Wilderness Camping Vacation in a National Forest Sno-park? Is this an Oxymoron?
- Wilderness camping is no vacation, its hard work.
- A National Forest Sno-park is hardly remote wilderness.
It is fun, so let’s think about it for a moment!
National Forest Sno-park:
A roadside area set aside to provide winter sport enthusiasts a place to park with access to the National Forests.
Think of a Sno-park as a USFS trailhead. Except here you can setup a base camp, have access to primitive camping facilities and is FREE in summer.
Sno-parks can be found in the Cascade Mountain Range in WA & OR and in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range in CA.
Wilderness:
Natural uncultivated land: a mostly uninhabited area of land in its natural uncultivated state, sometimes deliberately preserved like this, e.g. a forest or mountainous region.
Although the Sno-parks are easily accessed by highway or USFS road, many are placed in remote areas. This provides wilderness access for hiking, backpacking, hunting, fishing, horseback riding and ATV users.
Readily available snowmobile and cross country ski trails are more difficult to navigate in summer but provide access to wilderness areas.
Some Sno-parks have facilities for offloading horses and off road vehicles. Please check local regulations for summer trail use.
Camping:
Living in tents: living outdoors in a tent or trailer while on vacation or as a recreational activity.
Overnight camping is permitted in most Sno-parks. There are exceptions so check with the local ranger station before leaving home.
Sno-parks are large parking areas ideal for RVs and group camping. They also make excellent base camps. If your goal is to backpack in to remote areas to camp, Sno-parks make great jump off points.
Vacation:
Break from work: a period of time devoted to rest, travel, or recreation.
Kick back and take is easy. Sno-parks have basic toilet facilities and picnic areas. Some larger parks have secluded tent areas, RV pads and warming shelters making them perfect for family outings.
The perfect Wilderness Camping Vacation:
If your family is divided about taking a Wilderness Camping Vacation or just a simple relaxing Camping Vacation, you can do both. The adventurous wilderness campers can take their backpacks and tents and go hiking in to the wilderness and the remainder of the family can stay at the base camp and relax.
