Another poison ivy story I just remembered: in college, they had a volunteer service day coordinated between a bunch of different organizations, and one of their tasks was clearing brush from some place. The next day, literally hundreds of students showed up in the health center all at once with poison ivy rashes.

So. I have another camping adventure coming up next weekend. It's with the hiking group (not sure if I mentioned before) that I joined, but left me behind again. I would cancel, but I've already paid and offered to help the person setting up. As of now, there is no information on the fire situation or anything. I am planning on treating it more like the hike in sites I have reserved later in the year. I want to see if there is any way that I can leave the cooler in the car and walk back and forth to get food or if I should depend on dehydrated/canned food.

What I have planned so far:
Breakfast
- Egg tacos wrapped in foil I can reheat on a small skillet on my camp stove
- Backup - Shelf stable cheese and sausage with bread or crackers

Lunch
- Sandwich and fruit - Only one lunch day. Could be while hiking
- Backup - Canned soup

Dinner - Assumption is there is at least one fire a day
- Hobo packet with chicken and veg
- Backup - Canned soup

Definitely taking my 5 gallon water jug. I need a smaller container for a limited kitchen box. Maybe just a box for now, but long term, it should be something else. Maybe I should make a bag or something easy to carry. I was initially thinking of using a duffel bag. Then, I could carry my food stuff, clothes, pillow, etc in one bag and hopefully make less trips. Experimentation is upon us.

Five gallons = c. five days.
Get a backpack, preferably on a frame.
Learn from the group.

So some more information on the other invite. There will be a catered dinner on Saturday. I'm still bringing some soup for back up. The rest will likely stay the same. I am also eating before I get there on Friday. The organizer is making vegetarian chili. I get the feeling it's going to be all beans and I hate all beans. Except for chickpeas when made into hummus.

@Diaphone Jim - better to have more than needed and not enough. I have a day pack with an internal frame. I don't need a true backpacker pack just yet. I doubt there is anything to learn from the group, but you are right, I will take it if it happens.

For car camping, 5 gallons seems like a great idea, especially if you already have the container.

For backpacking, have you ever tried to pick up a 5 gallon bucket of water? It's doable, but you will be glad to put it back down shortly.

Remember - this is not true backpacking - I am only hiking in 125 ft to one site, 2200 ft to another, and one mile to another. A mile might be a little tougher, but if I only have to do it once, I believe it's doable - even if I have to make a separate trip for just that.

BUT, I'll be able to test it out this weekend. I can measure the distance from the car to the site I do have a container already. If it's too much, I can adjust how much I fill up the container. Water is definitely a different carry than a kettlebell, so I am sure it's not going to be as easy as I think

Well, the group just posted and said we can cancel and get a refund because it's going to be hot. Debating.....I wouldn't be hiking with them anyways. I don't know what to do now.

Nice thing about carrying water is that if halfway to the site you are regretting your decision, you can just dump some out.

This is true :)

Well, I am NOT going camping this weekend. I don't want to be around those people, so I cancelled. I am thinking of adding one night of camping in July, though.

It will probably still be hot when I go camping in two weeks, so I may be sticking to the same type of food choices - not fire dependent.

You have to be careful making plans to go camping with other people because the word camping defines different scenarios for different people. To some it's a tent in the backyard with mom bringing snacks and to others it's jungle with native bearers. Planning has to be specific until you know your co-conspirators pretty well. ;)

Considering it's the same group that couldn't even wait for me hiking, I don't think it would be a good experience. It would be different if I was actually going hiking with them. I think I'll go for a waterfall hike instead. Much better

Water is heavy.

not if you take the dehydrated stuff

It is if you have to haul water to hydrate it.

That's always the catch with dehydrated water.