Winter Camping

by Richard Seifried

Signal Hill Musings

January, 2009

If you have the proper clothing and camping gear, winter is often the best time of the year to hike. That is, if you are not caught in a major blizzard.

Winter camp outs were the favorites of my daughters’ and son’s Scout troops.  Capture the flag was the boy’s favorite winter night adventure. One time I was sitting by a humongous fire talking to another father when a boy came running up, slipped and fell into the fire, but jumped out and continued on his way.  The father leaped to his feet.  I, lying a bit, said,“Oh!  That sort of thing happens all of the time.”  The boys and adults slept in three-sided Adirondacks, open side facing east, away from the westerly winds.

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Betty, my first wife, enjoyed taking four classes of fifth graders (four teachers plus chaperones) on a three day camp out at Camp Kern,south of the Dayton, Ohio, area. They stayed in a large heated lodge with segregated dorm rooms, but even night hikes, when temperatures dropped into the twenties, were very popular. 

There are many advantages in hiking and camping during the cold months.  No mosquitoes, no ticks, no rattlesnakes, no poison ivy, very few hikers, no hot sleeping nights – unless you consider the comfort of a warm down sleeping bag inside a weather-proof two-man tent.

Where can you hike and camp?

Here in Arkansas, the United States Forest Service and the National Park Service maintain exciting trails that lead high up on cliffs and then drop down to the rivers below.  Some of our State Parks offer outdoor adventure in wilderness settings.

There are no reptiles in the winter, but I like them.  If it warms up, you might be lucky to see one sunning itself.  Here in Arkansas there are deer, elk, bears, cougars, bobcats, coyotes, and (don’t tell anyone) wolves. 

Missouri has a couple of wonderful biking-hiking trails.  The Katy Trail, over 260 miles in length, runs from near Kansas City almost to St. Louis and is part of an old railway line, making it perfect for biking or hiking.  A section of it follows the scenic Missouri River, along the route that Lewis and Clark took.  The Ozark Trail is a circuitous hiking trail that offers awesome scenery — and some pretty formidable terrain challenges. 

Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Patrick Nolan, president of the Tecumseh Group of the Sierra Club, and I helped, in a very modest way, Mrs. McGee, wife to Dayton’s mayor then, develop a section of a dream trail in Ohio, the Buckeye Trail.  Today, the trail erratically loops within the state of Ohio and is now around 1,300 miles in length.

To me, because it is in my home state, the Buckeye Trail is exciting.  Oh, it doesn’t go through snow-capped mountains or across deserts, but it leads hikers through large tracts of heavily wooded rolling hills and steep, nearly 500 feet high “mountains,” but mostly along streams and through beautiful, historic farmland.

These are just a few examples.  Every state offers similar adventures. 

So, get out there! Feel the rain or snow on your face. Listen to the ice forming on your tent. Thrill when you see wild turkeys, deer, or perhaps a red fox.  Try your luck at winter fishing.  If successful, roast the fish over your evening fire.  Let yourself go and sing around a roaring campfire as soft snow filters down through the tree branches.

Enjoy life!

What?  Am I going to do any of that?  I’ve done it all.  I’m 80, remember? 

I love feeding the birds, deer, and whatever else comes through Signal Hill.  I still have the weatherproof clothing (and camping gear). The articles look handsome hanging up in our closets.  Why get them dirty?