How to Adjust Your Attitude Toward Winter Backpacking

A lot of great trails remain open during the winter, but they're practically deserted. The right frame of mind (and the right preparation) can result in some magic times in the woods.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Long Underwear
• Wool Or Fleece Socks
• Wilderness First Aid Classes
• Backpacking Stoves
• Backpacking Tent
• Four-season Sleeping Bag
• Headlamps
• Flashlights

1. Make your goal simply to be there in the intensity of winter beauty and wildness ' not to get to a particular destination or cover great distances in one day. In the winter, even the shortest trails close to home can offer unexplored opportunities for solitude and adventure.
2. Learn to think differently about time, allowing everything to slow down. It will take you much longer to get from one point to another, to set up camp, and to prepare food than it would during the summer months.
3. Prepare to spend more time cozy in a sleeping bag than you would during warm-weather backpacking. Winter backpacking means long hours of darkness ' the perfect opportunity to catch up on sleep, read long novels, enjoy pillow talk or snuggle.
4. Look at adaptation and unpredictability as key components to having a great adventure and building great memories. The environment may change quickly, forcing you to cut a hike short or even pull up the stakes and seek comfort in a cheap roadside motel.
5. Bring a star chart. When the sky is clear, winter stargazing can be a magnificent treat. The winter full moon is also spectacular, though its brilliance will make stars less visible.
6. Bring the right gear to stay warm, including a sleeping bag designed for winter conditions. Cold-weather backpacking doesn't mean you have to feel cold ' no one has fun freezing!
7. Bring plenty of good reading material and extra batteries for your flashlights, headlamps and lanterns.
8. Think carefully about safety ' pay attention to weather, plan your route carefully, be prepared to wait out storms, embrace the important details of keeping snow out of boots and off of tents.