Winter Camping

Last Edited – January 19, 2010 by Randall Crock
Filed under: Outdoors, Personal

So my first post gets to be an interesting one.  This last weekend, Martin Luther King Day weekend, I and 6 other people from the WPI Outing Club went up to New Hampshire to spend the weekend camping, hiking, snowshoeing and skiing.  We left Saturday and I got to see the drive to the Mt. Washington area for the first time, since it seems like we always leave WPI before 5am, and get back well after dark.

The first day we spent just getting set up since we arrived around 1pm, and once everything was set up, we headed out for a quick snowshoe / ski bushwhack.  We spent about an hour, maybe two tromping through the woods and had a great time.  As it was starting to get really dark, we rolled back into camp to do dinner (chili which the leader of the trip had cooked the night before) which was fantastic.  We all were very surprised at the time when we were done, since it was only 7:00pm and it was already really dark.

The next day, two of our group went to climb Mt. Washington, and the other five had decided to do a 6 mile loop near camp.  When I woke up however, my knee was bothering me, so I decided to play shuttle and run people to the trailheads they needed.  Everyone had a great time on their respective hikes, and was back before 3pm.

Monday, we woke to 6 inches of fresh snow which had fallen overnight, and while we were packing up, we had another 2 inches fall.  It was kind of tough to pack up the OC’s giant tent since it was covered in snow, and we wanted to avoid getting it too wet.  Once everything was packed, we ate and were out soon afterward.

Overall, it was a great experience, and I think all people who fancy themselves outdoors-types should give winter camping a try.  There are tons of great places to do it around the country (except perhaps the south).  Winter activities such as skiing and snowshoeing are great aerobic exercises, and fantastic ways to see the outdoors in a new way.

Comments are closed.