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View Full Version : Hold on baby, winter's coming



dust never sleeps
06-21-2007, 11:15
Today, the demon sun will start heading south, away from us in the northern
hemisphere. The seed of heat's death is sown at the height of summer's
solstice. So while you sweat and curse in the months ahead and long for
snow, remember, it's coming. Each day will now get shorter.

Mags
06-21-2007, 11:25
Today, the demon sun will start heading south, away from us in the northern
hemisphere. The seed of heat's death is sown at the height of summer's
solstice. So while you sweat and curse in the months ahead and long for
snow, remember, it's coming. Each day will now get shorter.

Hmm..if Chris in the Morning (http://www.amazon.com/Chris-Morning-Whole-Karmic-Enchilada/dp/0809237628) had a depressing, goth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goth_subculture) brother? :D

Footslogger
06-21-2007, 11:32
Winter may be coming ...but right now I'm enjoying the Laramie summer !!

'Slogger

Miu
06-21-2007, 13:53
Why on earth would anyone WANT it to be cold?!?

hammock engineer
06-21-2007, 13:55
Come on, the cold is great. All the more reason for a sobo hike.

Ender
06-21-2007, 14:19
I'm ready for the winter... this hot weather is sticky and icky. Bring on the snow!

smokymtnsteve
06-21-2007, 14:44
here in Alaska we have not seen any real darkness for a couple months...I'll be so glad when this damn sun starts going away, I love the long nights, the big moon the stars and the northren lights, the snow and the cold, and miss them very much in the long dreaded summers.

LIhikers
06-21-2007, 16:18
I can't wait for February! My wife and I will be going to northern MN for a dogsled camping trip.

Frolicking Dinosaurs
06-21-2007, 16:24
::: Dino comes in from basking in the sun and looks at thread participants like they are from Mars :::

peanuts
06-21-2007, 16:53
am with you ender.... hot and sticky = yukkkkyyyyy

Lone Wolf
06-21-2007, 16:56
i miss being a snowmaker at the coldest, windyest, snowyest ski area in the northeast.

smokymtnsteve
06-21-2007, 16:58
summer sucks:D

Frosty
06-21-2007, 16:59
Why on earth would anyone WANT it to be cold?!?a) no bugs

b) when too cold, I can always put on more clothing. The reverse doesn't work when i am too hot. I can strip down to shorts and still be too hot to hike.

c) if I wake up on the trail and am cold, I can start hiking and warm up within minutes. If I wake up hot and sweaty on the trail, there's nothing I can do but look forward to a miserable day.

Lone Wolf
06-21-2007, 17:04
summer sucks:D

shelters too!

ed bell
06-21-2007, 18:18
Because my line of work is exclusively outside, I would like to say "thanks" for the reminder, dust never sleeps.:sun

gumball
06-21-2007, 19:01
i miss being a snowmaker at the coldest, windyest, snowyest ski area in the northeast.

Good lord, did you live near me in Erie PA?????

I'm with Dino the sunbasker...give me sweat, give me sun!!!!

smokymtnsteve
06-21-2007, 19:03
give me darkness ..

give me cold...

sunlight sucks

the vampire soul!

aaroniguana
06-21-2007, 21:14
Happy Solstice, all. I'm off to celebrate with my clan (that's clan with a "C" not with a "K") in wild, woderful, WV for the weekend.

Frolicking Dinosaurs
06-21-2007, 21:16
::: Dino reads tales of cold and is under blanket with only nose stickng out :::

Miu
06-21-2007, 21:28
I get chilled at 70 degrees, and cold means any temperature below 60.

smokymtnsteve
06-21-2007, 21:59
I get chilled at 70 degrees, and cold means any temperature below 60.

yep - 60F to -70F is a little chilly..but Happiness is -100 F

oh ..you meant above zero???

firemountain
06-21-2007, 22:00
I love the original post! I am very excited for winter, I will be out on the AT again this year. I enjoy the cold a great deal. Summer is hot.

Tipi Walter
06-21-2007, 23:31
Anybody can backpack in the summer, it's winter that draws the serious ones. The lite fanatics avoid the deep freeze forest, too much to carry and all, thicker pad and jacket, etc., but winter is the best time to be out. The question is, do we even have good winters anymore? In NC and TN our winters have basically stopped, sure it gets cold now and again but the days of deep snow and wild blizzards seems over.

smokymtnsteve
06-21-2007, 23:36
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-midnightsun062107&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

mudhead
06-22-2007, 13:08
Try a Maine winter. Gets long. I'm good until Feb. 1st, then it seems endless.

No leaves on the trees, less ozone, fewer boneheads.

Lone Wolf
06-22-2007, 13:10
Try a Maine winter. Gets long. I'm good until Feb. 1st, then it seems endless.

No leaves on the trees, less ozone, fewer boneheads.

northern Vermont at Jay Peak ain't no picnic

smokymtnsteve
06-22-2007, 19:42
Try a Maine winter. Gets long. I'm good until Feb. 1st, then it seems endless.

No leaves on the trees, less ozone, fewer boneheads.


try a Fairbanks AK winter. ;)

Lone Wolf
06-22-2007, 19:44
try a Fairbanks AK winter. ;)

BFD. You sit inside all day around a wood stove and toke weed

The Scribe
06-22-2007, 21:30
::: Dino comes in from basking in the sun and looks at thread participants like they are from Mars :::

Total agreement on that one Dino. Winter's are tolerated. Not celebrated in this house.

But I have to agree with LW's first assertion. We think summer is the high point, but reality says that when it finally gets here, the high point is past.

Speaking of weather, what was up with those 35 degree nights for Trail Days? i didn't drive from Maine to VA to be cool. I was looking forward to Virginia WARMTH in the middle of May!! :D:D

teachergal
06-22-2007, 21:45
I love winter for all the above reasons plus 2 others not mentioned:

No pollen and other things that make me sneeze and wheeze and drive me indoors for most of the Spring/early Summer

SNOW DAYS!!!! I'm a teacher and there's no other season of the year that you get surprise days off just because it snows!!!! :) I do happen to teach in the Washington DC area where a 1/2 inch of snow causes everyone to freak out, but that's ok by me! We did get 1 surprise "wind day" this past Spring - it was to be so windy out that they closed school 3 hours early!!!! Supposedly due to the vast amount of trailers used as overflow classrooms that needed to be evacuated and there was no place to put the displaced students so they sent us all home!

Nightwalker
06-24-2007, 02:38
Why on earth would anyone WANT it to be cold?!?

First off, I appreciate every season of the year, and try no to complain about any of them.

BUT: Winter hiking is fabulous. You don't get beat up by the heat. You hardly overheat at all. Sleeping on the ground in the cold, when you have the right gear, is the best feeling warm that warm gets. I love winter hiking!

P.S. And the views. :D

Nightwalker
06-24-2007, 02:40
::: Dino comes in from basking in the sun and looks at thread participants like they are from Mars :::

I'm from Venus. After all, that's where the chicks live... :cool:

Tipi Walter
06-24-2007, 13:30
First off, I appreciate every season of the year, and try no to complain about any of them.

BUT: Winter hiking is fabulous. You don't get beat up by the heat. You hardly overheat at all. Sleeping on the ground in the cold, when you have the right gear, is the best feeling warm that warm gets. I love winter hiking!

P.S. And the views. :D

And no big fat rattlesnakes. Yeah, I agree, sleeping out in the winter is the best, having the right bag and pad makes it easy, the harder it blows the better I feel. There's nothing like a blizzard to make a person giddy, and there's nothing like a secure warm dry tent stuck right in the middle of it.

ed bell
06-24-2007, 14:13
And no big fat rattlesnakes. Yeah, I agree, sleeping out in the winter is the best, having the right bag and pad makes it easy, the harder it blows the better I feel. There's nothing like a blizzard to make a person giddy, and there's nothing like a secure warm dry tent stuck right in the middle of it.Right on, Nightwalker and Tipi.:sun

Wolf - 23000
06-25-2007, 09:13
Why on earth would anyone WANT it to be cold?!?


Miu,

Winter is the best time to hike, no bugs, less people, peace and quite. As for the cold, well let be honest, with todays gear a person can stay pretty tossty on most of the AT even in the winter.

Wolf

fiddlehead
06-25-2007, 10:23
yeah, but 16 hours of dark every night? or longer in ak.

Miu
06-25-2007, 10:29
Hmmm...I wasn't talking specifically about cold on the AT, but I do have memories of winter at Big Bend when it's 20 degrees at night and I'm chilled in my huge 0 degree down bag. Heat is fine, but cold tries my patience :)

smokymtnsteve
06-25-2007, 15:36
yeah, but 16 hours of dark every night? or longer in ak.

our shortest day in fairbansks is a little over 3 hours,,,but you don't really get 21 hours of darkness, the twilights and the "rosy glow" periods are very long then you have the moon shining on the snow, and the northern lights. the most beautiful sight in the world.

I will be really g;lad when this summer and all this damn sun is gone..

Mags
06-25-2007, 16:23
Anybody can backpack in the summer, it's winter that draws the serious ones.

Gotta watch out for those non-serious backpackers. ;)

Seriously folks, why allthe crap about what's a "real" backpcker?

It's just walking.

Enjoy it. No need to make your own way of enjoying it superior.

Mags (who has slept in snow caves and igloos. Does that make me a serious backpacker? :P)

hammock engineer
06-25-2007, 16:30
The long nights are the only killer for me. I have a hard time sleeping 6 or 8 hours let alone 12.

I love the views, no bugs, very few other people around, the stillness, fresh snow, night and morning coffee, and campfires in the cold.

I think the people that hike and backpack in the winter really love the outdoors and hiking. In the summer at least around this part of the world, I run into a lot of people just out for a day. It's great they want to see it, they are just not the most LNT people out there.

aaroniguana
06-25-2007, 21:29
I, for one, have had quite enough of coastral humidity. We're packing off to Arnoldsburg, WV come Spring and building a strawbale house. Twelve hundred feet up a driveway that in places is almost a 45 degree incline.

Anybody got a couple of used ATVs for sale?

Mags
06-26-2007, 01:55
I think the people that hike and backpack in the winter really love the outdoors and hiking.


Too much snow here in Colorado. Us non-serious hikers end up skiing (or snowshoeing..). ;)

hammock engineer
06-26-2007, 12:33
Too much snow here in Colorado. Us non-serious hikers end up skiing (or snowshoeing..). ;)

I'll have to see that for myself.:D I have been wanting a pair of snowshoes for a couple years now. Us Midwesteners don't see enough snow to need them. I think the deepest the snow got was 8 inches or so last winter.

Footslogger
06-26-2007, 12:36
Too much snow here in Colorado. Us non-serious hikers end up skiing (or snowshoeing..). ;)

=============================

About the same ...maybe even a tad moreso here in Wyoming.

First year we lived here I remember walking to work in snowshoes.

'Slogger

Alligator
06-26-2007, 14:03
...
Mags (who has slept in snow caves and igloos. Does that make me a serious backpacker? :P)No, it makes you an eskimago:jump .

Mags
06-26-2007, 14:21
No, it makes you an eskimago:jump .

That is REALLY high on the groan factor. :D

Alligator
06-26-2007, 14:27
That is REALLY high on the groan factor. :DGotta throw some in for the webelos to enjoy:) .

Two Speed
06-26-2007, 15:39
No, it makes you an eskimago:jump .I'd have voted for an eskimagoo . . . :-?

Mags
06-26-2007, 15:56
I'd have voted for an eskimagoo . . . :-?

Though I do wear glasses to use the computer, and my hair is becoming a bit less and less, I don't think I am QUITE in the Mr. Magoo (blind, totally bald) territory. Perhaps in 50 yrs? :)

Eskimago... Just gotta get a fur coat now and some mukluks.