Does anyone here go camping

In My Humble Opinion
21

A number of posters have given excellent recommendations for backpacking, and I just want to mention that gear is much, much less expensive if you check out scratch & dent sales (REIs typically have one every once in a while) and used gear sales. You can get incredible bargains (e.g. $15 for boots that normally would cost $150 and are in perfect condition except for the finger holds on the back being ripped off!)

Another easy thing to keep in mind is that you don’t need a permit to backpack in National Forest land. Check w/ local rangers to see if you’ll need a fire permit or bear cans.

I highly recommend taking a NOLS course or something similar to get you well introduced if you want to do a lot of backpacking.

BTW, anyone who’s been to Yosemite lately; I understand they’ve started requiring bear cans now. Anyone have the skinny on this?

22

I have done the tent only thing, many times, both as a kid and an adult. I hated it then, and I hated it as an adult. I only did it because of my then boyfriend, silly me.

I have even done the sleeping in a sleeping bag in the open back of pick up in the rain thing. Ugh, definitely not fun.

It depends upon how cold it is, as to how expensive. But IIRC you can get good army suplus mummy bags at the army surplus store, they’re good to ?? 30 below I think.

Freezedried goods are light, but the’re kinda spendy, if you camp near a lake, you can at least catch fish and stuff. It also depends upon where you live, nad how far out in the woods you go.

You don’t want to cook bacon anywhere near your tent or belongings, if the smell gets in them, you could come back to camp and find that all your stuff has been torn apart by a bear looking for the yummy bacon.

If we brought bacon, we usually cooked it downwind, and far from the clothing and material. And when the food wasn’t being cooked, we hoised it up in a tree, or kept in in the canoe in a cooker or something.

Also depending upon where you are, you’ll want adequate protection in case of bears. Usually, they’ll stay away from you, and if you do get close, unless they have cubs or a kill nearby, they’ll “warn” you by chuffing. Well, that’s grizzlies. Blacks are more likely to want to make lunch out of you, but they ddin’t seem to be as plentiful where I was. We always brought protection, and I have “bear safety training” in firearms from my job, so we were at least prepared.

There are tons of books telling you what berries and plants you can eat if you reeeeaaaaally want to go hardcore. And lots of them, lowbush and highbush cranberries for instance, are great for cooking with. Um, coleman makes a really cool little cookstove that can double as an oven for baking biscuits, which is foldable and very light.

Sorry if this is disjointed, I’m typing as I remember. Oh, don’t forget to bring candy in case you get a sweet tooth.

Lord, I’m SOOOOO glad I don’t “have” to do thqt anymore. But, good luck to you, have fun.

23

I’ve been half a dozen times so far this year. Mostly car camping, but next weekend we have a 2 night backbacking trip to the High Uintah Wilderness area planned. I have two sons in scouts so we get out quite a bit.

general camplist

10 essentials for camping

10 essentials for hiking and general wilderness activities

24

I don’t consider camping with heavy gear and a car in a campground as ‘hard’ camping. It sounds like what you’re interested in is what most people refer to as backpacking. I have started backpacking in the last two years and it’s one of the most satisfying hobbies you can take up. If you’re seriously interested and can afford to throw a few hundred dollars at it, you won’t regret it.

That said, I would recommend you start out with a relatively short trip - less than 10 miles roundtrip. Choose a destination and buy a book that deals specifically with that place. I’m not familiar with what’s near you in Bloomington (assuming you’re in either MN or IN), but there are a wealth of areas in the US and Canada that allow backpacking, including National Forest land; State and Provincial Parks; and National Park land, which is where you’ll see some of the most spectacular scenery possible. There are hundreds of books out there for planning your trips that map trails, recommend sites for pitching your tent, and tell you what’s required in that particular area.

As far as expense, it can be pricey, yes. I’ve gotten into backpacking recently and don’t have a lot of money to throw at the hobby, but I’ve still managed to keep to a budget. For a short trip, you’ll have to have, at minimum: hiking shoes/boots, backpack, tent, sleeping bag, stove (including propane), water filter and water bottle, first aid kit, appropriate clothing. Make sure when you purchase all of these items that you get ones specifically intended for backpacking, as every pound that you carry makes a difference. The tent should be a one or two person tent that’s very light and easy to assemble/disassemble… nothing like the tents that people take car camping. These tents aren’t near tall enough to stand up in and are contoured to the shape of your body. Same for the sleeping bag - you want one that stuffs into a very small sack and weighs just a few pounds. I was lucky enough to find a used tent for $20, but the pack, sleeping bag and tent could each be found new for around $150 or less for something decent. You can get great deals if you shop places like REI’s outlet store online, garage sales, etc.

As for danger, you won’t be putting yourself at any great risk if you take a short trip into a well-documented area like a State or National Park, educate yourself thoroughly beforehand, and notify someone of where you are going and when you expect to return.

25

I forgot to mention one more essential - a light source! I use a candle lantern and a head lamp… there may be other lightweight options.

26

We tent camped when I was a kid and when we were first married and the boys were little.

For the last ten years or so camping has been in an RV if I go along, although the boys still tent camp once or twice a year. I’m not sure RVing ought to be considered camping, 'course I wouldn’t call it vacationing either. Our RV is quite small but it has a toilet, shower, range, oven, microwave, air conditioning and heating.

What you are calling hard camping, I would call backpacking. The boys have done this once or twice, however, as they are waterskiers and wakeboarders they prefer not to get too deep into with wilderness because that puts them too far from a boat.

They like taking a tent and a few camping supplies out to a sandbar or island in the river or on the lake and skiing until tired, then sleeping over night there to get up and ski again in the morning and did this a number of times until they spotted a gator on “their” sandbar.

27

No, getting into it is not expensive. You’ll need a map of the area in which you are walking (usually available via the internet). A very cheap compass will do nicely for helping you find your way out if you lose the trail. For shelter, just use a blanket from home and a sheet of plastic. On cool nights, a foam pad or cardboard will make a big difference in keeping you warm. Bug spray will help a lot until you can afford a tent. Bring a used plastic soda bottle for water, carry a few iodine pills if you get lost and run out of clean water, and wrap some duct tape around it for first aid. Although a stick or leaves will do, you might consider bringing a few sheets of TP in your pocket. If you have the cash, a pack can be very helpful, but otherwise just use the plastic sheet as a bundle over your shoulder. I assume that you already have comfortable clothes, shoes, and raincoat with a hood.

As you get into it more, you’ll decide what you need to provide yourself with for a comfort level that makes you happy.

Is it safe? Yes. Have an rescue plan (e.g. tell someone where you are going, when you will be back, and when to call in help). Know your route, know the alternate access points, and have a baseline established so that if all goes to hell and a hand basket you can simply walk a line to a baseline such as a road (thus the need for a cheap compass). Watch the weather. Watch where you step. Watch you water supply. If you are in cell territory, bring a phone.

As a rule of thumb, think of what you wish to accomplish (e.g. hike from A to B), think of what you need to do this comfortably, think of what may go wrong (lost, storm, injury, hypothermia . . .), and think of what you will need for survival. Until you know what the variables are, a good way to learn without putting youself in danger is to join a hiking or canoeing club.

If you want an insurance policy against starvation or against animal attack, just bring along a chubby companion who is a little slower than you. :smiley:

28

Not black bears in the east. Black bear attacks are extremely rare.

29

Any excuse for a couple of cute pics - - this little guy was checking us out when I stuck my head out of the tent on an island near Moose Factory.


30

I’m not much of a hiker, but I do like Canoe camping, and once I was crazy enough to spend a weekend cross-country skiing around a national park while sleeping in a tent (note to self: learn to cross-country ski before you do that again). One day I’ll load up my bicycle and make my way somewhere, pitching a tent wherever I feel like it…

Wesley, I suggest you make your way to whatever outdoorsy stores are in your neck of the woods, and see if they rent any gear. This will save you lots and lots of cash, and let you try out this hobby to see if you actually like it.

Any good store will have a message corkboard set up too-- chances are you’ll be able to hook up with someone who’s got room for an extra person in their tent, as long as you are willing to haul some gear.

And personally, I’ve always found my mood is much better if I’m eating well. And if that means packing a pound cake in my bag, along with some fresh strawberries and a can of whipped cream so I can make strawberry shortcake two days from civilization, well, I’m just gonna have my cake and eat it too.

31

If your “Bloomington” is the one in Indiana Wesley, you’re just up the road from the northern end of the Hoosier National Forest. Also, there’s the Hardin Ridge Recreational Area right close. For a starter trip, you could tent it at Hardin and dayhike through the Charles C. Deam Wilderness which is roughly across the road. Get the feel of things. And the best part? No bears to eat you your first trip out.

If you’re “Bloomington” is one of the other ones, I gots no help for you.
P.S. BiblioCat, I have both a self-inflating air mattress and a cot. My cot is the Byer Allagash cot (you can find them at Campmor, but I’m too lazy to link) and it folds down to roughly the size of my air mattress. It weighs way more, but for car camping, quite cush.

32

Yep, bloomington, In. I should put that in my location as there are at least 3 Bloomingtons in america.

There is alot of forest area here in Bloomington. Ten miles north is a very thick forest, and about 20 miles south is the campground Lake monroe. I assumed one or the other would have some good backpacking trails.

33

It can be expensive if you let it get into your blood. Every time I think I have all the gear I want, I go out and find myself wishing for something. This time its a GPS unit and maybe a food dehydrator so I can make my own campfood! (This is because I found last time I went out that the thing I spent the most on was food, altogether it cost even more than gas cost us to drive to the trailhead 3 hours away!)

34

We always stand there in the sporting goods store and look at the cots (because the air mattressess end up getting little pinholes in them and don’t hold the air), but just end up patching the old ones anyway. We’ve bought a coupla new ones over the years, and probably have spent as much as if we’d spent the money on decent cots in the first place. But hubby and I like to zip our bags together and snuggle for warmth, and I don’t think we’ve ever seen a double cot.
We have a little battery-operated inflater thingy. It runs on four D-cells and inflates the double mattress in about 8 minutes.

35

I have the same problem. Every trip we whine about how heavy the packs are. So before we go camping, we try to reduce what we bring with us. The weight that we save invariably gets used up something new we want to bring so we can try it out.
I have an excellent tent. We’ve used it for years and its held up pretty well even during the worst storms we’ve encountered. Regardless, I convinced my buddys that we had to buy a new tent this year. Kinda steep at $500 for a 3 man 4 season tent, but it’s soooo cool. In reality, I just wanted it because it had a moon roof type of opening at the top of the tent.

36

There really isn’t much wilderness in the UK - at least not in the south - even on Dartmoor, you’re never really more than a mile or six from a road. Nevertheless, when I was a gangly youth of about 20, I trekked into the new forest with three mates and we built a shelter from sticks and bracken, staying there for a week - we did have sleeping bags and quite a bit of packaged food, although we supplemented it with rabbits, squirrels, fish and wild mushrooms. I wouldn’t call this camping.

I’m now a bit older with a family, so we’re doing (what I call) ‘proper’ camping - a family tent, gas stove, sleeping bags, air mattresses etc (although no electricity beyond a few batteries) - soft, perhaps.