My Annual Trek Up North to Go Snow Camping
It's not my all-time favorite trip, but one that has become somewhat of a tradition with the Scout Troop that my sons have belonged to. Each December they go north outside of Payson or near Flagstaff to experience winter camping in the snow. It serves to remind me of how good we have it compared to what early settlers and pioneers had to experience and also spend time with my sons as each one has had the opportunity to try and stay warm in a tent in freezing temperatures. This past weekend the temperature dropped to around 15 degrees Farenheit at night. As you can imagine tents really don't keep the cold out. The key was to put padding below the sleeping bag as well as a wool blanket followed by a sleeping bag and then another two blankets on top. Wearing a cap is also helpful since that is where you lose most of your body heat.
One of the adult leaders in the group had lived in Alaska so he took 
the opportunity to spend a little more time and build an igloo or snow cave. If you think about it, it was probably warmer than the rest of us out in the open with paper-thin tents.
Dinner consisted of tin foil dinners which if you've never cooked, you are definitely missing out. Let the campfire burn down to where you have some nice hot coals. Our foil dinner consisted of ground beef, tater-tots, dry gravy mix, carrots, and onions wrapped in cabbage and then tin foil. Set this in the coals of the fire for 20 minutes and you're set. The cabbage keeps it from burning in case you leave it in too long. Unwrap the foil and dig in!
The next morning after everyone warmed up we took a short trip 
over to Wing Mountain to go sledding. A good two hours running up the hill and sledding down exhausted the boys so that the 2 hour ride home was nice and peaceful.
The best part is returning home to warm running water and a nice soft mattress and my wife's cooking. Now I have 11 months to forget how cold it was so I'm ready to go again next year!
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