Sleeping through a Blizzard

I went out to Gorman (Hungry Valley) for a spontaneous camping trip with some old and new friends. We often come out here for the OHV park to go four wheeling, ride quads, hang out by the fire etc. Imagine acres of small and large hills with dirt paths that lead no where and everywhere. The perfect playground only 2 miles from most of us. To our surprise, we got caught in a snowstorm, and we woke up to what seemed like a Disney movie.

Sadly, we lost a canopy, a tent, and a tarp. I slept in a tent tucked right next to the truck as a wind barrier. Halfway through the night I ended up putting Bam in the Tundra because the wind started to pick up. I lay there in my sleeping bag and my tent was clapping against itself, self destructing, making an anxiety inducing noise and it didn’t want to let up. So much snow was coming down I had to occasionally sit up and push the snow off to prevent the tent from being pushed over. The combination of fresh snow and powerful winds forced snow through the net of my tent, leaving a thin layer of powdered sugar over everything inside. As the night grew on, I became warmer tucked in my bag and inevitability, wetter.

It was a rough night but interesting weather makes camping that much more enjoyable to me. The reason I camp is to get out into the elements, if what I wanted was a comfortable warm bed, I’d stay home. Instead, I stayed warm with whiskey and fire, watched the smoke rise as the snow fell into the fire’s light. We shared stories and made stories that we’ll remember for a lifetime. Thankfully, Bam survived the night too.