10 Reasons Why Winter Camping is Better Than Summer - By Kevin Callan

Rating: ****

Whenever I thought about camping in the winter, I always imagined a group of friends all huddled up together in an igloo with parkas and frozen faces. After reading this article I learned that there is a lot more too it than I thought, there are loads of advantages when it comes to camping in the winter, many that even changed my initial opinion on the idea.

This article provides the reader with ten reasons why winter camping is better than summer camping. The first reason listed was the 'utter silence'. It's similar to summer camping in the sense that there is no noise from the city traffic, but the difference in winter is that not only is there no honking and sounds of cars racing down the highway, there is also no sounds of insects at night keeping you awake and no rustling of the leaves.  The second reason was the idea of swamp camps. When camping in a lowland swamp area, there is plenty of places to find dry wood for fires and be shielded from the wind and blowing snow. The big bonus though is being able to sleep in a swamp, since it is impossible in the summer. During the summer, having a campfire is more of a fun family event than a necessity. In the winter, if you do not have a fire while camping you will most likely die. This article helps to explain the different types of wood to use in a fire and what will keep you most warm on the harsh cold nights. Because winter camping is not a very popular past time, when/if you go there will most likely be nobody around and you get the whole area to yourself. A major pet peeve of many people is the amount of bugs and mosquitoes around during the summer seasons. During the winter there are no bugs around anywhere, so there is no need to worry about getting bit and being itchy the whole trip. Another cool experience that comes along with winter camping is being able to feel the ice crack beneath you while you're sleeping. Although it may seem dangerous, it is normal for the ice to shift and expand as the temperature changes. As weird as it may seem, during the winter it is more common to see wildlife animals running around, something you may not get to see as much in the summer due to the amount of people around. It is much easier to see the starry sky during the winter, there are no trees with leaves to block the sky and you are able to get a clear view of the stars and maybe even the Northern Lights. When going winter camping it is important to dress for the weather and buy brand new gear, something that you may not be able to do as much in the summer. And lastly comes the bragging rights. You will come back with tons of stories and are able to tell people of the great experience that winter camping provides.

As much as I despise winter, learning about the advantages of winter camping has given me a different opinion and has persuaded my own. I still do not like winter, but being able to go camping without any bugs and people around, and to be able to look up at the starry sky at night sounds like it would be an amazing experience, despite the cold weather. So in my overall opinion, I think that although both winter and summer camping have their advantages and disadvantages, camping in the winter would be an all around better and more exciting experience than summer camping.

Callan, Kevin. "10 Reasons Why Winter Camping is Better Than Summer." Explore Magazine. 14 Mar. 2014. <http://www.explore-mag.com/10_Reasons_Why_Winter_Camping_is_Better_Than_Summer>