Winter Finally Arrives

dinosaur

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I live in the Northwest corner of Indiana. I can practically spit and hit the Michigan border and the Illinois border is about forty minutes away by car.

So far our Winter has consisted of a few light snowfalls that have long since melted away. The daytime highs have been averaging 35 to 45 degrees and we've had mostly rain. This is atypical for the area. It all changed on Monday when lake effect snow came in. This si when the wind sweeps across Lake Michigan in a Southeast direction, picks up moisture over the lake and dumps it in the form of snow powder. It is now Wednesday and it is still snowing.

In all that time you'd figure at least four feet of snow would have dropped on us. Instead we have about eight inches depending on where you're standing because it is powder and the wind is blowing. In some places we have two foot drifts and in others we have bare ground.

Since the snow is a powder, it makes it very easy to walk through. You don't even have to pick up your feet. You just sort of saunter and plow your way right through it. I took a walk in the woods and it was beautiful. Of course there's no game since the animals have better sense than us humans and are holed up. Oh, I know where they are and I could flush them easily enough but I've got plenty of food. So, I figured I'd just come back, have a cold beer and tell you all about it.

The air is dense and easy to breathe. It's about 20 degrees, again atypical warmth, Even climbing a grade you don't get winded in the least. It's supposed to be like this for another couple of days and then be 45 and sunny come Sunday.

Don't get me wrong. I like warm weather but there's something to be said for this too. It's funny but I didn't miss this at all until it came back. Now I realize that I did indeed miss it. It'll be gone soon but I still have a few more days to go out and enjoy it.
 

Grandpa

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We are about normal here in SE Idaho. Right now, we have about 2 feet on the valley floor which means about 4 feet has fallen the past month or so. However, it has had a lot of moisture in it and is very heavy. Luckily the ground is "open" (not frozen) so most will settle in to refill our depleted aquifer. Temps have also been moderate with very few sub 10 degree nights. The grandkids built snow caves last weekend, and not one came back into the house during the night. I call this a wonderful winter.
 

MacGyver

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Maryland got hit good last week, dumping anywhere from 2 to 3 feet over most of the state. I don't mind Winter camping at all, especially when it's snowing. But a blizzard like that would have been, to put it mildly, quite a problem. We've been out when there's two feet already on the ground and it was great, but having it come down that heavy would have put us on constant snow removal duty to keep the tents from collapsing. NOT my idea of a good time.

Had another dusting yesterday and I'm hoping the temperatures stay cold enough to keep some of that snow around because I'm supposed to be getting out next weekend.
 

dinosaur

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God bless you all but I'm used to many feet of snow so Grandpa, I hope you are enjoying yourself. I think you probably would no matter what happened MacGuyver, you seem like the kind of guy that would have fun in the middle Hell and I'd be the guy standing next to you saying "we may have bitten off a bit more than we bargained for." But it would still be fun.
 

MacGyver

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Well, dinosaur... you're right to some degree. I do enjoy the challenges. But there's a story that comes with some of those challenges.

The people I camp have been going to the same camp ground for over 30 years now because it's the only decent place that's centrally located to all of us. Unfortunately, that campground - Green Ridge State Forest - comes with a bit of personal history that none of us will ever forget.

I forget the exact year, but some time back in the 90s, we were camping in about two feet of snow when one morning, we woke up to rising temperatures and a light rain. The pure white snow suddenly took on a gray tint. Then a slow rumbling sound started. We all kind of looked at each other and almost simultaneously yelled, "Time to get out NOW!"* We took everything out of our campers that we could grab in a few minutes, jumped in our trucks and got out just as the entire valley we were in started to wash away in a rolling, raging flood. When people say, "It sounded just like a freight train", they ain't kiddin'! We hung around on some high ground, waiting to see our campers get washed away, scared ****less. As it happened, the water peaked maybe less than a foot from taking everything out. I hadn't closed up my popup and the step was actually under water but the camper never moved.

The end of the story is that we had been camping in a closed campground and didn't know it. When the water started to subside, the DNR actually sent in a huge grader to wade through to our site to see if we had been trapped. We drove to a local restaurant just outside of the park and we heard a bunch of whispers from the locals. "They're here". A ranger showed up and chewed us out for about 15 minutes, telling us how we could have been locked up or fined for camping in a closed park, that there was a notice at the ranger's station, etc, etc. We told them that we hadn't seen any notice about the closing because we'd always set up camp when we got there and registered in the morning. That was permitted until the flood. So, due to our little adventure, there are now signs all around the park that remind people that they need to register before setting up. For years after that the rangers looked at us with quite a bit of suspicion whenever we showed up. Happy to say the rangers from back then have all retired, my gang is all gray or bald and no one knows us anymore. :)

All of that to say - we hesitate when it comes to big snow now. Maryland weather is notorious for changing every fifteen minutes and we don't EVER want a repeat of that trip! LOL



*Scared but still young and dumb enough to stop and snap a picture?
 
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dinosaur

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Sounds like an interesting experience. I was in a flash flood once when I was twelve. I saved my best friend's life who was about to be washed away. I don't remember being afraid but I probably was.

As far as your experience goes it probably was stupid. And you know now it was extremely hazardous. But there are other ways of looking at it. What I have always found interesting is how the government becomes so angry because you make the choice to risk your life as though it doesn't belong to you.

I've done a lot of seemingly stupid things in my life. Sometimes I skated and sometimes......, well, I can show you the scars. In a lot of those cases I was admonished by someone who wasn't even there. And I listened and thought to myself: "It must suck to be you.". I always wanted to live life, not observe it.

Oh, I don't do it anymore. I'm too old for it But I have a plethora of tales to tell around a campfire just like the one you just told I liked your story but I probably never would have known about it if I hadn't figuratively opened my big mouth and prompted you to remember it.

Thank you. I feel enriched.
 

MacGyver

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When you're twelve, you haven't learned to fear things you should. That's why emergency rooms are full of kids with broken limbs and gashes that need stitches.

We didn't choose to risk our lives. The fact that the DNR was pissed off took us all by surprise because we hadn't broken any rules. We'd already been camping there for over ten years and we'd always registered the morning after we set up if we got there late. Had they posted something at the main road entrances to the sites, we certainly wouldn't have stayed.

I agree with you - sitting watching people live sucks compared to going out and trying new things. And, like you, I have the scars to show I haven't been a wallflower. I can almost guarantee that story would have come out on here at some point. On just about every outdoor forum I've seen, the subject of adverse camping conditions comes up and that's my prompt to let loose my story. Thank you for allowing me to let it out :)
 
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