Coolest Place You've Ever Slept?

[Abster]

Olympic Peninsula, WA

I did a NOLS course on the Peninsula several years back and once we got off the glaciers we all would set-up the tents, but sleep outside under the stars. I had a hard time sleeping indoors for a couple weeks after that.

 

[Maddy]

In Northern MN, on my dogsled/ski course with Outward Bound, 5 years ago. We slept under tarps and the nights were frigid. First night out=minus 40.
Never saw so many stars and the incredible Northern lights! Sooooooooooooooooo beautiful.
Our dogs serenaded us like wolves every night. There could very well have been wolves joining in the chorus. They sung with great gusto.
I have never been happier!

 

[1ADAM12]

On the summit of Mount Marcy with a full moon (just kidding folks )

Actually I love the lean-to at the outlet of Flowed Lands. The sunset over Colden is amazing.

 

[dentonfabrics]

Brown Island in Marblehead. You have to time the tides so you can walk (not swim) out there.

 

[rhihn]

Next to the Donjek glacier in Kluane N.P., Yukon. The glacier calved all night long so we got little sleep, but it was still pretty cool!

 

[TEO]

Perched high on Mt. Shasta on a rocky crag with just enough room for our small tent.

Sleeping under the stars at an 120 year-old abandoned lumber camp deep in the Adirondack wilderness, with a bear frolicking in the woods and nearby stream for much of the night.

My first time tarping it, with only a 5'*7' tarp--a 7'*10' is much better, I learned--near Slant Rock. A ferocious storm brought lightning within a half-mile and torrential rain. The folded-up edges of my emergency blanket/ground cloth kept the standing water from flooding my sleeping bag. The ground cloth was floating.

My first time using a Megamid, on the accumulation zone of the Trorrey Glacier in British Columbia's Spearhead Range, after having survived an electrical storm that passed overhead within minutes of setting up camp.

Memorable, but not pleasant: Lying awake all night at Crag Camp in May as an half-dozen RIers pounded drunkenly (and altered by a couple of other chemicals, too) on the pump-organ and blared their radio until 5:30 AM.

 

[Hillwalker]

Secret cave

A few years ago after locating one of Emily Klug's hidden shelters from the 40s up in the Whites, I spent a planned night in it. Slept comfortably through a very rainy night and awoke to a beautiful summer day and walked back out. This summer on my "Thru" I plan on doing the same if possible.

 

[Grumpy]

Adirondack Shelter Fan ...

Opportunity to sleep in a leanto at the head of Indian Falls in the Adirondack High Peaks is long gone. I am privileged to have done this several nights, including during the last year or so the leanto was there. It was a great spot for a trail shelter.

I always wanted to spend a night at Plateau leanto, below Mt. Marcy’s summit. Likewise, at Lake Tear of the Clouds leanto, on the other side of Marcy. But never did either.

Has anyone here at VFTT ever slept in the old rock shelter that once was nearly on the Marcy summit, overlooking Panther Gorge? It was removed in the 1960s.

Someone mentioned cold weather. My personal record is 40 below zero for two nights in one of the leantos on the Opalescent near Lake Colden’s outlet, in 1967. I say 40-below, because that is the lowest our thermometer would read – and it was pegged there both mornings when we began to stir at daylight.

(The above reads like I am an Adirondack leanto shelter fan. Well, I am!)

G.

 

[Adventurous]

A gravel bar on the Hoh River in Olympic National Forrest. The Alpenglow was absolutely amazing.

 

[LittleBear]

The Grand Canyon

On the Tonto Platform in the Grand Canyon, past Sumner's Wash where it was "camping at large". No tent sites, no facilities, no one else around! Just pick a spot a plunk down your tent.

During the night, the winds kept sweeping through the canyon. You could hear them roaring like a freight train off in the distance, then when they got to the tent, they buffeted the tent around for about 5 minutes before moving on. This happened several times during the night.

Sunrise was incredible!

Little Bear

 

[SkierSteve]

Moose wrestling!!

The leanto at Davis Pond in BSP. In the middle of the night the sound of crashing trees woke me up. I focused my headlight at the clearing in front of the leanto and two bull moose were locked up in full combat. Equally awesome and frightening!!

 

[erugs]

At Furtwangler Glacier on Kilimanjaro five years ago. Cold, so far from home, so high up (18,000 feet), so dependent on others (our wonderful guides and porters). We could hear the ice crackling during the night and every move we made took all the energy we could put into it.

 

[NE111er453]

Boundry Bald Mountain

We hiked to the summit after dinner one summer evening in time to watch the sunset, slept on the ground under the stars and awoke with the sunrise. Alone as it is in the northern Maine woods, the views were spectacular.

 

[moose_mckenzie]

At the base of the Skyladder route on Mt. Andromeda, Canadian Rockies. No tent, just pads and pits. Overnight, a pika chewed a hole in my climbing partner's backpack and consumed part of his breakfast!!

Moose

 

[Mark Schaefer]

Grumpy got me thinking. I enjoyed several high elevation bivouacs in the Adirondacks before any of the elevation camping rules were introduced. The best was along the herd path from Hough, just starting up towards the Beckhorn. There was a nice view. It was July 4 I could see (actually more hear) some very distant fireworks. I had literally rolled out the sleeping bag in the middle of the herd path (no tent). I did not want to trample any vegetation. This was before the age of head lamps, and no one else ever passed during the night.

I had similar middle of the herd path bivouacs with a view in the Santanonis and Sewards, though it was more of a challenge to find dry spots. None of that is possible now, and that is probably good, all things considered.

 

[Jay H]

Somewhere in the backcountry in Wrangell St Elias right by a double waterfall, in a somewhat lush green meadow, not far from a morraine that we would hear creaking from overnight... Sweet Sweet place..

Jay

 

[bubba]

July 7 on the anniversary of the Battle of Habbardton, camping on the battlefield.

Not obvious to all, but I need to correct the above to:
the Battle of Hubbardton

I'm still thinking about my favorite night out... fun thread.

 

[dr_wu002]

Skógafoss in Iceland:

-Dr. Wu

 

[WinterWarlock]

Two come to mind -

When in high school, and camping with my Boy Scout troop, we camped on the battlefield at Gettysburg - very eerie, especially when we woke up to a foggy morning over the area.

Two - sailing to the Bahamas while in college, and on the college's 98 footer - got caught along the edge of a hurricane, and after a couple days of fighting the storm with NO sleep, the last night before port we all slept on the deck with wide open skies - it was warm and beautiful, and I lost track of the shooting stars we saw.

 

[Puck]

Not obvious to all, but I need to correct the above to:
the Battle of Hubbardton

I'm still thinking about my favorite night out... fun thread.

Thanks for covering my back Bubba. If typos could kill they would be deadlier than cotton.