Thanks for all the great advice, guys. I was just on our state park website, planning on convincing him to go with their “to get your feet wet” camping suggestions - there are some trailside camps a little hike in that I think we could overnight in without killing ourselves. (The downside? Same trail the rangers almost had to rescue me from. This time, however, I wouldn’t be going with a bunch of dumb-ass women and maybe we could get started before noon, huh?) I assure you, Girl Scout and Car-Camping Boyfriend are by no means hauling off to the uncharted wilderness - I don’t think they even have that in South Carolina unless it’s a swamp and I am not going to a swamp.
So I was thinking, either in this thread or one of the ones linked, people were talking about canoeing and camping - the BF has and enjoys an inflatable boat, maybe it would be possible to boat in and camp? But I’m not sure how you find places to do that that aren’t, you know, swamps. (We have lovely swamps. Used to get dragged fishing down Santee, which is a lake only if you’re a moron, and it would have been lovely if it weren’t 5 AM and with my dad who gets very frustrated very easily. Bald eagles all over the place. Still a swamp.)
Actually, my mom and I were considering doing Becoming an Outdoorswoman last year, but her brother got sick and our lives went to hell for a year. He finally let go and passed away in December - maybe she’d be interested in doing it this year?
Oh, and if there are bears in South Carolina there aren’t very many. I imagine it’s possible to find one in the mountains, which I guess is where we’d end up going (Jones Gap, Caesar’s Head, etc), so I’d be careful with the food and take precautions, but this isn’t really bear country per se as far as I know. And they certainly wouldn’t be grizzlies.
One of my friends has decided that he wants to go backpacking.
Only he wants to do it over ice and water.
And wants his end-point to be the north pole.
And did I mention that he is quadriplegic?
I expect that he’ll have a grand time – the time of his life!
And I expect that you will too, Zsofia. It’s all in the attitude. If you go out there knowing that you will have a good time despite whatever adversity comes your way, then you will have a good time. It’s all in how you deal with yourself, your partner, and you’re your environment.
Canoe trips are great…if you can handle a canoe. Those are tricky boats, easy to flip over. I always wanted to try whitewater rafting…expect the camping aspect would be the same as a canoe…but it might be easier to find a guided trip to start with…
Oakminster, if you ever have a case in north-western Ontario or northern Minnesota, book some extra days and look me up. We do strange and wonderous things with canoes and kayaks up here – liquid and sometimes vertical stress relief.
Avoid canoes and other distractions, concentrate on setting up camp, cooking food, sleeping comfortably, breaking camp in the morning, and staying safe.
I’d start with a car camp trip but using all the gear you’d expect to carry on your backs. Then do a short 2-3 mile hike in, set up camp for the night, leave the next day. Then later worry about a multi-night or extended single night trip. Those first two trips will shake out your gear and let you know what you have extra of, what you missed, and what you are comfortable with.
Lots of good info in this thread. I just want to add that if you hard freeze your food, you can have non freeze dried food for your first meal at least. (Rick who had to cook a real meal for the adult leaders on a backpacking trip for his cooking merit badge)
As for food, on a single overnight you don’t need to go the freeze dried route. You can make a pasta meal with cheese and summer sausage that isn’t going to break your back on the way in. It will take longer to make dinner, but this is exactly why I recommend a fairly short first couple of hikes so you have plenty of time to figure out how to set up camp, cook, get water, all those things that you might take for granted.
For breakfast, I’m a big fan of instant oatmeal. Bring some fruit to add in, and some sugar and milk and you’ll have a quick, nutritious, and filling breakfast. The biggest learning curve I see for beginning backpackers is just how long it takes to pack up and break camp in the morning. You might not start hiking until 11:00 AM.