Winter Camping

We had planned an overnight winter camping trip with our friends, Ryan and Stephanie, at least a month ago. We just got lucky that when the days rolled around to go, it was the two nicest days, not only of the week, but of the year so far. It has been snowing a week or so before, so there was plenty of snow on the ground, but our days were bright, sunny, and warm. It was probably 50-60 degrees, but the sun made it feel even warmer. Mark and I snowshoed, and Stephanie and Ryan are telemarkers, so they skinned in. We chose a destination that wasn't too far away, about 3 miles or so from the car, but you would have thought we were miles from anything. It was beautiful and so much fun!

Mark, Jess, Ryan, Stephanie

Our view as we headed out from the sno-park. On the left is South Sister; the little bump in the middle is Middle Sister, and on the right is Broken Top.

Mark and Ryan headed down the trail.

This is what happens when you try to walk backwards in snowshoes without stepping carefully :)

When the snow isn't here, this is a bathroom like you'd find in a campground. It gives you an idea of how much snow we are standing on.

We stopped for a break right around Todd Lake, and apparently these birds are accustomed to people. Mark put a tiny piece of a chip in his hand and the bird came right over and took it, but not without posing for a picture first!

Our camp near Todd Lake, with Mt. Bachelor in the background.

Surprisingly, we weren't too cold...we had enough warm clothes. "Big Pink" kept me nice and toasty.

It did get cold at night, and since we were kind of in a little valley, some fog settled in overnight, leaving a pretty frost layer on everything.

The fog.

Our view of Broken Top after climbing the ridge behind our camp the next morning. We thought about climbing it, but didn't have enough time. Another day...

Ryan and Stephanie got to ski down the ridge while Mark and I slugged down on our snowshoes.

R & S have a kite like you would use for kite boarding, so we brought it along for something to do at camp.

Headed back to the car the next day. We were roasting, and if I could show you my face now, it would be a pretty shade of red, even with 50 spf sunblock :).