Minnesota teen has slept in his backyard for nearly three years just for fun 
By The Washington Post, adapted by Newsela staff on 02.21.23 
Word Count 1,022 
Level 1070L

NAME_1 sleeps outside in a "bivy sack,” a personal-size waterproof shelter, in January 2022. Photo: NAME_2/Washington Post Photo: NAME_2/Washington Post 
For more than 1,000 nights, 14-year-old NAME_1 has slept beneath the stars in his backyard in Duluth, Minnesota. That's almost three years. On at least one night, the temperature dipped to minus 38 degrees. 
He was 11 years old when he first started sleeping outdoors. It started as a playful self-challenge at his family's cabin about 30 miles from home. Now it's a nightly routine that NAME_3 expects he'll continue through high school, and even maybe longer. 
"I don't see it ending anytime soon — I might even keep going through college," said NAME_3, who is NAME_4. "It's a lot of fun and I'm not ready to stop." 
On January 12, 2023, to celebrate his 1,000th night of sleeping outside, NAME_3 cozied up inside a snow shelter called a quinzhee. It's an above-ground snow cave that has been hollowed out from a large pile of snow. He and some of his scouting friends from Troop 15 built it at Lakeside Presbyterian Church in Duluth. 
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While most of NAME_3's nights have been spent in his backyard, for the milestone, NAME_3's parents let him sleep alone in the quinzhee next to the building where he attends B