It’ s been said there is no such thing as bad weather
As a kid for some strange reason I always loved to be out in bad weather, especially the cold. Eventually I learned to enjoy living in the cold, the snow and winds. It’s really a perspective that’s shaped by our experience. It’ s been said there is no such thing as bad weather, just different kinds of weather. I don’t know if that’s totally true, depending on where you are, a hurricane or tornado can certainly be a terrible deadly experience. But in general if we learn and prepare we can learn to love most kinds of weather.
Cooking under the Personal Survival Tarp
Years ago I had an eyeopening experience. Our family had taken a tent camping vacation in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta and British Columbia. It wound up being 2 weeks of rain. About a week into it we were camping at Rocky Mountain House in Alberta. I started looking around at other campers in tents like us, they were having a great time. That got me wondering, so I became quite observant and started to learn by watching them. What I found was that with proper preparation and gear cold rainy weather can be fun. It does take an attitude shift as well, I might add.
Since that time I lived some years in the Southeast U.S. where rain is a way of life. I learned that it is truly possible to make a great experience out of a rainy week, even in a tent, cooking, hiking and most of the normal things we would do. In fact I found that much of the scenery and wildlife takes on a different interesting look, sometimes there is a certain quiet in the woods at these times.
Like most things we just have to stop and analyze the situation. What is it that makes cold rainy snowy weather unpleasant? 1-Getting wet clothing, 2-Cooking and eating in the wet, 3-Activity limitations.
The primary unpleasantry is getting wet, and that means clothing, sleeping gear, cooking gear. This can be solved by getting some comfortable rain gear. I would not worry too much about expensive Gore-Tex type clothing. It does not work that well on an extended basis. The best thing is good rain clothes that are well ventilated. Include some water resistant foot wear as well.
The next item would be some type of a tarp, like our new Personal Survival Tarp, being introduced soon. It’s nice to have so you can see the outdoors, rather than being confined in a tent. With a good tarp setup you can sleep, cook, eat, and hang out without feeling trapped. I would rather use a tarp than a tent most of the time, it’s more flexible, more open.
So really with a couple of items, good rain clothes and a tarp setup, you can change cold rainy snowy weather into enjoyable times. You can hike and backpack in the rain, you can set up camp in the rain, you can cook, eat and sleep in the rain. And the big miracle is when you learn to be comfortable, you will find beauty and great experiences.
Happiness!!
Once you have the gear, the next step is gaining experience, and that’s the fun part. Get out in it, it’s exciting when you start hoping for some weather most people think of as bad, so you can go out and try some things. At first stay close to home, do some daytime things, then work into overnight and multi-day treks. That way if things don’t work out at all, just go home and try again next time. This is the easy way to get experience.
Check out our new video Breakfast in the Spring Snowfall
Get out in it. Until next time – Perry Peacock