Camping Tips
I'ma gonna dump some camping tips here 'bouts..
Many good ideas there. I pack my kit about the same way, although I carry some other things as well. And I notice it made no mention of extra socks/change of clothes and hygiene items like a toothbrush or baby wipes. Never leave home without baby wipes!
Excellent ideas. Although I have to snicker at the relative sizes of some of the items in that backpack. For example number 24, the foam sleeping pad. A regular non-inflatable one takes up as much space as a tent. See if you can even find 24.
Interesting lists, maybe we should compare sometime with the one we inherited and updated. As fate would have it, Lil' Pete is camping this weekend.
Maybe #24 is a spray can of expanding foam insulation. :D
I prefer dry grass/leaves piled under my tent (make sure there are no rocks or roots there!) for padding. Less to carry, although I do have a closed foam sleeping pad that I sometimes use. I would carry the pad if I were planning on urban camping where I might be sleeping on concrete or other hard surfaces.
I love my
Biolite camp stove too. Best camp stove I ever used. It does need a flat, solid surface to stand on, but it can support a small cast iron pan or Dutch Oven as well as the grill attachment. It cools quickly too, once you are done with it. The legs seem rickety and awkward but once you get the hang of using them, they really aren't.
Here's something I never could figure out. Apparently you can make a snow cave and live inside w/o freezing to death. But you read of people in their cars in blizzards who get buried and freeze to death. Isn't the car effectively a snow cave once it is buried? Do they actually suffocate or is it that the space inside the car, however insulated with mountains of snow, is too big to warm? I'm guessing, now that I think about it, 2 tons of metal is a greater heat sink than two tons of snow. Presumably, it would be better to make a snow cave outside the car.
Did I answer my own question?
Usually the ones trapped in cars try to run the engine, at least intermittently, and the exhaust gets them. Plus the ones sheltering in snow caves are waiting out a storm or sheltering overnight then move on when they can. The ones buried in cars are waiting to be found and rescued.
Duck Tape
Bungees
pen & paper essential
leave the foam pad
battery operated TV
folding lounge chair
sun umbrella
porter
I would think the occupants of a car are not dressed for the weather. It's possible to survive in a 32° snow cave or buried car if you are dressed properly.
People that live in snow country should carry some supplies in case they have to wait for triple a.
tarheel
A can of tuna in oil can cook your supper, and you can eat it too.
http://imgur.com/lMYWcHYI would think the occupants of a car are not dressed for the weather. It's possible to survive in a 32° snow cave or buried car if you are dressed properly.
People that live in snow country should carry some supplies in case they have to wait for triple a.
tarheel
Or hope some native girl rides up with hot coffee to check on you.
http://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/stranded-truck-driver-thankful-for-minto-woman-who-delivered-coffee-food-on-horseback-1.3315992I would think the occupants of a car are not dressed for the weather. It's possible to survive in a 32° snow cave or buried car if you are dressed properly.
People that live in snow country should carry some supplies in case they have to wait for triple a.
tarheel
I have to explain that to my kids all the time when they jump in the car wearing a t-shirt and light sweatshirt when it is -10. "Don't assume the worst won't happen." I usually keep a blanket or sleeping bag in the car in the winter.
A can of tuna in oil can cook your supper, and you can eat it too.
http://imgur.com/lMYWcHY
I'm gonna guess that is instant rice. I think some foil around the base would help keep the heat in. I have to try that.
Be mindful of the plastic coating on the inside of the tuna can melting a little into your tuna.
I'm gonna guess that is instant rice.
Yeah no the oil in one can of tuna didn't boil a cup of water and two cups rice for 20 minutes. That shit is tepid.
My truck is equipped for winter survival and summer desert survival. I keep sleeping bags and extra blankets on hand, plus several gallons of water, about a weeks' worth of food, several flashlights and extra batteries, an emergency radio and plenty of clothing. I have a
knife too, just in case.
pschew.... I have that and more just in my minivan. Except the week's food because the [strike]little shits[/strike] boys eat it faster than I can restock. Also gender-non-specific spare clothes for all seasons and sneakers. And swim goggles. And a wash kit. And sewing kit. Towels. ....
ok... stopping...
not going to start on what's in my handbag/purse.....
I don't like carrying the weight of a lot of water; so, I keep some dehydrated water tablets in my wallet. I just haven't figured out what to reconstitute them with yet.
...yes, water purifying tablets.....
but they're so far out of date it's probably safer to drink the water ;)
I found the jugs of drinking water in my car were freezing, so I just added a pint of antifreeze to each one.
I just drink a little antifreeze every now and then to stay topped up.
Crown Royal makes a really tasty antifreeze.:yum:
oooh non minimalist camping tip (prob only for those on this side of the pond)...... Reuse one of those semi-transparent gallon milk jugs as a small drinking water container. At night, set it on a flat surface and set your big flashlight to shine into it and you will have a very useful lantern, bright enough for food prep etc
Good evening Mr. and Mrs. America, from border to border and coast to coast and all the ships at sea. There's good news tonight!
National Geographic has built an easy to use web interface that allows anyone to quickly find any 7.5 minute topo in the continental U.S.A. for downloading and printing. Each topo has been pre-processed to print on a standard home, letter size printer. These are the same topos that were printed by USGS for decades on giant bus-sized presses but are now available in multi-page PDFs that can be printed just about anywhere. They are pre-packaged using the standard 7.5 minute, 1:24,000 base but with some twists:
Page 1 is an overview map showing the topo in context
Pages 2 through 5 are the standard USGS topo cut in quarters to fit on standard printers
Hillshading has been added to each page of the PDF to help visualize the topography.
http://www.natgeomaps.com/trail-maps/pdf-quads
Since now National Geographic is in bed with FOX, these were probably intended for the survivalists in Idaho, but you can get them too. Of course the NSA will probably monitor your downloads so get extras scattered around the country to mind fuck them. ;)
I downloaded every chart of US waterways once. Still have em.
Not sure what I'm going to DO with them, but I got em, just in case the zombie apocalypse comes and I have to take to a boat to survive.
I downloaded every chart of US waterways once. Still have em.
Not sure what I'm going to DO with them, but I got em, just in case the zombie apocalypse comes and I have to take to a boat to survive.
Then we'll have
Want to sea what Pam seas?
No hot dogs? Come on now...
They're in the box with the pork & beans.
Seems to me it would be less work to wrestle a bear for his cave. :rolleyes:
Gotta share dis
Back at my desk after a weekend camping trip.
We had a lot of rain Friday night, but it stopped overnight and was dry by morning. The crazy thing was, after all the leaf cover was dry and we had returned from a morning hike, a trickle had appeared in our camp area. I followed it to its source, and it was bubbling up out of the ground.
I've seen springs before, but they were already running. This is a spring I saw just as it was beginning to spring. Pretty cool. Cool that is, until the trickle got stronger and then all the paths became little streams and we had big puddles growing all around the camp area.
So the spring started off barely producing any water.
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But then it started flowing more.
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And threatened some tents
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And flooded the paths.
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Cool. Did you get a drink from it?
Nah. It was probably clean enough to drink right at the source, but it was literally in the middle of a group campsite. Humans are filthy disgusting creatures and there is no telling what had been done to that spot on the ground before the water came.
There is no water 'clean enough to drink' untreated.
Even falling from the sky, it's too dirty to be good for ya.
Skip the hassle of camping, go
Glamping in California.
Terra Glamping is a luxury glamping experience 2.5 hours north of San Francisco along Pacific Coast Highway 1.
Each of our ten safari tents have a full ocean view. Starting at $250/night, you can expect the following at Terra Glamping:
Comfort and luxury - Sleep well on a memory foam bed with down comforter, in a well appointed safari tent
Reconnect with nature - Enjoy a digital detox as you take in the sun, ocean and stars
Connect with others - Romance is in the air as you and your sweetheart meet new friends or enjoy the privacy of your tent
Adventure - Whale watching, a campfire with s'mores, hiking and kayaking await...or read a book and enjoy the ocean breeze
:lol:
Excellent ideas. Although I have to snicker at the relative sizes of some of the items in that backpack. For example number 24, the foam sleeping pad. A regular non-inflatable one takes up as much space as a tent. See if you can even find 24.
Back in my wild days as recon I bought a foldable sleeping pad. It wasn't very thick and we draw our body outline on it and cut off everything else...
It was good as a cushion too and as we didn't sleep a lot it served us well.
Also check out the newest tech on sleeping pads :
http://gizmodo.com/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-outdoor-sleep-1658866916Here's something I never could figure out. Apparently you can make a snow cave and live inside w/o freezing to death. But you read of people in their cars in blizzards who get buried and freeze to death. Isn't the car effectively a snow cave once it is buried? Do they actually suffocate or is it that the space inside the car, however insulated with mountains of snow, is too big to warm? I'm guessing, now that I think about it, 2 tons of metal is a greater heat sink than two tons of snow. Presumably, it would be better to make a snow cave outside the car.
Did I answer my own question?
I did some survival in Austria and Finland. So your answer is correct and then snow insulates very well. There's no wind/chill factor to consider when staying inside the snow. It's a smaller space than probably a car and with your body head and a small candle you could live quite comfortably for a night or two.
Skip the hassle of camping, go Glamping in California.
:lol:
kinda missing the whole point aren't they?
The last pad I got was closed cell. Pi's article gets it right they are comfortable and rugged but bulky to pack.
I just got an ultra light inflatable pad for my birthday. It's the size of a liter water bottle when folded up. We'll see how it works in a few weeks. On the living room floor, it's comfortable, very warm, and a bit loud.
Right, drink beer.
This is why, during the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak,
brewery workers did not contract cholera:
There was one significant anomaly – none of the workers in the nearby Broad Street brewery contracted cholera. They were given a daily allowance of beer, and did not consume water from the nearby well. The water used in the brewing process is boiled during mashing which kills cholera bacteria.
I'll be brewing on Thursday. The first time since my divorce Hejira ended.
kinda missing the whole point aren't they?
Back in my bike mechanic days, people were still touring. One day we mechanics were spec'ing out our dream touring bikes discussing what braze-ons we wanted for racks and water bottles and other accessories. The manager said his ideal touring bike had only one pair of braze-ons right on the top tube, for his credit card. Bike from hotel to hotel, sleep in a nice warm bed and have a hot shower.
He was (still is. actually) all about biking.
The last pad I got was closed cell. Pi's article gets it right they are comfortable and rugged but bulky to pack.
I have tried about six different pads and nothing tops my green closed-cell ensolite pad. Mine got destroyed/lost/given away by Kali. I would like to find another. Perhaps I can just find a foam supplier and get some closed cell neoprene, which is what I think they were made of.
I am stealing that picture Bruce. I think it was Pam who said she would rake up leaves for the pad under the tent.
I have done that many times. Often wondered what the next camper thought when they saw that square of leaves on the tent pad.
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You don't practice "leaf no trace?"
I practice trace no leaves.
Back in my bike mechanic days, people were still touring. One day we mechanics were spec'ing out our dream touring bikes discussing what braze-ons we wanted for racks and water bottles and other accessories. The manager said his ideal touring bike had only one pair of braze-ons right on the top tube, for his credit card. Bike from hotel to hotel, sleep in a nice warm bed and have a hot shower.
He was (still is. actually) all about biking.
Gotta know what you want.
My touring bike has been hanging a long time.
Snek! Snek! Don't fall for the old suck out the poison trick, ladies.
Thats the old joke where two buddies are in the woods and one gets bit on his pecker. The other runs to town to find help. They said to suck out the poison.
He goes back to his buddy and says, man you gonna die.
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If you get stranded on a South Sea Island you should know how to open a coconut.
Treading water and fighting gators...
One of the places I hiked last year had warnings about Alligators. It made the whole hike VERY stressful. It didn't help that a storm was moving in and the sun was setting. A nice muddy, marshy hike. I kept looking for eyes staring at me :eyebrow:
It wouldn't be my first choice of a place to hike, but I could see myself getting into it. Trudging through and endless marsh.
It was a rainy time. I don't know if it's usually that muddy. My boots sunk a couple times. I thought I was going to lose it once. If I had been wearing my tennis shoes, I definitely would have!
I'll have to see if I can find a picture that does it justice
Been a wet year up and down the East Coast.
If you find yourself headed for a waterfall...
No trees to string up your hammock or rain fly?
No trees to string up your hammock or rain fly?
I've seen bad reviews for that. Like, there's not a lot of room between you and the car. I thought about getting one initially.
Close is fine just roll the window down with the A/C on.;)
When you're camping you might have to retain your site or picnic table by arm wrestling for it. This is my can't lose system. ;)
Re: Step #2
[YOUTUBE]C4rKGdHTmUg[/YOUTUBE]
Heh, can you imagine if someone made a movie
based on a single arm-wrestling move?Doesn't look all that different 100 years ago.
No bugs, no smoke choking, no weather worries, no noisy or nosey neighbors, going in style...
Do you hate the stressed out holiday season? Get away, leave the Maalox behind, go camping.
First rain and 29 degrees. Maybe next year.
That's a nice collection though.
One got repeated but it's the portable bar so acceptable. :blush:
Makes me think of Quest For Fire.
Speaking of fire, these could be dangerous...
...like a little tiny road flare...
Speaking of fire, these could be dangerous...
That's pretty interesting.
Here's a link to the manufacturer's site:
FirestartersThere are a couple of brands on Amazon, apparently they burn for 15 seconds come hell or high water.
The literature says that if the striker on the box they come in gets wet, it won't light them.
Maybe that's why some come with extra strikers.
It just seems odd that they can make matches that burn when wet; but, can't make strikers that work when wet.
Yeah, with matches a wet striker wets the match head and everything goes to hell, but these fuckers burn underwater?
Hmm...
Handy, and deadly!
If you are going off the beaten path, or even if you're not, know how to fall with the least damage.
That illustration is not particularly well done. Figure 3 says to bring the arms to the side of the body; but, doesn't mention that the forearms, wrists and hands should be brought towards the midline of the body to avoid injury. This is depicted in Figure 4 (on the down side) and should have been stated in the text. It should also have stated that the lower arms can be brought toward the midline of the body down low to the groin; or, up high to protect the head (preferred).
The lower arms should be brought up to protect the head in most cases. Sometimes they have to be in a low position such as pulling down on the risers and flaring a rectangular parachute before doing a parachute landing fall (PLF), controlling a rope through a rappelling/climbing harness, holding attached gear out of the way so as not to land on it...etc.
The technique is applicable to many situations, not just the ones mentioned. It is perhaps best known in parachuting application. Below are a couple of vids (the 2nd a 20 sec. excerpt) and a Wiki article that demonstrates the technique applied as a PLF. If it'll work there, it'll work just about anywhere:
[YOUTUBE]KQwX8NtEn7w[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE]oR1Vkkn6GnA?start=5&end=26[/YOUTUBE]
… distribute the landing shock sequentially along five points of body contact with the ground:
1. the balls of the feet
2. the side of the calf
3. the side of the thigh
4. the side of the hip, or buttocks
5. the side of the back (latissimus dorsi muscle)
If I fall it will be because I tripped or fainted, not climbing anything higher than a bar stool.
I'm certainly not jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. :headshake Only crazy people do that.
This makes sense although I recently read fugetaboutit, just hightail it for a car or building as fast as you can.
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Don't forget to put a marker down in case the ball get blown away. :rolleyes:
"The only thing touching the ground should be the balls..."
- keep on reading, there --
How long do you think you could maintain that position? I figure about a millisecond as I'm passing through it on the way down.
"The only thing touching the ground should be the balls..."
- keep on reading, there --
That's too low.
DIY ladder...
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I'm skeptical of that shrub he tied it to. :eyebrow:
If you're going to carry that much webbing, why not just carry a nylon web ladder? There're plenty on the market.
A lowering line is more practical. First lower your gear; then, climb (or body rappel) down yourself.
That way your line has to be twice as long as the drop in order to retrieve it, doesn't it?
This way the ladder will plummet with you when that twig rips out of the bank.
Making a ladder, the line has to be twice as long to make the loops and you don't have a line release either.
With a lowering line, you get twice the distance for the same weight; also, an equal length of lightweight 550 cord (makes the weight cut) can be carried for attachment to the release end of the line to retrieve it.
Hey, hey, hey, hey, stayin' afloat, stayin' afloat...
I've done this as an exercise and it's harder than it looks. Though, wetting my pants before going overboard from a sinking ship would probably be pretty easy.
At my high school, everyone had to bring an old pair of pants to gym class one day to do that in the pool.
I've done this as an exercise and it's harder than it looks. Though, wetting my pants before going overboard from a sinking ship would probably be pretty easy.
:thumb:
What, wet your pants? :stickpoke
Seriously though, that was a training drill?
I’ve tried that out a couple times when I was a kid. It’s fun and works. Fun in July in a warm lake.
Back in 19diggity5 the Kaiser kept kept making people wet their pants. We fought a war to stop this!
I lost my pants on 9/11, you insensitive bastards!
And I lost my shirt in the recession of '08.:drummer:
What goes with the 2020 Depression?
Had to Google Mota, had never heard that term.
Use a flare gun without killing yourself...
I'd be nervous carrying a gas bottle as a bumper, but it is clever...
Drinking water from the ocean, or other polluted source...
Yeah, that struck me as clever.
We're hiking a couple mountains this weekend for a veterans charity fund-raiser. Tip of the day, get an early start because the parking areas have been over-crowded since COVID lost its grip on NY. Also be careful of the alpine vegetation.
Maybe bring a garbage bag and fill it as you hike out towards a popular trailhead?
Yeah we generally do that. Usually there isn't much trash but the recent surge in hikers means a lot on newbies who don't know the ethics of the the place. Typically we also try to summit on weekdays.
I was amazed when I hiked a popular trail in the White Mountains last fall. So much trash. And I've been seeing reports that it's much worse now.
Man, I hope that’s not the case but I’ve been reading some bad narratives.
On our most recent trip, we saw many more signs saying "Pack it out", due to newbies, surging demand and shrinking staff.
It's good policy anyhow to leave the place cleaner than you found it. Our trash was thrown away at home.
They throw trash walking down their own street, why would they give it a second thought in the woods?
Bear spray may work on litterbugs too...
I'm guessing the calf-catcher on the front is cosmetic only.
Maybe, but it was a time when calves on the road were a real possibility.
That point is quite fair. But it doesn't look like it'd do the job though.
Quite right, it's a gesture, may even be wind chimes for all I know.
Could be an early Tesla, that's an electric station.