Frosty - Day 15 of the Chill

Three quarters of the way through the challenge and I haven't missed a beat yet.  I'm actually surprising myself with this one.  This is my 16th entry for the year.  Last year, I only wrote 25 blog entries, so I'm well on my way to doing much better on the blogging front than I've done in a long time.

Every now and then, I've camped in some cold climates.  One time, a buddy and I drove all night during our winter break to go to the Grand Canyon.  Little did we know, but while we were driving, it snowed on the south rim and we arrived to a winter wonderland.  We slept in our uninsulated camper in 0 degrees and then hiked along the rim and down into the canyon where it was quite nice.

Camping in the winter, you expect that kind of weather and are usually prepared for it.  Camping in the summer, you're not as prepared, but every now and then, the weather can change and turn nasty in a hurry.

This particular camping trip happened in 2010.  The plan was to camp at the Devils Postpile, something I hadn't done in 33 years and then head up to Lassen Volcanic National Park.  Camping at Devils Postpile, was downright cold.  We knew it had been cold, but weren't sure how cold until we got to Lassen and spent the first night there.  When we got up the next morning, we walked down to the ranger station.  My son and I had remarked on the walk down that it had been warmer that night than the previous two nights at Devils Postpile.  We were greeted at the ranger station with the weather report that the overnight low in Lassen that night had been a frosty 34 degrees.  I can't imagine how cold it got at the Devils Postpile, but it wouldn't have surprised me if it had gotten down into the 20s.

Now, we knew were were going to be in the mountains, and we always bring enough layers, but it was still plenty chilly.  2010 was also an abundant year in California for rain and snow.  The photo above was taken at Helen Lake in Lassen, on July 2nd of that year.  Yeah, you read that right - Winter in Summer.  You just have to remember that it can get frosty even in the middle of the summer.