My 4 yr old daughter has been saying that she wants to go winter camping(even though she has no idea what it's like ;-). Who am I to refuse? This weekend finally had some normal weather so a date was made.
I worked all day and when I got home at dinner my wife told me our daughter had been talking about going camping all day, non-stop.

We packed up a minimal overnight kit, since we'd just had dinner and would be home for breakfast in the morning. We hoisted our packs and headed out into the woods behind our house (we live at the edge of town) and up the ridge.


We found a nice spot with a great view of the bay and the city lights below us.


I didn't bring my Hex pyramid since there is only a few inches of loose snow on top of frozen ground, staking or deadmen would be hard.

Instead we took a tarp, because there was snow in the forecast for the night. I could only anchor it to trees and bushes, the ground was rock hard.

We had some hot cocoa and popcorn and hit the sack.

In the morning we woke to the wind howling in the treetops and spindrift blowing under the tarp (with no useable stakes, I couldn't stake the tarp any tighter to the ground.


We had tea and a snack and packed up to head home. My daughter said she was excited to go again!


I think we are ready to try a real overnight ski trip, with dinner and breakfast in camp, now.

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep up the great work!

This is so cool. Thanks for posting. I'm always so in awe of you folks who take your kids out on such adventures. Y'all bring a big grin across my head.

Your daughter looks like she is having such a good time.
Thanks for posting this.

Thanks for the encouraging comments guys!

Yeah, she was having a great time non stop. I thought she might object in the morning when we woke up with snow on the sleeping bags,or when she had to sit on an icy log to pee, but she just took it all in her stride and said she was having fun.

It was great to try this out in mild conditions and close to home (10 min walk for her).

Great report and photos. Sounds like the perfect way to introduce a kid to the woods.

Tjaard, what a super activity. Its good you have the woods so close; a ten minute walk and your daughter thinks she is totally away.

Awesome. I loved the fact that she was talking about going camping all day long! Thanks for sharing!

Very cool! Great to see you guys made it out!!

I'm just running through some of the BPL trip reports on a cold, wet, Sunday evening, and this one really stood out. It looks like your daughter really had a wonderful time, based on all those smiles! Well done!

Fabulous photos! What a lovely, spontaneous overnight adventure. I am totally, totally jealous. No snow where I live and an hour's drive to anywhere decent to camp. My 8yo has been nagging for an overnight hike. I'd better get onto it before she grows up and moves out of home.