Hi Oly,
The Pryor Mountains (south of Billings, east of Red Lodge) is the driest and warmest area I'm aware of, unless you're willing to get down into SE or S Idaho. We did an overnight at Pine Creek (Paradise Valley) a few weeks ago when it was cold out. Campground is closed in winter, but can still find flat places to set up, and use the outhouses which makes a BIG difference in winter. Also, there's a nice trail to hike up to a frozen waterfall. Will probably do an overnighter today, so have been thinking of this same thing. Given the lack of warm places around, I think the focus has to be on how to be comfortable in the cold and snow.
We use a wool blanket plus down comforter, and stay cozy enough inside the camper. We set the heater to lowest, but it still works very hard (10 degrees outside last time). Drained our battery by early morning, but I don't know yet whether there is an issue with the charging system (have been reading those posts with interest), so may not have had a full charge when we started out. Plugged it into AC when we got back, and will do that before leaving from now on.
Would be very nice if could find a thermostat with actual temperatures rather than lower/higher in relative sense, so we could just keep it around 35 or so to keep the frost off (the folks from further south will be horrified!). No worries when dressed for that, as you know.
I bought polypro material to make an arctic pack, but haven't yet borrowed a sewing machine. Do you have one (arctic pack)? Erod made one recently so would be good to see if he's been out lately, and how big a difference it makes.
No other thoughts for now. Will be very interested in what others have to say. Thanks for starting this thread!
Cheers,
--Jon
Great info! Yeah, I've got the arctic pack, and it makes a HUGE difference. I've been winter camping around here, but mostly Hyalite or Little Bear. I think I'll head out today and check out some areas.
