Camping in the Woods on a Snowy Day

The boys got a good bit of camping gear for Christmas, so we decided it would be fun to go backpacking in the mountains for the weekend.  Little did we know that there was still snow all over the mountains!

The hiking was absolutely beautiful!  I would be more than happy to go hiking in this kind of weather again.  However, it was entirely too cold for camping (for my tastes anyway).  It was nice to get out into nature with the kids though.  And we saw many beautiful and interesting things.

We camped beside this beautiful river.  I loved listening to the river gurgling beside us all night.  Especially since I was awake most of the night and needed something to listen to!

Don't know what in the world this is.  Anyone care to enlighten me?  Its a beautiful ground cover.  It is "pine-needly" looking (how's that for a scientific description?)  But it also looks soft and maybe even fluffy.  Anyway, I liked the way it looked, so I took a pic.  Maybe I'll be able to find out what it is and post.  Maybe.

An old tree stump covered in moss.  I think moss is beautiful.  When I was a kid, I checked out a book from the library that had pictures of fairies living in the woods.  I used to imagine that I was one of those fairies, living in logs, sleeping in the flowers.  If I were really a fairy that lived in the woods, this is the kind of place I'd like to live.

All in all, our camping trip was great (despite the fact that half of us have colds now).  I think we'll go hiking in the woods on a snowy day again... but we'll wait for warm, sunny days for camping from now on!

~Linda