Winter Blues Getting to You?

“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” 

-J.K. Rowling

It’s February y’all! Which means winter is almost over. For some I am sure that brings sadness and others I’m sure it’s making you do a little dance right now. Which one are you? For those that may struggle through winter, I’d love to share some info on how to find some light during these darker winter days. 

Chase the Sunshine:
Did you know Idaho has some really cool locations? And a lot of them are really great to visit during the winter time! Here are some of our favorites: 

• Riggins
  • Hike the Rapid River Trail (pic above) and/or drive the Salmon River Road.
    • **TIP**- I almost always see bighorn sheep there-
• Hells Canyon
  • Pittsburg Landing was insanely beautiful when I went last year for the first time.
• The Owyhee area
  • China Wall and Succor Creek are really cool. And it’s on my list to see Leslie Gulch this year. 
• If you just need SUN, then get above our darn Idaho inversions! Drive to one of our ski resorts and I bet you’ll find the sun.
  • *Tip**- Check the webcam on their website before going to make sure they are above the inversions. 

Lessons from a Toddler:
It’s true, it’s really true, there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad gear. My five year old daughter has been going to Roots Outdoor Preschool since she was 1. I have dropped her off in negative temps and she has survived for three hours outside just fine. But it’s taken a lot of work to dial in our system to achieve this and it’s all about the gear. Our favorite gear we use daily while living in McCall is: 

• Handwarmers
  • Electric ones are amazing to be friendly to the environment otherwise Costco sized boxes to the rescue. 
• Layers, layers, layers
  • Base layers, mid layers, vests and then the outerwear. If you want specifics on what we use, where we get it cheap or anything else then shoot us a message. 
• TWO pairs of gloves as the first one will probably get soaked. 
• Warm drinks
  • When we go adventure as a family we pack tea, coffee and/or hot cocoa to take on our outings. It’s amazing what one sip of something warm in the blizzarding outdoors will do. 
• Treats
  • Like the warm drinks mentioned above, a little bit of something yummy just warms the tummy. 

Embrace the Winter:
When I moved to McCall 6 years ago, I had fallen out of love with winter but I knew to make us last through the Valley County snowy months I needed to learn to embrace and love winter again. Here’s some tips that helped me that might help you!

• Learn something new
  • I picked up skate skiing and backcountry skiing.
    • **TIP**-Your library or City may have loaner gear to get you started. 
  • If you’re not up for learning a new hobby, then try a new recipe weekly or a new indoor activity (see ideas below). 
• Find a winter crew
  • With my new sports I found new friends to encourage and motivate me to get outside. 
• Find social media motivation
  • I found a few local people that post a lot of their winter adventures and just watching those clips each day made me want to get out there and do that too. 
• Find local areas to still get outside
  • My bestie has a “river loop” in her neighborhood that her HOA grooms in the winter and it’s perfect for us to do multiple times a week. It gets me, the kiddos, and the dogs outside.
    • **Tip**-sometimes snow is actually easier with kiddos as you can pull them in sleds or Thule chariots where you can’t always do that on singletrack dirt trails! I bought a “jetsled” off amazon and the kids love that for being pulled around through the flats.
  • Our McCall golf course plows the paths in the winter and even does fun Friday night tiki torch walks. 
  • Our City of McCall shovels and maintains an outdoor ice rink. 
  • Some areas are easier to access in the winter than summer- like Egg Rock in McCall. 
• Hot Springs Chasing
  • Compile a list of hot springs that are accessible in the winter and start checking them off. 

Find Indoor Places:
If you just can’t do winter, or you need only small doses then find some indoor places that can offer solace when you need to just get out of your house. For our small town of McCall, there’s not many options but what we have found is: 

• The library- Books, toys, games, and more. 
• Look at your City’s programs as they probably have indoor activities for you and/or kiddos 
• The pool
• Join a non-profit
  • I recently become a board member for CIMBA (Central Idaho Mountain Bike Association) and man, if you’re bored in the winter then go volunteer, as that keeps you busy! 
• Take a class
  • Have you always wanted to learn to cook or sew? Improve your finances? Look for local classes you can take. I just saw a really cool acrylic painting night via zoom on Facebook events. I highly recommend going to one rather than virtual as the social interactions in real life will be much better but if you can’t, doing something like this virtually will help! 
• Create a Checklist
  • When Covid hit I had two young kiddos at home and it was March and April in McCall, aka mud season. It was rough. I normally head to Boise that time of year to enjoy the dirt and green grass but obviously that wasn’t an option. So I created an ABC checklist. For 26 days we did an activity based on the letter for that day. So Day 1 was A and we made Airplanes (paper ones). Day 2 was B and we had a Balloon fight. And so on. Pinterest to the win on ideas for this! Just a simple checklist like this helped us get through the long muddy days.  
• Hibernate
  • I don’t recommend doing this the entire winter like the bears, but it is a great time to listen to your mind and body and relax by the fire, take a bath, read a book, etc.
  • Be careful though! I find myself reverting to the desire to stay inside and be comfy and cozy. It’s easier than dealing with all the layers and snow. It’s WARM, it’s lovely. And I do think a healthy dose of that is needed and perfect. But if I listen to my inner thoughts every time it tells me to stay inside then I find myself feeling pretty down and depressed. Winter is hard, I get it! I live in it for many months each year and I get so tired of all the layers you have to put on, all the extra planning, and I HATE HATE HATE to be cold. And truthfully, every single time I make plans to go outside in winter, my brain always tries to tell me why I should bail and stay inside. Every time.  But when I get myself out there I am ALWAYS grateful I didn’t listen to my mind trying to convince me to stay in the comfortable house.
• Planning Sessions
  • We’ll chat next newsletter about planning out your epic adventures for the remainder of the year. But if you’re feeling down and out right now, then pull out your calendar and your dream book with the list of places you want to go and start thinking about those future days with sunshine, tank tops, and ice cream! 
• Book a trip. Like now. Don’t think, go to google.com/flights and find a weekend flight to sunny California, Las Vegas, anywhere that’s close enough for a quick weekend trip and go find the sunshine. It’s amazing what one weekend in the heat and sunshine will do.
  • We try to take a yearly trip to Southern Utah for some sunshine and biking and that always helps me! 
• Find an Anti-winter crew?
  • Above I said to find a winter crew to adventure with, but perhaps you just need an anti-winter crew? Not a group that only complains about winter, but a group that supports each other by meeting weekly (indoors or outdoors) to connect and help get you through these darker days. 

Just Can’t Winter Anymore?:

• There is only 48 days left in winter, which for those in the Treasure Valley that really means way less since the sunshine and clear trails show up well before then…usually.
• On March 15th the sun will start setting at 7:51. Daylight!! 
• Maybe this will help- go create a calendar countdown, like one of those cute paper linked ones to give you a visual for when winter is over. 🙂 

What are some of your favorite tricks for dealing with winter? Or if you love winter, what’s your favorite activities and adventures this time of year?