You sure we can't be closer than 10 minutes to the potty?

And yeah, spring would be WAY better, unless we hook up on an "all the modern conveniences, especially HEAT RV."

Actually this does sound like a way cool idea, even if it would involve major purchases of camping gear.

We dont need no stinking camping gear!

* Sleep in the car with the motor running during the normal sleeping hours (5am-noonish)

* get up and around during mid-day to gather fuck loads of firewood.

* make a big ass fire through the night, bark at the moon, walk silently through the woods looking for bigfoot.

Rinse, repeat.

What is this heated RV talk?

I've had considerable experience with cold weather camping.
That's why I don't do it.:cool:

Winter camping is easiest when there's a solid layer of snow on the ground (compacted). Snow isn't too soft so it doesn't get into your boots, and you don't have to deal with soggy ground. It's extremely low impact too, since you leave no footprints n stuff.

Tents are no problem - heat rises, so if you think you're going to melt your way into the snow, it won't happen. Just make sure to put a layer or two of tarps/garbage bags beneath your tent and the snow - it does get chilly at night.

Building a fire won't be that difficult either - unlike rain, snow generally doesn't make wood all that soggy. Of course you could just buy a whole sack of pre-cut for $10 - that saves a lot of trouble.

And don't ever eat MREs on a campout, especially a winter one. :P One big pot of beef stroganoff (dehydrated kind, available in most sporting goods stores) with a couple cans or bags of mixed veggies added is solid cold-weather food. If you don't have to hike the food in, big cans of dinty moore beef stew makes for quick 'n easy meals too. If you're adventurous, I have done chicken in white wine sauce and all sorts of fancies on an open fire, but it's tough in the winter when your fingers get cold and you can cut them off without realizing it. Pre-made shish kabobs cook quickly on a fire too.

Plenty of campsites up around the Delaware Water Gap. Close to civilization, good day hikes up the Appalachian and usually isn't too crowded during the winter (who's fucking crazy enough to do that anyway?).

Ok. I assume you have specific experience with MREs. Can you tell me why one shouldnt eat them on a campout?

Having consumed 30 or so just recently, I cant imagine why they'd be a problem.

Voluntary or no? That makes a big difference.

If you guys are going winter camping, I suggest you review the products at this link:

http://www.coleman.com/coleman/Colem...egory_main.asp

I have a SportCat and a BlackCat, and they are hands down the best friend a cold-weather camper ever had.

Dumb question I've always wondered about: How do you wash dishes while camping? Assuming a source of water (say, from the spigot helpfully provided by the campground at each site ;) ), how do you dispose of the dirty dishwater in a site-friendly way?

Or do you just do everything with paper utensils??

Dawn dishwashing soap is fully biodegradable, as are the nasties you wash off the dishes, so it is actually possible to dump same, but most sites have restrictions against greywater dumping.

I usually use the composting toilet or other potty facility for dumping greywater, myself.

Alright, I overstated myself there.

Nutritionally, MREs are pretty solid: 1,200-1,500 calories, all the carbs, minerals and fat needed from food sources. Not that many preservatives either, ever since the development of the pouches they're packed in (though just about everything packed for shelf-life has a fair amount of preservs). And I'll admit the chemical heaters do a good job of lightin' those suckers up.

It takes the fun out of campout cooking, though. And taking advantage of what you're capable of doing is the best way - a freshly prepared meal is still ideal since it'll get you all the protein and carbs needed (most important in wintertime). Add warmth, good hydration from boil-cooking and plenty of leftovers (in some cases).

Dehydrated foods (like Alpineaire and, um, some others that I don't remember the names of) I believe are on the same level nutritionally as MREs (probably a little more sodium & less protein), but there's somthing about cooked food that's much more filling in the cold. I've done both MREs and one-pot meals in very extreme weather, and though it once took us almost an hour to get a fire going during a blizzard (camp stove got wet and it was snowing too hard to try and fix it), we were much happier with a warm pot of stew. Plus an MRE is like $5-7 each, whereas a $6-7 backpack meal can feed 4, if cost is a factor.

One thing for sure: No instant noodles. Zero nutritional value, and just a whole lot of sodium, really. I eat a bowl of noodles at home and still feel hungry, not to mention thirsty.

Tactics I've used:

If you're carrying fresh food, save the bread for last to scrape out bowls and the cooking pot. Save the cleaning for home.

Or take some TP or paper towel, wipe clean and pack it out with your garbage.

Otherwise, use some detergent and boil water in the pot - that usually gets rid of most of the crap on the inside. Then, as Bruce said, pour it down the outhouse potty hole. Some parks have sump holes, which are just plastic drain pipes leading to underground decomp pools. Take say, a paper plate (or two) and poke a bunch of little holes ... pour the water through (slowly) - particles will collect on the plate while water dribbles into the sump (cooking water is pretty much harmless, just want to keep food particles off the ground that would otherwise attract bears, wolves and jersey devils).

Young, dumb and full of........;)

With all the rain we've had, it's a pretty good bet it was soggy when it froze. Yeah wood (the water in) freezes. Plays hell with cutting tools and makes low BTU fires.

Are you going camping with us? You can cook and we'll eat (but I'll have some backup MREs just in case ;) )

Oh I dunno Slangfriend, you looked pretty handy at "Forks" whilst flame cooking your burgers :)

Maybe you should cook ;)

Eating flame charred , raw in the middle burgers is a lot easier after you consume about a half gallon of whiskey.