This is the most luxurious form of camping we have ever done. But it works well for winter camping and we are hooked.

Our families were extremely worried when we told them we were skiing to a yurt to stay for 4 days and would not have cell service. I’m not sure if they were concerned we were going to get chopped up by some Maine woodsman or that we would get snowed in and never get out. In any case, here aresome FAQ about yurt living that came from family, so I thought I’d post them on the blog as well.
No, there was no running water at the yurt. You pack in whatever water you think you’ll use. Wash dishes in a bucket and be conservative, dumping your dirty water in a concentrated area away from the yurt. And to clarify, we didn’t shower for 4 days. I know it’s not ladylike to love not showering so much, but it’s something I love. And we used an outhouse to pee and poo. No digging holes like we do for other camping excursions. The ground is too frozen.

Electricity was nonexistent. This experience really took us back to the pioneer days. We read and played games by candlelight. Let’s just say, we went to bed very, very early. We definitely missed the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve. You try stay awake past 9pm when it gets dark by 4pm!

Yes, the yurt was warm enough despite the frigid temps outside. Toasty in fact. There’s a wood-burning stove in the yurt, so you can make it as warm as you want. High yurt temp—84 degrees. On the flip side, if we were too lazy to feed the fire during the night (which happened often), the temp definitely dropped. Low yurt temp—50 degrees.

The yurt was very well equipped, so you mainly just pack in your food/drink/clothes/bed linens (which you carried in on sleds, I have a new appreciation for sled dogs). We actually ate better than we do at home– cheese fondue, French toast, bacon and chocolate fondue!

So, our New Year’s vacation can be summed by lots of sleeping, lots of XC skiing, lots of snowshoeing, lots of fondue, lots of reading and lots of games. I hate to admit it, but J won every single game we played. I’m just pathetic. Though, we are still debating the rules of Chinese Checkers. Anyone want to chime in on it? Can you move sideways or backwards? Oh, and it did not stop snowing the entire 4 days we were at the yurt. It was pure awesomeness. By the way, the yurt sleeps 8 people. You can all join us next time, but only if you bring fruitcake. I don’t think I’ve ever had a fruitcake, but a yurt seems like a good place to have a food that never goes bad.
FYI, J and I decided instead of owning a bed and breakfast, we are totally going to own a yurt business. We are thinking of a “yurt and breakfast.” Complete with fruitcake upon arrival.