I haven't been camping in a while but I was thinking to start going again. Do you guys have any good camping stories? Any gear you can't live without? Any good books on camping?
Buy a winterized RV that has all the amenities!! You would be good to go no matter what the weather. Our time of sleeping on the ground is over.
I agree with you 100%. In my 20s I spent a week each backpacking in Appalachia , Great smokey, and Shenandoah National Parks. Too old for that now. Glamping is the way to go
Lol. You guys are great. I was expecting some former-marine-cold-weather-camping-pain-is-fun responses...
Some of my favorite memories are camping smack dab in the center of Wyoming in sage brush dessert with a canvas wall tent, 3-4 close friends and antelope doe tags in our pockets for 4-5 days. Did it for 5-6 years in a row, late September and early October. Now we can’t draw the tags
We still do it the old fashioned way; in a tent, on the ground. But it is getting old quick. Not so much the tent on the ground part, it's all I know and I don't mind it. Just the packing and unpacking for 1 or 2 days in a weekend. It gets old. I would love to have a rig that ALL or most of the gear lives in and it is ready to just hook up and roll out, whether it is for 1 day or 20. Some options would be a pop-up camper, a homemade trailer with one of those rooftop tents on it or a small camper for the 4 of us (me, mama, our boy and dog). Not interested in a monster trailer or RV. That kind of stuff is getting premium prices at the moment, but I am still looking. Whatever you chose have fun. As a matter of fact we are going out with 4 or 5 couples this weekend camping up in the Blue Ridge, gonna be a perfect weekend.
My first wife's family had land on Lake Winnipesaukee New Hampshire. We used to spend a lot of time up there in the summer tooling around on jet skis and having a good time. I ended up acquiring a 1971 Starcraft popup camper and towed it up there, since it was better than sleeping in a tent. Well, we got pretty lit up one night and were looking for things to add to the already raging bonfire. I remember stumbling into the camper and digging around in the cabinets. I found a large cardboard box with a coffeemaker inside, several rolls of toilet paper, some paper plates and thought this'll do. I carried the box to the fire and threw the entire thing in. I sat down and cracked another beer, admiring the flames from a short distance away. After a few minutes I heard a bang and saw a bright green flame shooting about 15-20 feet into the night sky, and heard a deafening roar like a jet engine. I stood there half panicked, half amused watching as it kept going, and going... The flame was starting to singe some Hemlock boughs above and I got really nervous. I then looked into the fire and saw where it was coming from. In my 20 years of absolute brilliance, I failed to check the box's entire contents first and underneath was one of those long skinny propane cylinders. I don't think I ever sobered up that fast in my entire life. Eventually the propane cylinder ran dry and the night was quiet again. It was around 2am at that time and I packed everything up and drove the 3+ hours straight home.
We went from a small pop-up to an older and smaller (especially by today’s standards ) 5th wheel. The pop up was a pain in the fact that if you left your camp early and had had a rain or heavy dew you had to set it back up at home to dry out, just like a tent. I’m sure it’s just a female thing but she was always unfolding it for every trip and fussing with the bedding. Don’t have to do that with the 5th wheel but she is still always fussing with bedding and packing more crap into it. I could get by with A LOT less, but whatever….. Over Labor Day weekend on a trip to south west Wyoming I think I might have her considering a smaller camper, not a 5th wheel
I guess I'm old fashioned too, at 61, I still like to tent camp but I usually do it from a motorcycle. For 20 years I've been taking solo trips and trips with my riding buddy. I've had Goldwings with trailers, sport-touring bikes, but my latest is a sport bike. It's been great to tour and camp with. I don't think I'll ever own a large camper trailer or RV. When I travel, I want to leave home behind... not bring it along. Traveling by bike has forced me think light and small. I usually bring a 2-person backpacking tent, an insulated air mattress, a light sleeping bag, a few tools and chain lube, phone, comfy shoes for after riding, rain gear, and clothes for about 4 days. I eat at restaurants and often stop at a grocery store deli counter. I never pack food to cook or any cooking gear. I usually only spend one night at any location, then pack up and keep going... For me, it's a great way to see the country. I take small highways and avoid the interstate. I'm good for about 2 weeks then I've got to head home. My current ride packed and ready to go.. Camping at a South Dakota campground... I've only had one mechanical issue with this bike in 65,000 miles, a flat tire in middle of nowhere Nevada. I plugged the tire and headed for town... Camping stories? Well, several years ago when my wife was still capable of riding with me. We were on a motorcycle road trip and we were in Nevada. We had been on the road all day and it was getting dark fast. Rachel is about 40 miles up 375 from highway 93. As I was headed north from 93, I noticed 2 lights behind me. They were way back, but oddly there was one bright light visible at the far edge of each of the goldwing's 2 mirrors... I've driven at night enough to know that if it had been a car behind me, the lights would not be where they were in the mirrors. If that wasn't strange enough, the lights never got closer or changed position in the mirrors even when going over the small mountain pass 15 miles down the road. The lights continued to follow us... If it had been a car, the lights would have disappeared while riding through the curves on the pass. We stopped at the "black mailbox" to take a break. When we got off the bike, the lights were gone.. It stays weird... we were parked in the pitch dark, and about 10 minutes later a car stops and the driver asks if we're OK... I told him that we're fine and that we just needed a break. He asks us if we're going to Rachel and that he'd probably see us there. We were back on the road a minute or so later. We pulled into the lot of the Little Al'e Inn as the guy that had checked on us was getting out of his car... He walked around to the passenger side, reached in his open window, an pulled out an uncased pump shotgun. He proceeded to pump it to unload it, and pocketed the shells. We all walked in at the same time. Eventually the conversation got around to the 2 strangers in the place.. us... When someone asked me what I did for a living, I told them I plowed roads and mowed ditches for a county in MN. I felt it was safer than the truth. That night, we camped in a field about a 100 yards away from the road. We watched the Air Force training exercises and the fighter jets dropping flares.. pretty cool.. Later that night, when were we just about to fall asleep, some one or some thing bumped our tent as it walked past it. I grabbed a large flashlight and checked outside the tent, there was nothing there. I was still working as a Deputy back then and had brought along my weapon.. it stayed under my pillow that night... It was a strange day. In all my travels by bike, that's been the only weird thing...
Didn't want to disappoint you. Give me some good Mujuk (South Korea) clay/mud and rain, a leaky GP tent, a PITA to put together cot, some concertina wire and I'm happy! (As long as there is coffee...)
If using a cot is too much 'glamping' then you can always crash on the ground in a shelter half. Just add some Okinawa red clay and rain (it's not camping if there isn't any rain).
No better way to travel than upon a motorcycle! You are a part of the landscape! You experience every smell, temperature change, bump, bug, etc. You have to be ever present, no zoning out. I haven't done it in a while and I miss it! I don't have a camping story (I am sure I can think of one if I try hard enough) but I have a CAMPER story. Years ago a friend and I were driving on a 4 lane highway through the woods. About 1000' ahead we saw sparks. Not super alarmed UNTIL we saw a 20 lb propane cylinder bouncing down the other lane. Darn glad it didn't hit us. But, there were still sparks up ahead. We hit the gas to catch up. As we got closer we noticed it was a small pull behind camper that had a propane cylinder stuck under the axle. Was a bit sketchy but we passed them and got them to pull over. I always imagined what would have happened if we didn't get them pulled over.
Anyone have experience with jet-boil stoves vs the Coleman compact ones? Seems like the jet boil are a lot more expensive. Best I can figure is the propane tanks on the Coleman stoves are typically heavier. Is there a very small propane tank with a standard nozel?
I really like military surplus because it is cost effective and extremely durable. Midway has some good military surplus, do you guys know any other good places to shop?
I have both a jet boil and a 1 burner that screws on a green bottle. The both work great. I wouldn’t want to take the Colman backpacking or use the jet boil car camping. Right tool for the job kinda thing.
