Tonight, at 9:25pm, Chanterelle and I will board a train that will take us on an overnight ride out of San Francisco and up the coast to Klamath Falls, Oregon. By the time we arrive at 8:15am, the air outside will be an incredibly brisk 32 degrees, and it will be snowing.
After we arrive, we will swing our backpacks onto our backs, walk the 2.2 miles from the train to KOA Kampgrounds, and set up our tent.
When Chanterelle suggested we visit Klamath Falls over Thanksgiving break as an opportunity to see her childhood friend, I struggled, at first, to figure out how I might also enjoy it. An Amtrack ticket between San Francisco and Oregon cost a pretty penny, and with only five days of thanksgiving vacation to spare, I couldn’t really see the value. It wasn’t until I did some research and discovered what a beautiful landscape Klamath Falls had to offer that I began to see an opportunity.
At first I suggested stealth camping. We hadn’t been stealth camping together before, unless you count camping on our roof, and I thought it might be a good way to test the waters. She said this sounded fine, but as we researched the weather and temperature conditions predicted for our visit, I began to realize this was a slightly unrealistic expectation. We compromised with KOA Kampgrounds: A commercial chain of campsites located around the U.S. that catered mostly to Motorhomes and RV campers. When I called to see if they had any tent sites available, the guy laughed out loud.
“Boy do we! There ain’t gonna be anyone campin’ on those dates man. I wouldn’t even camp out there in this weather! Maybe a month ago, but…” He paused and let out a low pitched whistle. “you’ll have plenty of space. Did you still want to make a reservation?”
I told him I did.
It was a good choice to prepay, we realized later, as less than two weeks after we booked our space we would begin a money fast experiment, a commitment we are holding painfully true to.
To make sure we wouldn’t freeze from the cold, we did a comprehensive review of the camping gear we already had, and came up wanting. We lacked basic necessities like warm base-layers and even basic rain-gear. A trip to REI and several UPS package pickups later and we were ready to go.
We bought two new Exped inflatable ground pads. These pads have built in pumps that are integrated into the mat and roll up like the pad. They are also filled with down and give three inches of loft to the person laying on it. Being lifted something like three inches off the ground is an incredible luxury in the outdoors and has previously been expected only of heavy air mattresses and thick foam pads. The Exped, though, folds and rolls up to about the size of two soda cans standing on top of each other, and the stuff-sack serves as a pillow when filled with dirty clothes.
Other items purchased for the trip (and many more in the future) were:
- Two Marmot rain-shells. They are made of very thin material which scrunches up into almost nothing and packs exceptionally well.
- Two fleeces, one from Arc’teryx (mine, exceptionally warm and recommended by Tynan) and one made by REI (Chanterelle’s, not nearly as warm, but much more stylish)
- A Kelty sleeping bag for Chanterelle. It’s rated for 20 degrees, but if she gets too cold she can just crawl inside mine (rated for -10 degrees). I’m hardly ever cold.
- An extra pair of Smartwool socks for Chanterelle and I. Mine were getting a little thin at the heels, and Chanterelle needed some due to space requirements in her pack.
That’s it! Everything else we already had, including a 2-man Eureka tent (as featured here) and long underwear for both of us to wear under our pants. We both have black Icebreaker shirts that serve as a smell-free antimicrobial base-layer. Because they never smell, we don’t have to wash them, and will each bring only one.
Tons of other gear is stuffed in our packs, but most of it has been talked about in my previous ‘What’s in my pack?‘ posts, and doesn’t need to be inventoried.
One big difference between this and the travel we usually do is the lack of funds we have to use along the way. This means we can’t just walk over to the Subway down the street from the campsite, and must instead pack all of our food for the five days we will be traveling in our bags.
Having not had time to plan, we are stuck with mainly canned goods for the duration. Sure, freeze-dried camp meals would be nice, but all we have that remotely resembles efficient food is some small ziplocs of nuts and raisins.
No, no efficiency for us. We are instead packing 15 cans of re-fried beans and 8 cans of tuna between us. As I type it here, it doesn’t seem like much. But when we put on our packs, you can believe that every pound weighs hard on our backs. Try holding 6 cans of re-fried beans in your hand. I bet you’ll be surprised at their weight.
We’re planning on cooking using their barbecue pits. We have a small pot, but will probably just end up cooking the beans right in the can.
As far as what to do while we’re down here, we haven’t really planned that far yet. We’ll be spending a lot of our non-camping time with Chanterelle’s long-time friend Vanessa and her boyfriend who attends the local college, the Oregon Institute of Technology. I know I want to see Klamath Lake, which is reportedly the deepest lake in the United States. Other than that, its three days of exploring and two days on a train.
Some people, well…most people, have called us crazy for camping in 19 degree snows. But both of us know that no matter what, we are the ones who make or break the experience. As with death, school, and other things we might not always want to deal with at the moment, camping in the snow will create hundreds of stories we can tell for the rest of our lives.
Wish us luck!
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