Outdoor activities, anyway

This weekend, a college friend and I were planning on going winter camping. We were planning on snowshoeing a short distance into the Cascades, near Snoqualmie Pass, and building a snow cave for the night.

This trip was predicated by a few things:

1. My desire to snowshoe more
2. My desire to camp
3. My desire to rough it a little more than Heather is willing
4. Heather's mandate to use my Christmas gifts before I get anything new at REI

As a quick review, most of what I got for Christmas was field cooking and eating gear. I got a Titanium fork and a spoon which doubles as a tool for my MSR stove. I also got a bowl and a plate, too.

To be able to use this gear, I've got to go on a long enough expedition to have to eat. An overnight trip fits that bill.

So, Wade and I discussed an overnight trip for this long weekend. We watched weather and avalanche forecasts. We discussed what we would eat and what safety equipment we would carry and how we would mitigate risk. I geeked out a little bit and wrote a detailed trip plan.

But Wade started to get sick on Friday afternoon. And it worsened on Saturday. And on Sunday, we called it off. I say that its better to be sick at home than in a snow cave in the middle of no where. We decided we would see how Wade was doing and then maybe do a day trip on Monday.

But contrary to Heather's post, I wasn't bored around the house. We had a great day!

We went biking to Beaver Lake and then Alec and I took some mountain bike trails back to our house. It was a lot of fun and I can feel it in my legs today!

Afterwards, we played in the street (it is a cul de sac) and washed bikes, kids and my MINI.

Heather and I cooked dinner together and we had a nice, albeit short, because we were all tired, evening.

Even though Wade and I didn't go camping this weekend (note the emphasis), we still got some outdoor activities in and as Wade says, "There will be snow for a while; there's lots of it up there."

We'll have more opportunities before the season is over.