March Concerns

[rafe]

Hello im planning a trip to the upper pines campground for the March 30th weekend of next yr with a couple friends, I wont be making reservations until Nov. 15th...so while i have some time to change my mind i have lots of concerns that might push the date into April or May. This will be all of our first tent camping trip and I've been seeing on here how unpredictable the weather can be for this time of yr ...so getting to the point im just concerned about driving in snow w/ chains (1st time also) and overnight temps. Really dont know what to expect, saw someones post on here that mentioned a heater, will this be a necessity?? any advice would be greatly appreciated thanks for reading!

[AlmostThere]

If you're renting a car, you'll want to check with the rental company on whether you can use cables or chains on the vehicle in the first place. Many don't want you to do that.

March is winter - there will be snow, and it'll be cold if you aren't used to sleeping out in the low 40F - 30F range. I wouldn't put a heater in a tent; especially a propane one, carbon monoxide is dangerous.

A good warm sleeping bag and a good warm pad (not an uninsulated air mattress) will help you out a lot. So will layered clothing.

May is usually when things warm up, tho some years, like this one, snow and cold linger into June.

[hotrod4x5]

I was there in April for Earth day one year and we had one sunny day, one snowy day and a cloudy day. March will be cold!