I wouldn't be carrying it around. As long as it fits in the car, I'm good I can't use trees in the sites I've reserved and at most sites I've looked at.


Ugh - I mean camping trip, not hiking. I'm going camping with them. I've been hiking before. Stupid.

If you're car camping, a lot of that gear could be replaced with a bouncy castle. ;)

.......:mg::evil3:

If you went camping, and woke up with your pants down and Vaseline on your bum, would you tell anyone?

That would be embarrassing, having gotten the field expedient treatment for constipation after eating too much trail mix and not drinking enough water.

So no?




Wanna go camping?




Thanks

There you go, being campy.

I've got all my camping trips planned for the year. Most are 3 days and 2 nights. There is one that is 4 days 3 nights, but I am staying in an airbnb 10 minutes away from the park.

There are a couple hike in sites and mostly drive in sites. I've emailed the parks about bringing a hammock on stands as long as I keep them on the tent pad for the drive in sites.

I have an intro to camping class coming up in a couple weeks. I'm also taking a stove and water filter class, and a AT food class.

I'm getting excited!

Just remember you don't have to be an expert right out of the gate, a lot of people are still bumbling along at the third turn. Knowing enough not to get hurt is sufficient. ;)

That's why I am not going to the back country :D

I know how to survive hiking, so that's good - lol. The good thing is that there is a definite check out time, so I am assuming that if you don't check out, they know something went sour. I am also planning on telling them that, too, in case it isn't assumed.

You'll be fine. It will be fun.

Here's a tip I don't know if I mentioned before. Ear plugs. I have trouble sleeping when mice or squirrels are scurrying around in the woods. You hear a rustle and lie there trying to figure out what it is. I sleep much better when I don't hear that squirrel 100 feet away. Or even rain. Rain is so freaking loud in a tent.

Good idea! I'll add it to my big old container of "camping schtuff"

But then you won't hear the swamp monster or bigfoot sneaking up on you. :lol2:

It wasn't a squrl.

In case you forget matches. :rolleyes:

In theory, that could work. Looks really awkward. How do you hold everything steady while positioning yourself for a kick start?

Ha! I don't think so! I've forgotten to update in a while!

I bought another stove - a bigger one that will fit a small pot and pan on it. The other one will only fit the tiny camp pots on it.

I broke down and bought a sleeping bag. It was on sale, so that's my reasoning.

I bought a plethora of bug repellent stuff.

I also got some cheapo towels.

I got a not so cheapo cooler

I still need: tarp, rope, fire starter option, and that may be it. I have a list somewhere.

So it begins

Running around getting your shit together... but it's worth it.

That's purty

1.5 days. In 1.5 days, I will be experiencing my first camping night. I met up with one of the friends I am going with to plan out the food. She's not a big planner, but I am :) Friday is dinner before arriving and snacks after. Saturday is all three meals (they're doing breakfast, I am doing lunch and dinner). Sunday is just breakfast. Check out is 3pm, so I might hang out a bit, but they'll probably leave after breakfast.

I will be taking lots of pictures, I'm sure. I'll post them on my pic thread, probably.

They are experienced campers, so it will be good to see how to do things. Plus, they're going to teach me how to make a fire. :D

first camping trip on 4/20. blaze it.

No, thank you. I don't smoke. Also, it's illegal in this state.

It's funny. You keep hearing about it being legal here and there, but you get the electric chair of you do it in Virginia

legal has nothing to do with it. anyway, I was talking about trail blazing. m'yeah

https://www.canbike.org/public/image...d_Entrance.jpg

Have fun bbro!

I survived! Mostly!

I started a fire on my own!! I cooked over a fire (badly). I slept on the ground (badly). I put up a tent and took it down(wonderfully). I have a standard kitchen box, now. I have a container with all the main stuff (minus the tent that doesn't fit into anything).

Things of note
The camping buddy
Love her to death, but she's high maintenance and very unprepared. She moves a lot slower than I do, so it was really frustrating watching her take 20-30 minutes to set up a fire before even lighting it. And she had to be the one in control of the fire. Constantly moving the logs. There was very little hiking done because she was so sore from sleeping.

BUT she had no supplies. If she knew she needed to sleep on something, why not bring it? If I hadn't brought all the stuff in my kitchen box, I don't know how she would've prepared breakfast or even eaten the food prepared. She ended up going to the store the second day to get food for breakfast today. Really???
That's when she went and got a dog (??) bed to sleep on last night.

I don't know how, but we barely ate (in my view), so all the food I brought kind of was a waste to buy. I have to eat it all myself and if I'dve known that, I wouldn'tve bought most of it.

I think she can stay a hiking buddy, but I think we're too different for camping buddies. I am hugely grateful to her for accompanying me, so I kept my mouth shut and let her putter. I was so fucking hungry though!!

Sleeping arrangements
I was in pain the whole time. I am a side sleeper and didn't even think of that when buying sleeping pads. What I have is ridiculously insufficient. I think I've found a thicker one to try. The sleeping bag was not bad. A mummy bag is weird, though. Only my nose was cold on the first night. I know the sleeping pad helped with that because in my tossing and turning, one leg was off the pad and one on. The temp difference was insane!

I found a 4 inch sleeping pad that is inflatable I may try. I want a hammock, so I may just go ahead and buy that, too. I thought I couldn't use them in the parks, but lots of people were. Apparently, that doesn't fall in the category of "don't damage the trees"

Food
If I go alone again, I think I'll need a cast iron pan to make the eggs in for breakfast. Or, I'll just make some breakfast burritos to reheat. I did enjoy having the fire as we were waking up, though, so cooking breakfast every day is good with me. I plan on doing a shit load more hiking than 5 total miles on my other camps, so I need something to eat that I can either take with me or eat back at camp. I could cook this at the same time as breakfast and take it with me. Or, if I come back to camp have something I can cook over my stove

Dinner is much better over the fire. I need to learn how to cook over a fire better. The chicken I made was ok, but it wasn't cooking right on the skewers. I think I was impatient and didn't wait for the right cooking fire before putting them on. I think I'll use the hobo packet cooking style more often for just me.

The cooler I bought worked GREAT! It didn't get below 55 degrees from Friday late afternoon until I unpacked it today around noon. I am happy I made the purchase

I was sadly lacking on the liquid part of the food. I think I assumed the camping buddy would have their own stuff, but they didn't. I brought 2 nalgenes for water. Luckily, there was fresh water, we just had to fill up a lot. I don't think that would have lasted just me very long, though. I almost brought tea bags, but I put them back when they didn't fit into a container. That would've been good, too. The lady at the campground next to us had big container for water that had a spigot on it. I want that.

Miscellaneous
Definitely need a dirty laundry bag
Want a water container
Want hand brush for wiping off the tent and tarps as I am packing
Need to hang a rope line next time
Need lantern
Want a regular phone charger
Want a sleep mask
Want a hatchet in case we can gather fire wood

Other than that, I think my first trip went pretty well. I over packed only slightly. We used almost all of the kitchen items. I had some extra clothes and food. There were just some things that made life easier, too. Like paper bags for fire, handkerchiefs for anything, a small basin to carry dirty dishes to/from the utility sinks, gloves for prepping meat so we didn't have to worry about washing hands. I didn't shower the whole time even though there was a quick trip back to the apt. It wasn't as gross as I thought, but not a pretty sight :D

Also, I found the settings on my camera that made for AWESOME fire photos. I'm posting those over on my pic thread. I'll update here with pics of the campsite.

I need a nap...now

You got some great experience!

I think so! It was good to be so close to home, too. That way, I could come get a comforter I thought would help with the sleeping situation. It did, but not enough. That's why I wanted to start so close to home, honestly

Sounds like an excellent learning experience and nobody froze to death, bonus!

You’ve learnt such a lot in just one wee trip! Sounds like you’re going to have a lot of fun with this!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

How exciting!

I'm thrilled to hear your update. Congratulations, seriously, congratulations.

You glossed over the one thing you have that's *crucial* for a successful trip - - a good attitude.

Seriously. I know lost of people who are fully capable outside the city, and their misery is freaking contagious. Skills can be acquired and improved, gear can be bought, made, improvised...

Being out there... Getting the hell up off yer butt and GOING, that's a big key to your success.

I'm a side sleeper too, and never got relaxed enough to be rested sleeping in a hammock. Your mileage may vary.

Total bonus :D Although, I think I need to research fire safety items on account of the bacon grease fire. It was contained, though :D

I hope it'll be fun! I have 8 more trips to go - lol! I'm sure I'll learn even more at my first solo one in a couple weeks

Thanks! I agree about the attitude. I could've complained the whole time about being sore or the pace of my camping buddy, but I held my tongue and let it go. It's a lot easier in the woods. I don't think even a year or two ago I would have been able to do that. I never thought I'd be someone willing to go into the woods for a few days, but I'm enjoying it. I'll have to see if I like it when the bugs start eating me :eek:

I'm hoping I will be able to sleep on my back, then. I don't have enough cushioning on the ground to sleep on my back. My butt is too big :D I ordered from REI, so if it doesn't work out, I can take it back for a full refund up to a year after purchase date.

Some wise words I heard from a mate at the boy scout Seabase high adventure program was that the only difference between an ordeal and an adventure is one's attitude.

It makes all the difference.

Pictures!!
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Playing games
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Bad shot of the moon - it's supposed to be a crescent moon. I need to work on my night shots
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Zoom lens into the middle of the fire

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Some more fire porn. Staring into the embers
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Afternoon laziness view
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All the food
Eggs on the fire | Eggs done with potato packets | I MADE FIRE!!
Chicken prep station | Chicken cooking | Done chicken
Not Done chicken | Gucamole | Bacon skewers
Back up bacon attempt | Beef skewers to make use of the fire | Breakfast of bacon, eggs, and leftover potato packets
Attachment 63649

Man, you made real food. Good stuff. I love it when other people make bacon and eggs when I am camping. I'm lazy and just boil water and pour it over instant oatmeal, or maybe have an untoasted bagel, or something easy like that with no cleanup.

Heck yea! With my fancy shmancy cooler, there's no problem with that. The clean up was a little of a pain, but we had utility sinks, so we didn't have to store dirty dishes. I am thinking of different ways of having a tasty breakfast. Like breakfast burritos made before the trip to be reheated. Or even hobo packets with potatoes, sausage, and eggs. Nothing to do at the site and easy cleanup.

*Also, I am the green tent and the privacy shelter is mine, too. All the green is purely coincidental :D

Privacy shelter?

Somewhere to change so I don't have to roll around in my tent and get my pants on backwards. Happened this time. It can be used for shower/toilet, but it won't be for me.

A dressing room!
Probably should set up another to undress.

bbro, I have two words for you and your buddy. Camp cots.

You will thank me.

But your sherpa will likely have a different opinion...

We have those*. Great ...but not really for backpacking.

*exactly those, because I clicked on the link and it asked me if I wanted to buy them again :lol:

You can even get the actual military cot:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Folding-Cot...4AAOSw3h1ZQcsA

subscibed

Bro you had all the sleeping comfort behind your tents. All those trees behind you with their leaves on the ground. Use a stick to take the leaves to your tent platform.

I am a side sleeper too. A hammock works if you can find 2 trees that are the right distance apart. Go to Army surplus and buy a tent hammock. Good buy. Helps a lot to be a back sleeper.

A hatchet is a useless article unless you want to look like Daniel Boone. Green wood makes terrible tender and worse firewood. Go to an area away from the campers and you will likely find plenty of dry wood on the ground.

Throw salt on a grease fire. Grumpiness is not allowed while camping except in the morning. You did good. You saw what you need and what you didn't. Feels good to start a campfire and everyone emerges to enjoy the warmth.

I never could get a decent pic of the moon without zoom on a camera.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...ff2273856c.jpg

Captain, most state and all national parks, have rules about gathering wood.

@Pamela/monster - I was thinking about a cot if the pad didn't work out. It is SO comfy though and will be better for the hike in sites.

@captainhook - the hatchet is for fallen wood, not chopping down trees. That is definitely not allowed in the parks. And sorry, not putting leaves and stuff inside my tent. I'm trying not to get bit by bugs. Thanks for the tip about the salt. I may bring a bigger container of salt.

Most parks have rules about fallen wood too, be sure and check.

I'm pretty sure most are OK with you burning anything that's "dead, down and on the ground"

...they don't like you bringing it in though

Actually, there are parks that gathering wood is prohibited. You can bring it in, but you can't take it back out. Some places require that you by it on-site. But, it varies with the park. I check before I go. I'm ok with buying wood at the park to avoid the hassle. It's an easy way to support the park, the way I look at it.

The leaves go under the tent.:rtfm:

That's literally burning money. Which is ok, if you have money to burn.

Unless you have a way to magically make wood appear if we aren't allowed to gather wood. And we aren't allowed to bring in outside wood, then that's the way it goes. I'm not special enough to think the rules don't apply to me. If $20 is going to break me, I shouldn't be buying any of this stuff.

You're miles ahead because to have the right attitude. You Go Girl!! :thumb2: