Camping in February?

Thanks to my awesome grandma Tehan's christmas gift of an LL Bean tent, Josh and I were just itching to go camping!  We packed up  blankets, provisions and my new 15 degree sleeping bag... the forecast was sunny and in the 40s during the day and the 30s at night... perfect for a winter camping experiment!  We hitched the pod to the top of the Mini, the dogs jumped in the back and we were off!

We drove 3.5 hours from our home in DC to the National Seashore on Assateague Island, MD.  An island famous for it's wild horses.  An island notorious for having TERRIBLE mosquitos in the summer.  So cold weather seems best for this ocean side camping adventure!

We left Saturday after our respective long runs, stopping in Annapolis at both the Hudson Trail Outfitters and eventually Eastern Mountain Sports in search of a "Jetboil".  This is a little tiny stove that backpackers use to heat water very quickly... as hot and fast as a jet. 

When we finally arrived at Assateague a few hours and a Chesapeake Bay Bridge later, we noticed the Park Rangers had already gone home so it was a suit yourself, first come first served adventure.  Thankfully we read all of the signs and noticed that the ocean side sites did not have any toilet facilities in use.  So we opted for a site on the bay side... which is often avoided in the summer because there is less wind to ward off mosquitos.  However, we wanted to AVOID the February wind so it sounded perfect.  We found a nice little spot, and there was only one other human in the entire "loop" with 30 something sites in it.  We never even saw them, they had a trailer with a generator.  Is that camping?  

We set up our tent and unloaded the car.  We pulled out our sweet new jetboil and made some cups of soup and some dehydrated rice and beans that we bought at EMS.  It was pretty good!  Josh says it was much better than an MRE.  That Jetboil is pretty darn amazing.  We were both very thankful to have a hot meal on such a cold windy night.  It was pitch black now except for what light the half moon was reflecting.  We turned on the dogs' blinking LED lights and headed to ocean for a long nighttime walk.  We could see Ocean City, MD in the distance, but the lights were dim as it is the off season.  It was so peaceful and we were the only life forms on the beach the entire time.  We let the dogs run around, keeping an eye out for any horse shaped shadows along the way (we never saw one).  

Overnight was pretty cold.  Zooey was fine and Josh was toasty.  Beenie was shivering and I had to cover her with my jacket.  I was a bit chilly and had to add all of my layers (minus my jacket) back on in my sleeping bag.  I hoped I'd get warmer as the night wore on, but I got colder.  Josh switched sleeping bags with me around 1am, but even that one wasn't warm enough for me.  I survived and was fine, but I definitely won't seek sleeping outdoors in those temperatures again without a sub zero sleeping bag.  My body requires too much heat to stay comfortable.

The next morning we paid up with the rangers, made breakfast, broke down our tent and then took one last long walk on the beach.

The dogs LOVED the beach.  I've never seen that couch potato Beenie move so fast in her whole 8 years of life!  Her and Zooey have such a great time running and playing.  The photographs are pretty funny.  They show how Zooey likes to pick on Beenie and when Beenie tries to bite him, he's too fast and he escapes!  They're such silly dogs.

We'll be back on the National Seashore in May with dogs in tow... one of the last few weeks before the mosquitos hatch.  This time, we have a site reserved on the ocean side.  I am really looking forward to it!