The Real Challenge with Winter Camping

People who are new to camping must think that coldness is the main issue with camping in winter.  But actually coldness is a secondary issue.  The real problem is short daylight hours.  Some people -- myself included -- start thinking of going to sleep when it gets dark in the evening.  Well, that is fine if you are capable of sleeping that many hours.  But most people aren't, especially older people.

How do you break this habit of letting darkness lure you into going to sleep?  

1.  Use lots of electrical lighting.  This is easier than it used to be, because of better batteries and LED lights.

2.  Make an effort to walk around more.  Don't just sit in a chair.  People who have larger RVs must have an easier time with this.  Van people must have a terrible time.

3.  Put on a headlamp and do chores at the tow vehicle or just outside your RV.  What about walking the dog at night?  Concern about night-time predators has kept me from this in the past.  But maybe a headlamp would frighten off coyotes, skunks, and worse.

4.  Cook for the day ahead.

5.  Blog, text, and communicate with people in the evening.  Edit your photographs or videos.

6.  Since it is getting impossible to camp without neighbors, perhaps that could be turned to advantage.  Invite your neighbor over to a campfire.  Conversations around a campfire can eat up a couple hours in the evening.

I need to add a couple more ideas to this list.

Internet photo, of course.