Up the canyon... Bear Grylls style... Sort of

So last weekend my friend Debbie and I got invited to snowshoe up Mill Creek canyon to the yurt the US Forest Service maintains for backcountry hikers in the winter. I thought it would be a blast since the only other time I went winter camping was in at Boy Scout Klondike where I almost froze to death (Apparently my open air snow pit doesn't stay as warm as a snow cave. Who would of thought?). This time it was sure to be a bit better. I figured it would be cold still but at least there wouldn't be any wind or weather involved. Also, since growing up, I've also invested in some higher quality gear. I even brought extra clothes just in case.

Well we got on the trail at about 8pm. It was a beautiful night and because of the glow of the SLC lights on the clouds to the west, we were able to use our night vision the whole way. Due to the recent warm spell it had been raining in the canyon earlier and all the snow was packed down so we didn't even need our snowshoes. But we did bring them just in case so we could go hiking in the morning off trail. It was a beautiful hike and we had just enough light to see the trees, stars and canyon walls. Not to mention I had some excellent company which made it even better.
4.5 miles up from the parking lot we arrived at the yurt. Half of the people were asleep by 9:45pm when we arrived but the few who were still awake played some games with us till about midnight. I was shocked at the accomodations. This place was stocked with propane tanks for lanterns and cooking, as well as a wood burning stove the kept the place plenty warm through the night. For half the night I just slept on top of my sleeping bag with just a light fleece blanket on top of me. There were 6 wide bunks in there and so Debbie and her friend Lindsey double up on one and I took a place on the floor. It was a pretty awesome little setup. If I'd of known about yurts before, I'd have been doing a lot more winter backpacking trips.The next morning, everybody woke up at like 7:30am and was gone by 8:15am. Debbie and I just layed in our sleeping bags till like 9:00 just relaxing and talking. Since we arrived at the yurt so late the night before, we were in no hurry to get out of there. I always thought that was bizarre about Colorado Father's and Sons outings, gone before the sun even comes up.

Eventually I rolled out of bed and got the fire going again so I could start making breakfast. We were set to have one of the best camping breakfasts ever. We had whole wheat pancakes with apple sauce acting as syrup (since we forgot actual syrup), scrambled eggs, bacon, and french vanilla hot chocolate. It was awesome. So while I was on cooking detail, Debbie spearheaded wood chopping (Which I honestly felt a little bad about, where's my chivalry gone?).

Most of the morning it had still been raining, even at the higher elevation. Pretty bizarre for a January day. We decided it probably wouldn't be too great snowshoeing around in the rain. So we just decided we'd head down the canyon after we finished cleaning the place for the next campers.Luckily by the time we got out of there the rain had turned to snow. But not for long. As we descended to the car, the snow turned into sleet, to freezing rain, and eventually rain. We were a bit wet but nothing that a Korean BBQ and a hot tub couldn't fix. It was a great time and luckily there was only one casualty, Debbie's cell phone. It was in the top of her backpack in the rain.