Not quite sure why I am posting this other then I know I am in good company with like minded people. I am going on my first Winter camping trip in Feb with 3 other buddies. I am really excited and looking forward to this experience. But here is the deal: not ONE person that we have talked to, wives, family members, friends etc think that a winter camping experience in the BWCA "can" be enjoyable or is even a rational thing to do!

Comments have ranged from; "well...better you guys then me!" to my parents telling me "When did we give birth to an Eskimo!" to our wives saying "You guys are flipping nuts!"

So my fellow BWCA.COM(ers) Who's nuttier...US or THEM?

Not Nuts!!

THEM..enjoy

Nuts is a relative thing.

...I guess I'll find out this Saturday night when it's 20 below.

Probably us... but we have more fun!

Done many times and I just love it. Only thing I have to say for your first time I would not go in to far so you could make it out in short order. Good equipment helps, Also everything you do is more planned. No bugs, I repeat no bugs.

No more so than those who Christmas shop the day after Thanksgiving :)

Well, as I am writing this to you, I am currently sitting in the quinzee I built in the marsh behind my house... i swear it is true. And I don't think i'm nuts. Lol. Just crazy for the outdoors and in much better touch with nature than many people who just don't care about it. It is actually comfortable and warm in here and i'm just enjoying the sense of accomplishment right now.

At the same time, I think the people who climb mount everest are nuts. But you have to be a little crazy to risk your life like that anyways.

I'll agree that being nuts is relative. I just can't live my life behind closed doors.

Not nuts. Eleven hammock hangers got together near the Superior Hiking Trail for a the Minnesota Frozen Butt Hang last weekend ... two nights in a hammock at -14.

Here's a link to their trip report on the Hammock Forums (plus some innovative ideas): http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=26995

Great stuff everyone...yes I guess Nuts is a relative thing. The older I get (be 51 in Feb) the more I realize that you just have to take life head on a little more. So if people think we are a little nutty for camping on a frozen lake in winter, sitting in a Quinzee at the end of marsh, or even hanging in - 14 weather in a Hammock for not one, but two nights (Bravo!) then so be it! Because in the end...we do and will have...MORE FUN!

I think people are nuts for doing far less crazy things than winter camping.

Nobody tried to stop me when I did my first BWCA winter camp and I did it solo. When I came back alive and well with stories to share and pictures to prove it, their tone changed and I now have people prodding me to plan another trip so that they can come along.

THEM...but lets not tell 'em. Next thing you know...everybody and their brother will up there:)

Keep it quite, don't tell them about the nice clean snow, animal tracks you can see, no waiting at the portage. no bugs.

Only the unprepared are nuts.

Living in a place full of concrete and skyscrapers is nuts. Being surrounded by the natural environment is what life's all about...for bwca.com'ers that is.

Different Strokes for Different Folks...

How cold can it really get anyways??? :)

I'm so glad people think we are nuts or that it's too cold to camp out in the winter.

My buddy and I just camped out Saturday at Wild River state park (wimpy car camping) with only one other vehicle 2 loops away.

He slept in his car with the hatch open. I slept on the ground in my bivy sack.

There's nothing like a winter day of skiing followed by a night by the fire.

Planning on a late Feb.- early March overnighter in the chalet in Glenwood. Going to be 15-20 blocks from my house. Already got the spot picked out in the woods.