camping thread

[Muzikman]

How many days are you planning on being gone? What kind of food can you tolorate? Are you going to be 3/4 of a mile from your car? Are you going to be camping in a game ground of some sort or are you going to be out on a tail in the middle of no where?

[matt-o]

3 days most likely, and yes 3/4ths mile from the car, and i can tolerate about anything as far as food goes

[Muzikman]

Well, If the car is 3/4 of a mile away I suggest you make thing comfortable.

Are you going to be in bear country? If so, besure to put your food in a bear box. If not, i suggest you take a cooler and keep real food in the car. There is nothing like waking up and having omlets and coffee in the morning when camping.

Take as many tents as needed to be comfortable. Even if the weather is going to be nice and you want to sleep outside. Besure to have a tent on hand (and setup) just incase it starts to rain or something. Be sure the tenst have ground clothes and rain flies.

Besure to bring enough cooking power that everyone can eat at the same time. a simple two burner stove will work well for this. And besure to use teflon pots and pans. Being able to clean them quickly and easily is always nice. There is nothing like trying to clean pot and pans for an hour after eating.

besure everyone will be warm enough. This usually means a sleeping bag rated for the correct weather you will be in. It is also very nice to use a bag liner. These are a usually a thin fleese (or cotton) bag that go inside the sleeping bag. The fleese ones will give you more warmth.

If you are planning to build a camp fire. Bring your own wood. You will usually have a hard time finding large dry logs. Also make sure you can legally build a fire. If you do build one, be sure to bring a pie iron with you...nothing is better than a pizza pocket cooked over an open flame

Besure to dress in layers when you are out hiking or what ever you will be doing during the day. Be sure to take plenty of water and drink it. If there is water available where you are camping, besure it is safe. If there is a question if it is or not, be sure to bring a good water filter.

[maxama10]

MSR all the way!!! www.msrcorp.com

[wanna-b-ballin']

dont throw sticks at squierels (spelling?)
i did once because it was trying to steal my food. nobody steals my food. and it wouldn't go away, and so i tossed a stick at it, and knocked it out. i felt really sad until it woke up and left me alone. lesson learned, dont throw sticks at them.

[matt-o]

you're sweet. seriously. everybody else has been cool and the dude who joined last month decides to try and be funny. dont wanna rant but this isnt PBN buddy, i dont care if my thread "delivers".

[wanna-b-ballin']

i'm sorry you took it the wrong way, but, i was just giving a tip; not trying to be "funny". it really does make you feel sad if you do that by accident, even if you dont think it would. i joined 2 months ago almost exactly to this day. why does everybody trash PBN? if you dont like it then dont go there. kinda like BE, if you dont like them, dont buy from them.
sorry to upset you.

[PyRo]

Don't try to put 6 people in a 4 person tent.

I believe you are forgetting the four girls with him. Perhaps they should just get two two person tents

Damn, someone else beat me to it. Still though if you don't get any I'm going to beat you when you get back.

[Hexis]

What he should do is the 4 ladies with him in the 4 person, and a solo tent for the other guy.

[Hasty8]

yeah rei is my lair these days. i want to get a decent tent that will hold up over the years, but the fact that i am going with about 6 other people is kinda screwing me up for that. a for a stove where im camping has a grille over the firepit so i might just use the firepit. specifically how do you suggest i get around the cold? i camped out in a small bedsheet a couple weeks ago in 20* or so weather but i promised myself i would never do anything that stupid ever again and i dont feel like staying awake all night tending a fire like that. is a decent tent and a sleeping bag gonna be enough for that not to be a problem?

If you can stand it confinement get a mummy bag. If not then get a regular rectangle. I actually move around quite a bit (plus I'm as big as a house) so I actually use two rectangles zipped together which is something you cannot do with a mummy bag ( )

I recommend the down filled bags of either variety because they can compress a hell of a lot better than some of the artifical fills. All you have to do is roll them out and left them loft for a bit and they work great.

Now, even the crapiest tent will last you a lifetime so long as you take care if it.

First, I hgily recommend getting a tent with a tarp bottom. this will prevent snags,tears and rips. Second get a poly tarp that is roughly the same size as your tent's footprint and keep that between the tent bottom and the ground when you stake it. This gives added protction.

When I go backpacking I'll typically bring two flannels and two Thermarest prolite 4 self inflating mattresses.

lay down one flanner, then the mattresses and then the other flannel and top that off with the bags and I sleep like a baby.

for cooking I have two stoves, well, three actually. one is strictly for backpacking and is a brunton optimus nova. make suore u get their multi fuel one. this will save you incase your bottle runs low and the local store does not have your specific brand.

for times when we set up a "base camp" like in a camping area or something I have a coleman roadtrip whic just totally kicks butt.

I prefer not to cook over the firepit becuase you naver have any clue what was burnt there earlier.

What else? obviously s decent first aid kit, gps device (or a good map and compass if you know how to use them). a water filter! I won't give you the specifics of what lead to my most recent addition to my camping gear supply but I love katadyn's stuff. They have a filter water bottle and a pump.

of course, the most vital piece of equipment you could carry with you-
life saving stuff right here folks!