Give me your first time camping advice

In My Humble Opinion
41

2 of the ones I was going to post. Well Done!

Plastic Paint Tarps: If your tent measures out at 9x9, you need 10x10. They go underneath the tent and the extra gets rolled / folded under so when it rains, your tent is dry.

Duct Tape: Stuff breaks. Tent poles, gear, cars, etc. You’d be amazed at how many jams a big old roll of DT will get you out of.

Rain Ponchos. 'nuff said.

BIC lighter: Nobody smokes anymore. Yes, you can use a magnesium bar & flint but lets be honest: its faster.

Food goes/stays in the car; food in the tent is just a bear Hors d’œuvre.

Toilet paper & packet sanitary wipes. Sanitary wipes first, TP to dry. You know, for washing hands. :wink:

I’ve always liked a battery powered lantern for inside the tent at night, but remember: lights off when changing. Otherwise, you’ll be giving a ‘tent show’.

Camp Chairs. After a long day, its nice to sit & read by the campfire. Chairs should equal the number of people or the kids will fight over them.

4C sticks. Because water can get boring.

If you are bringing alcohol (and the place is OK with it) remember that ice cubes are few/far between. Think about what you’d drink at room temp.

And don’t forget the Hefty Bags! Garbage storage/haulage yes, but when you smell that Ozone shift & know you need to waterproof things quickly, they help a lot. If you’re backpacking and forgot your poncho, use two Heftys: One to cover your pack (punch holes through the sides for the straps) and one goes over you (hole through top for head, through sides for arms)

Bring a hat for each person, ball-cap even. Spray with scotch-guard pre trip.

42

Yooper here.

Where ya going? I see Tahquamenon Falls, and that’s gorgeous. Pictured Rocks is great, too, as are about a gazillion other places. One of my favorites is Grand Island, near Pictured Rocks, but not nearly as crowded. But that’s an island, and there’s no cars allowed, so that might not work for you. Seney Wildlife area is also a good spot, even just for a drive-through. There’s a lot of really nice birds (swans, cranes, ducks, etc) you can see without much effort at all.

You’re coming at a good time. The bugs are dying down, though I wouldn’t forget to take lots & lots of bug dope. It’s also warming up - June was cold & rainy, but so far July’s been warm & mostly sunny.

Be careful on the Lake. There’s plenty of nice swimming beaches, but the Lake can also be treacherous and it eats a few people every year, usually in the same spots, so pay attention to warning signs or ask a local. If you decide to canoe or kayak, please please please wear a wetsuit and a PFD, even if it’s 90 degrees and calm. The weather can come up suddenly, and you don’t have to get too far off shore before the water is so cold that even a few minutes can be very dangerous. If you don’t have all that equipment, stick to the inland lakes. They’re often just as pretty and much safer.

If you have any more questions, let me know. The closer you get to the central UP (where I live), the more details I can give you.

43

There used to be a lot of bears there a long time ago. I remember going to the garbage dump at Shingleton to watch the bears.

Does the UP still have garbage dumps to watch the bears? Are the garbage dumps still there? Where are the garbage dumps these days where bears come in each night ?

Shooting rats with 22’s in the daytime, and then watching bears go thru all the garbage at night used to be the big entertainment at garbage dumps in Michigan a long time ago.

44

If someone offers to take you out into the woods to hunt snipe, tell them to go pound sand. It’s a trap.

45

Dunno what cell phone coverage is like where you’re going, but those FRS radios (walkie-talkies) are great for when the group splits up and needs to regroup. Makes things much easier and can be fun for the kids.

46

We will not be able to go further west than Munising, and we will be going to stay at Indian Lake Campground by Manistique part of the time. Wish we could travel to the other half of the U.P. but we are meeting up with friends from the Soo. I’m hoping once we get this camping thing down, we’ll be able to travel more througout the rest of the U.P. another time. There is so much to see and not much time!

Glad to hear the bugs are dying down, but I’m preparing for the worst. I’m finding it extremely buggy down here in the L.P. due to such a rainy spring, more so than usual.

Any particular sites to see/things to do that will keep a 5 and 6 year old entertained? I know they’ll enjoy all the aspects of camping, but just wondering if there is a specific site they should see.

Thanks for the tips. I’m definitely taking your advice about being safe on the Lake!

47

Hats, preferably big floppy hats, not baseball caps.

Sunscreen.

Bug spray.

Do not take canned goods, canned drinks or anything in a glass container with you, even if you are only car camping.

Cashews make better gorp than peanuts. Peanut butter M&Ms make better gorp than regular M&Ms. I won’t tell you my secret ingredient to make gorp better than cooked food, tho. :smiley:

Have fun.

Stay safe.

Plan for the worst; hope for the best.

48

It was unhealthy for the bears, and made people foolishly interact with them as if they were tame, leading to incidents which culminated in bear destruction. Furthermore, the UP had no formal waste management program before 1988, thus the dumps were completely unregulated and unsanitary. The old garbage dumps were all closed or regularized.

The practice of feeding bears garbage has been eliminated at all state and national parks to my knowledge.

49

It may seem obvious, but–put in the time and effort to put your tent up right. Stake it down, put on the rain flap, etc. Often when you get there you’re tired and willing to settle for “good enough”, but resist that temptation. You’ll be glad you did when the epic windy rainstorm hits at about 3AM. (Just ask half of the people who were at Bonnaroo '09.)

If you intend to sleep past 7:00 in the morning or suspect you might want to nap in the tent sometime during the day you want to be sure that the sun won’t be shining directly on the tent. As mentioned above, well-placed tarps can help prevent this. Remember that spots that are shady in the late afternoon aren’t necessarily so all day.

The big metal stakes you can buy are great, but keep in mind that if you hammer them into hard ground they’re going to be a bitch to get out. Stake pullers will be useless, and the little plastic tab that tops most of such stakes will likely just break. A pair of pliers will do the job, though.

Have fun!

50

+1

Bacon too.

51

+1!

52

Who needs garbage dumps? I’m in the middle of town, and have had more than one bird feeder taken by bears. A few years ago when there was a dam break and a lot of standing water, there were bears everywhere, feasting on the fish that had been splatted all over the flooded area.

Assume there is no cell phone coverage up here. Heck, even close to town, it’s spotty. Camping? No guarantee at all.

I can’t think of anything specifically geared towards kids in the area you’re going, but there’s plenty of stuff to keep them entertained. There’s a boat tour in Munising that’s really pretty and probably a hit with kids, and of course there’s always the “sit on the beach and play in the sand” kind of day. You can also rent paddle boats at T-Falls, if I remember right.

Another fun thing is if you’re in AuTrain at all (close to Munising), there’s a really nice river canoe trip you can do in a couple hours. It’s a big windy river south of town where at one point, it crosses a bridge, winds around for several miles, then ends up at another bridge on the same road as the first, within walking distance. So basically you can park your car, spend a few hours on the river, and end up right back at your car. I did that several times as a kid and thought it was very cool.

Fayette Historic Townsite, on the Garden Peninsula, is an old town they’ve made into a museum, and most summers have people in-costume telling you the history of the place and all that. Very interesting for adults & kids both, but not sure you’ll be very close to it. Maybe another time?

Whitefish Point is just north of T-Falls is very pretty, and you have a good chance of seeing some cool birds. Nice Museums, too, including the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum.

Oh! If you haven’t seen it already, Hunt’s Guide is the best travel guide for the UP. I see it has a section for kids stuff, too.

53

Some things that haven’t been mentioned yet (I apologize if I missed em):

Garbage bags. Take out what you bring in. I usually get a bag with the built in ties and tie it up on a tree. It keeps the ground vermin from getting at it and then before going to bed, I’ll take it to the main garbage for the park. (No surprises at night then).

Broom and dustpan. It’s amazing how much dirt can get into a tent and sleeping on sand isn’t fun.

Camera. Gotta take pics.
Here’s what I usually bring for car camping:
**Essentials:**Tent
Inflatable mattress
Sleeping bag/sleeping bag liner (if it’s too hot out).
Pillow (it’s easy to forget that)
Flashlights/lantern
Bug spray
Set of plates and silverware
Pie iron
Cast Iron skillet
Hot dog tongs
Cooler
Cutting board
Foldable hammock and chairs

Dogs:
Food dish
Water dish
Tie out
Kennel (or they will claw their way out of the tent)

Food:
Ice
Water
Bread (good for sandwiches and for pies)
Assorted meats and cheeses
Mayo and horseradish packets
Egg beaters
Red and green peppers (make quiches in the pie tins)
Onions
Pam spray
Peanut butter and jelly
Chips/pretzels/Gorp
Pie filling

There are enough ingredients to create different meals while not having to pack a ton of different things.

Non-essentials:
Kindle
Beer
S’mores
Guitar
Jiffy Pop (is still around but is rather dangerous to make as you need to get close to the fire and shake)

54

You might want to try and camp out in the back yard overnight first, just to make sure that you are going to be comfortable enough to get a good night’s sleep.

Nothing worse than newbie campers heading out to the great outdoors and camping for the first time, and no one gets a good nights sleep because…

…the ground is too hard. (take an air matress)
…they don’t have the right pillow. (bring your pillow from home)
…it’s too damn hot in the tent. (get a battery operated fan)
…dad’s feet stink. (sorry got nothing for you on that one.)

55

For there to be morning coffee and bacon, someone has to get up before everybody else and get things going. Be that person. Then you can relax for the rest of the day while the others work like dogs to try to catch up with you karma-wise.

56

Do not do this.

Anyway, my suggestion is about coolers: A block of ice lasts a lot longer than ice cubes in a cooler. Cubes start melting individually and once your cooler starts to fill up with water, the other cubes start melting fast, and you food can get waterlogged. For example, on the recent long weekend, we only used one block of ice, drained the cooler once a day, and we still had most of our ice block intact by the time we had to break camp. Whereas my buddy had to by new ice cubes daily.

On the other hand surrounding your beer with ice cubes keeps it really cool, right?

Use blocks of ice for the big cooler that you’ll be using as a fridge to keep your food cool, and a mini-cooler (the kind that holds a six pack and a couple sandwiches) with cubes for stuff like your beer, juice, milk, etc.

57

Go to the dollar store and buy a small, perfectly square cheapo garbage can that will fit in your cooler. Put the cold food in that to keep it separated from your melting ice. That way it won’t get waterlogged. You also don’t have to hunt as hard for the food either. Alternately, if you have more food than ice, put the ice in the garbage can.

And my favorite for camping, if you are into Scotch, and you are into Bacon; Cook all of your bacon, set it aside as you make it. When it is all done, throw it back into the pan. Pour in a shot of Lagavulin or Laphroig (nice peaty stuff) and throw a lid on it to let it steam. Give it about two more minutes. Presto! Scotch Bacon.

58

Oh, I forgot. In case no one has mentioned it yet: bring extra toilet paper. Sucks if the comfort stations run out. Park staff is usually really on top of stuff like that, but you can never go wrong with extra TP.

59

And put that extra toilet paper in a large ziplock bag so it doesn’t get wet.

60

As a kid I really enjoyed playing with my Tonka trucks on the beach - it is like a giant sandbox.

Esp at the state parks - see if there are any ranger led programs for kids, or they may have loaner backpacks with nets, magnifying glasses, bug ID books, etc.

Check out geocaching - there may even be loaner GPS units

Stargazing, if they can stay up late enough.

Brian