No bugs.
That was a great part about winter camping, but hardly the extent of the perks.
We spent a recent Saturday night at Flowing Lake County Park east of Snohomish and had a ball, even a snowball, because flakes were flying.
We rented adorable cabins that were built a year and a half ago near the park entrance. It was like camping without packing your tent. You need virtually everything else, so haul what you would in July, plus extra bedding.
It can get cold in them thar hills, but electric wall heaters in the cabins, just 16 miles from my Mill Creek home, kept things cozy.
We didn’t have children running in and out the door so freezing temperatures were not a problem. Eight of us, one couple per cabin, bundled up and braved the elements for a night of fun.
Marc Krandel, Snohomish County Parks Department planning supervisor, said the county aims to provide a diversity of camping options.
"The construction of the Yurt Village at Kayak Point Park proved to be extremely popular," Krandel said. "To continue along with the demand, cabins were built at Flowing Lake Park. As the public became aware of the cabins, reservations and use increased dramatically."
It cost $125 to rent all four cabins for one night at the winter rate. You could stand at one front door and hit the next cabin with a pea in a slingshot. I don’t think having strangers that close would have been nearly as much fun.
Half of the units had four bunks and two had two bunks with the addition of a futon. All had one bunk big enough for two adults who like each other. Each bunk had a foam pad, though one friend groaned his mattress was too firm.
Heated, clean showers and toilets are a hike up a slight hill. Those prone to drinking fluids will get their exercise dashing to the potty. Each cabin is fronted by a paved parking spot big enough for two rigs. You can have five folks inside each unit.
Bring throw rugs or extra towels to wipe the wet linoleum. They furnish a wastebasket, and a garbage container was out back, down a sloped hill, near a handy portable toilet.
I felt a bit sorry for the ranger. When we arrived a little before check in, the ranger, who swished a vacuum cleaner around windowsills and emptied wastebaskets, looked like a hotel maid at the Astor.
Our group of eight headquartered in one cabin and fit around the provided table for card games. We agreed it would have been confining if children were underfoot. If you don’t enjoy youngsters for 24 straight hours in a little cabin, wait until summertime when they can ride their bikes and hunt for butterflies outdoors.
Or take teenagers in the winter and make them sit and talk to you. They will love that.
We mostly ate and played cards. No stoves are allowed in the cabins, but we did plug in crockpots with side dishes on the provided kitchen table. We barbecued outdoors under the covered porch.
My agenda included an 11 p.m. walk to the lake. Some wimps didn’t want to slog through the snow, but I can be pretty persuasive. Get your coat on and get going, I demanded. They fell into line like obedient dominoes. It was too easy. We giggled in the dark shining flashlights among the trees.
They tempted me to go swimming, and though I have an ample fat layer like a duck, I deferred to a potential summertime visit.
In the morning, we awoke to clear weather. Coffee brewed outside Cabin 1 in a little metal pot. One couple cooked link sausage on a propane stove on a picnic table. My husband, Chuck, and I brought bacon and hash browns, and there also was ham and eggs. My daughter and her friend, Miguel, brought their bright shiny faces, and I made the toast.
Toast is my camping specialty.
Have I made you hungry? Do you like to eat outdoors, with friends, around a picnic table? Are your tent days over? You might try the cabins at Flowing Lake. For more information, call 360-568-2274. Don’t dally. My group tried to rent all four shelters for a summer weekend, but it was pretty-well reserved from July through mid-September.
We might book for November, December or January when rates are cheaper and mosquitoes won’t bug us.
Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com
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