A new Thanksgiving tradition - winter camping

So Jared has this crazy idea to go snow camping the day after Thanksgiving, and Emily and I were crazy enough to go along for the ride. We went up into Turnagain Pass (the way we went to Homer for the 4th) about an hour south of Anchorage, in Chugach National Forrest. We parked at the Johnson Pass Trailhead and then trekked into the snow to go make camp. Since we were just doing some glorifying car camping, we only trekked in about 400 meters or so. Emily and I arrived first, around 3:30pm (Jared, Kari, and Rachel had to work on Friday, didn't show up until 6:30). We brought up Jared's sled, so we were able to use that to pull in our supplies, like wood for the fire, a Dutch oven for our cherry cobbler, our tent, and other items. Since the snow was very deep, our snow shoes came in very handy. And Emily and I had to make our own trail through the snow to our camp, which took a little work as well.

Once we brought our gear in, Emily and I had to put up our tent in the dark (thankfully we had our head lamps). But first we had to dig down a hole to put our tent into. When the hole was dug, we set up our tent (which we rented from REI, free of charge, thanks to our super-cool roommate). I think we picked the best spot for our tent, since there were some vegetation under us, and we never flattened out our hole which made for a lot of lumps a little bit of uncomfortable sleep.

Once everyone was at the camp, we (and I mean Jared) made a fatty fire and we ate our yummy Hobo dinners. Basically you make a Hobo dinner by putting a lot of tasty veggies and meat in aluminum foil, tossing it on the coals in the fire, and let it cook for about an hour. Emily and I put potatoes, yams, red peppers, italian sausage, cranberries, dried jalapenos, fresh garlic and parsley, and seasonings. They were really tasty. Then we had cobbler made in the Dutch Oven. That took about an hour to cook as well. After that we hit the hay.

Oh, did I mention that it was raining the entire time? As we were driving out of Anchorage there was pretty crappy weather. And once we hit the pass we thought it might turn to snow. It didn't. It wasn't a pounding rain, just a light sprinkle, but enough to be a nuisance and force us to erect a tarp to keep things dry (like our firewood). We all had water proof gear on, so we stayed dry. Except my boots weren't really waterproof so my socks and feet were pretty soaking wet. But since it was raining, it wasn't cold, so I was ok.

After a hearty breakfast of oatmeal, hot chocolate and pop-tarts we went Christmas Tree hunting. You can cut down your very own Christmas Tree in Alaska, any size you wish. You just have to be 100 feet from the trail. So with saw in hand we searched for a tree. After looking for a little more than 45 minutes, we found our trees (Kari and Jared were getting one too). Once we cut our down, it posed a small problem - like being way too heavy for Emily and I to carry back to our car. Since Kari and Jared's tree was small enough for Kari to drag, Jared helped me carry it back. It was probably only about a half-mile back to our camp, so it wasn't too tough, but was still a workout. Our tree was a good 15 feet tall. Jared helped us tie it onto our car roof. It always helps to camp with an Eagle Scout.

Once we got back from tree hunting we broke camp and headed back to town. We had a late-late lunch at Dairy Queen. And of course when we get BACK to town it's snowing. Go figure.