More than anything, here, it's the ticks and chiggers that keep me out of the forest from late Spring to early Autumn, so that's why I do most of my camping in the Winter. Overall, the Summer's here in the Ozarks are awful for backpacking.

Dryer pointed out that camping in AR in winter isn't all that cold, and I usually wait til we're having a warm spell to head out and then it's pretty darn nice.

I love waking up warm and cozy in my sleeping bag when it's still frosty outside. I'll poke my head out and look around, glance at the sunrise, the frost on the ground, the fog, and then snuggle in and snooze and dream until it warms up a bit.

One of the things I love to do is sit and soak up the sun. On a day in the 50s-60sº you can peel off your shirt and zip-off pant legs and sit on a boulder soaking up the sun and it feels wonderful after being cooped up during a cold gray spell.

And I love sitting by a campfire in the winter at night. The air is clear and the stars are bright.

I'd say that winter camping here, when I do it, is not much different than the Sierras in the Summer out west. The temps are often close to the same, the water is always cold, and the air is clean and clear.

To be fair, I've never seen so many stars as I have while camping in the Sierras above 9000ft in the summer. If I could, I would wander and explore there all summer long.