Winter Camping

Justin and I like to think of ourselves as pretty "outdoorsy" people. We love being outside and regularly hike, camp, and backpack when the weather allows us to. A few weeks ago when we were at White River Sno-Park we spotted several backpackers enjoying tent time in the snow. We have read about winter camping in Backpacker magazine and have always wanted to try it. Unfortunately, the price of 4 season tents has always stopped us from attempting it. So when I found out that REI rents winter tents, it needed to happen!
We picked Trillium Lake on Mt. Hood as our destination (since it's practically impossible to get a reservation at the campground in the summer, why not enjoy it in the winter when it's closed to car campers?). We parked at Trillium Sno-park and snowshoed in three miles to the lake. I think we had the (frozen) lake to ourselves which is something few people can say. We set up camp along the south side and we attempted to make a small fire. It turned out to be pretty difficult as you can imagine, but we were somewhat successful. Our zero degree sleeping bags kept us toasty warm in the just above freezing temps and the tent did a decent job of keeping us dry. It was really a great trip and I think we will be doing it again, next time at a higher elevation. I was worried about bringing my Canon along in the cold, so I just brought our old camera which doesn't do so well anymore. Bare with the pictures for a look into the crazy winter camping!

A Frozen Trillium Lake

First flag picture. Love the Madness.