Yosemite National Park's Upper Pines closed...

[Yosemite_Sam1]

...Thru Thanksgiving evening due to heavy snow.

I-80 at Truckee is also closed for this evening and on mandatory tire-chain for non 4WD vehicles.

[Yosemite_Sam1]

profdant139 wrote:

What we really need for snow camping is a small nuclear reactor, but those pesky rules and regulations get in the way. 😉

And if there is a meltdown, it will give new meaning to the words "warm and toasty",.

[profdant139]

No problem. Just win the lottery and then stock up on those newfangled lithium batteries!

A down comforter is a lot cheaper, though. I bet that a really good down comforter, with lots of "loft" and a high thread count cover, would feel sort of like your e-blanket.

Plus those down products are easy to store -- they collapse into a little nylon "stuff bag."

What we really need for snow camping is a small nuclear reactor, but those pesky rules and regulations get in the way. 😉

[pnichols]

profdant139 wrote:
Interestingly, there is a new trend where folks actually buy weighted blankets in order to sleep better. I think we (the cold weather campers) have inadvertently discovered the same thing -- turn off the heat. Spread every blanket you own. Sleep like a log.

But heaven help you if you have to get up in the middle of the night! 😉

Wow ... talk about an opposite approach: I just ordered a new 24V DC electric blanket because the old one finally gave up the ghost. The one I ordered is made up of super light weight soft fleece material with ultra thin wires that can't be felt at all.

I like to sleep at home with only this e-blanket on top - with no sheet between the e-blanket and me and no other covering on top of the e-blanket. When I get the temperature set just right, this way of sleeping gives me the illusion that I'm sleeping on a cot outside at a temperature so perfect nothing is needed to cover me to be comfortable - just like sleeping on some South Sea Island beech.

Now, if only I could find enough room in our Class C to hold the batteries to run this blanket several nights without charging so I could sleep this way when drycamping! :h

[Yosemite_Sam1]

profdant139 wrote:
Interestingly, there is a new trend where folks actually buy weighted blankets in order to sleep better. I think we (the cold weather campers) have inadvertently discovered the same thing -- turn off the heat. Spread every blanket you own. Sleep like a log.

But heaven help you if you have to get up in the middle of the night! 😉

Tell me about it!:E

Because whatever the weather, we always keep that toilet-bathroom vent open.

[profdant139]

Interestingly, there is a new trend where folks actually buy weighted blankets in order to sleep better. I think we (the cold weather campers) have inadvertently discovered the same thing -- turn off the heat. Spread every blanket you own. Sleep like a log.

But heaven help you if you have to get up in the middle of the night! 😉

[Yosemite_Sam1]

pnichols wrote:

But, but, but Dan .... very few folks on this Earth (other than Antarctic 4X4 overlanders) could stand to camp in those conditions and sleep at night with no heat in their rig!

I didn't even appreciate the cold nights in my tent in July in the High Sierras when I used to backpack up there.

(I got my aversion to cold from being raised in Michigan and sleeping in an unheated 2nd story bedroom with old single pane windows so bad that snow was on the INSIDE of the windowsills in the morning just inches from my head in the bed. I moved to CA at age 19 and never looked back ... which includes setting our CA stick house and motorhome furnaces to 65 degrees during the night . Isn't that what big AGM RV batteries and occasional quiet generator use are for? 😉 )

Yeah, it's absolutely miserable tent camping on sub-zero no matter the ratings on the sleeping bag.

But it's actually not too bad inside an RV. My wife even wants to turn off the furnace once the inside stops being freezing cold and would just sleep through the night bundled in her thick blanket(s). Same at home in the room on snowy winter nights.

[pnichols]

profdant139 wrote:
Maybe there are some lucky folks who were already ensconced in a campsite at Upper Pines before the storm hit, and are now enjoying the empty silence? That happened to us a few years ago -- it was wonderful:


Click For Full-Size Image.

The only caveat is that our solar panels picked up very little juice -- too many trees, too much shade, too much cloud cover. After a few days, we almost had to run our generator!

But, but, but Dan .... very few folks on this Earth (other than Antarctic 4X4 overlanders) could stand to camp in those conditions and sleep at night with no heat in their rig!

I didn't even appreciate the cold nights in my tent in July in the High Sierras when I used to backpack up there.

(I got my aversion to cold from being raised in Michigan and sleeping in an unheated 2nd story bedroom with old single pane windows so bad that snow was on the INSIDE of the windowsills in the morning just inches from my head in the bed. I moved to CA at age 19 and never looked back ... which includes setting our CA stick house and motorhome furnaces to 65 degrees during the night . Isn't that what big AGM RV batteries and occasional quiet generator use are for? 😉 )

[Yosemite_Sam1]

@profdant139 - Thanks for sharing.

Indeed, winter camping in Yosemite will reward you with lovely views on the valley.

Just had to be be flexible with roads being closed just when you though you are ready to go home, lol.

Yeah, Upper Pines for us too last year.

[profdant139]

Maybe there are some lucky folks who were already ensconced in a campsite at Upper Pines before the storm hit, and are now enjoying the empty silence? That happened to us a few years ago -- it was wonderful:


Click For Full-Size Image.

The only caveat is that our solar panels picked up very little juice -- too many trees, too much shade, too much cloud cover. After a few days, we almost had to run our generator!

[Lwiddis]

More Sierra closures coming with this storm IMO.