We got the kids backpacking/camping gear for Christmas, so we went and tried it all out the day after Christmas in the Whites. It always feels like we are opening up a travelling yard sale when we get to the parking lot: no one walks by without some humorous comment!
We all went on X-Country skis except for me: I was in boots with spikes. Great conditions for skiing!
Though it took us forever to get there: we departed at around 11:30, and finally got to camp around 3:30ish. Lots of little crashes and gear adjustments tend to add up. There were also a few stream crossings and the trail still hasn't been fixed where the storm last year washed it out, so those obstacles are a bit difficult in X-Country skis.
Some things I was glad we brought which we hadn't before: ice screws for the tent stakes and a snow shovel! Aaron slept in a hammock, while the rest of us were in tents. I kept the stove fuel in my jacket and it worked better, but not great. I think I need to switch fuel sources when it's this cold.
The kids slept great (they generally do) but KT and I woke up a ton. It gets dark so soon that we are typically in our tents by 4 or 5. We all downloaded movies on our phones so that we have something to do and don't fall asleep too early. It's dang cold in the morning and you don't want to wake up fully rested at 4 am because it's just too cold to get out before the suns up. We brought our shoes into the tents, but it didn't help much. It meant that they were just solid ice rather than solid ice frozen to the ground. I guess a bit of an improvement, but not much. This is a picture of the inside mesh on my tent in the morning: totally frosted over!
The weather for the nearest town said it would be 17°F that night, but a guy we passed hiking in said that he measured the temp to be 5°F when he left his car, and that was at 9 am. So I'm sure the temperatures were sub-zero. We tried to get a fire going in the morning to thaw out our shoes, but I just couldn't get it going. We had some newspaper and some dry firewood, but I felt like the little pauper lighting her last 3 matches to keep warm. But once the sun was directly shining on us, toes could wiggle again and spirits were a bit higher.
It felt like pregnancy: in the moment we decided not to ever do it again, but by the time we hiked out it didn't seem quite that bad...
