or 10 year out forecasts about what the weather is going to do! For the last 25 years, the forecast for snow(as seldom as we get it) have been wrong 90% of the time. Since I love snow, I am consistently angered when a big snow forecast ends up with zero snow here, but often a pretty good amount further south! Once years ago, we had a big one on the way. I was so excited(it is so rare here), that I even got my cross country skis(from my days in CO, UT and Flagstaff, AZ) out and ready. Snow went south of us, we got zero, and Birmingham, AL 150 miles south east of us, got 18"! I was seeing red!

OTOH, a few years back with nothing warned about, we got up on Christmas morning to a white Christmas, first one I can remember. It was a pretty good snow came down while we were asleep, and still coming down the next morning. That was great! And about 10 years ago, at what I think was the first ever gathering of HF folks for a Sipsey Wilderness backpack/hang, in Feb 09, there was a possibility of flurries, with lots of cold rain forecast. We sure got the cold rain at first, the water falls were magnificent and creeks were over flowing. It made for a real adventure trying to cross all the slippery, muddy creek banks, and a few falls happened. Fortunately, no one flat out fell in the creek, just into the mud. It was raining when we went to bed, dropped to about 27F that night, and we woke up the 3 to 6" of snow for the hike out. That made for one of the best AL trips ever!

But I think my fondest snow memories are from Flagstaff, AZ. When I left Erie, PA back in 1979, after the "new ice age" that all the scientists were declaring, I thought I never wanted to see snow again(they welcomed me to Erie with 148" of snow my first year there!). This GA boy just froze for 2 years and my Ford Pinto was constantly stuck. But a big surprise was that I found myself, after graduating and taking a job back down south, missing the snow! Mind you, I did not want to go back to 6 months of Erie style winter, but I felt one or two good sized snow storms a year would be pleasant for me.

So 4 years later I find myself taking a job in Flagstaff. I knew about the weather there from having lived 4 years in sunny Phoenix when I was in the Air Force. So I decided I was going to learn to enjoy winter weather. Now I could afford to keep the heat up, 4 wheel drives and real snow tires, and as I took up back packing in the mountains, I also learned how to dress for cold weather, which strangely I had not learned in Erie. Where most of my clothing was cotton, even the long Johns I would buy at K-mart. I learned to snow ski at the AZ Snow Bowl a few miles from my house. First year was bad disappointing, with drought and only a foot or 2 of snow(they averaged the same as Buffalo, NY and Erie). But 2nd year we got 126" in town! Over 300" up at the ski resort 2500 ft further up the mountain.

Some of my fondest memories are of cross country skiing through the magnificent Ponderosa Pine forests outside Flagstaff, over several feet of snow with snow still coming down. Or making a solo trip in Jan(I must have been crazy) up into the mountains on skis. I was unable to pitch my small 4 season tent on the deep powder, so I ended up just digging a snow trench, deep enough to shelter me from the wind, and put my minus 5F rated NF down bag on a ground cloth and pad down in there. I don't think I had any cover over that, just slept under a billion stars, but I was prepared to cover up if needed. But I slept toasty all alone in the snowy wilderness, with a view out over the desert stretching back towards New Mexico. I still miss the snow, it is a rare thing for me these days. Not much chance of me encountering it unless I travel.

[whistle_norvell]

I am excited and can't wait to get out into the white stuff. I have a big trip scheduled for December, but hope to do some quick trips between now and then.

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[jeffa]

I am ready, I hope. Fatbike tires are studded, pannier bags are ready to accept my hammock, quilts and everything else necessary for a ride from my house into the Beltrami Forest for a weekend overnighter or two. Just hoping I am as ready as my gear is. I don't tend to go farther than my wife can bail me out if necessary since I'm always solo.

[cmoulder]

I am excited and can't wait to get out into the white stuff. I have a big trip scheduled for December, but hope to do some quick trips between now and then.

IMG_20190113_095801~2.jpg

That doesn't look like OK.

I'm jealous of anybody who has good, snowy winters on a regular basis. Our last few have been every disappointing around here. I'm going to have to go farther north, for sure.

[whistle_norvell]

That doesn't look like OK.

I'm jealous of anybody who has good, snowy winters on a regular basis. Our last few have been every disappointing around here. I'm going to have to go farther north, for sure.

True, it's northeastern New Mexico.

[outdoorsguy]

Billybob 58 good write up, good stuff. If the idea is to have no regrets at the end, you'll probably succeed.

[Sleeper]

I like it under my snowshoes on occasion, but "snow, camping in"? Not in my index.