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My First Time Winter Camping – Miðhvammur, Iceland

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Winter Camping Iceland Northern Lights

I travel with a tent, but have never tried winter camping. Despite feeling intimidated by the prospect,  I thought my visit to Iceland would be a great place to try it with my friends Christine and Marissa. A few benefits of winter camping: no bugs, it’s free or cheap accommodation and you can have the beautiful landscape to yourself since no one else is crazy enough to be sleeping out in the snow.

To prepare, I had to see if 3 people could fit in my GoLite Arcadia 2 Person Tent. We set the tent up inside to test it and decided that yes we could squish three people in it. Having the proper gear is important and I was prepared with an Arc’teryx Fission SL Jacket, Kanfor hat and The North Face Cat’s Meow Sleeping Bag all featuring ultra warm Climashield insulation. I highly recommend using an air mattress to insulate you from the cold ground. I also used hot hands to warm up the inside of my sleeping bag faster.

Christine had never been camping before so I taught her how to set up the tent. After the sun went down the temperature dramatically dropped.  I made a rookie mistake and left the tent with two sleeping bags in it to grab some stuff from the car. I came back minutes later to find that the entire tent had blown away in the wind that appeared out of no where. I immediately handed Christine my supplies and took off running over the ice and snow into the dark after the tent. I ran about 200 yards and lost sight of the tent. My headlamp was shining pretty bright but I could not see the tent anywhere. I climbed over a fence, went over a hill and arrived at a lake-still not tent. I was beginning to lose hope as I traipsed back to Christine. A few moments later I found my tent down in a ditch. I felt relieved and returned it to it’s rightful place, we enjoyed a good laugh. Sleeping in the cold was definitely an adventure way outside of my comfort zone. The stars were incredible-you can even see some Northern Lights. I hope you enjoy the photos.

Winter Camping Iceland Sky Winter Camping Iceland Winter Camping Iceland Winter Camping Iceland Winter Camping Iceland Winter Camping Iceland Winter Camping Iceland Winter Camping Iceland Winter Camping Iceland Winter Camping Iceland Winter Camping Iceland Sky Northern Lights 22-IMG_7951.jpg Golite Green tent Kanfor hats with Climashield insulation Winter Camping Iceland Northern Lights Winter Camping Iceland Northern Lights Winter Camping Iceland Northern Lights Winter Camping Iceland Northern Lights Kanfor hats with Climashield insulation Winter Camping Iceland hot hands Winter Camping Iceland Winter Camping Iceland Winter Camping Iceland Winter Camping Iceland Winter Camping Iceland

Disclaimer: Climashield provided me with some gear, all opinions here are, as always, my own.

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7 Comments

  1. The Guy says:

    That sounds scary with the tent blowing away, did you have a plan B? Sleeping in the car?

    For a 2 man tent that looks like a generous size and the 3 of you seem to fit in snuggly.

  2. Corinne says:

    Anna, Wow, another one to check off your bucket list. I’ve been winter camping in Alaska, and yes the ground is cold! You do need a good insulator. Love your photos! Kudos to all three of you!

  3. Mike & Anne’s – HoneyTrek.com says:

    that is AWESOME. i have never done winter camping either….you guys are my hero. did you wake up a lot during the night from the cold? what was the temp in Fahrenheit?

  4. Travel with Bender says:

    The stars do look amazing – but you have some balls lady, I can't stand camping – let alone in the cold geez! !!

  5. Erin (Travel With Bender) says:

    The stars do look amazing – but you have some balls lady, I can’t stand camping – let alone in the cold geez! !!

  6. Go Iceland Car Rental says:

    Seems like you had great fun camping to Iceland in the wintertime! 🙂 Love the shots too. We wrote a small blog about the subject so people know what to expect. Hopefully someone finds use of it! https://www.goiceland.com/blog/camping-in-iceland/2612/

  7. Marian Rehak says:

    When was this please?

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