Tent camping advice/tips

shawn said:
Bullshit.
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I agree. I know very little about a yeti cooler other than they are way over priced and are made of plastic. A bear can destoy a car so I am sure a plastic box regardless of how well made it is can be destroyed by even a small bear.
 
I can buy $250 more ice for my Coleman by not buying a yeti.

Check out RTIC cooler for half the price of yetis.

I haven't seen many bears in the same places I've seen most yetis.

They might be good, but no way it's worth the extra coin.

If long term cold storage is that important get an arb freezer/fridge...


I always take two ez-ups. One to put over my tent if the weather gets bad and one to put over kitchen area.

Strap a Big square water jug to tree for wash station.

Tie a rope to trash and hang it off a tree to help keep bears out of it.

Make sure you put a tarp or plastic under your tent. If it rains, the pressure of anything in the tent will push water through the bottom.

Even better on rocky areas is to pre cut indoor outdoor carpet and put inside on floor of tent. Catches tons of dirt and dust. Easy cleanup.

Plan your meals by what proteins spoil first in the coolers. Eat those first.

I have a queen size ez up style oct that unfolds to put a queen air bed on it. Perfect to stash clothes and shoes underneath.

Pack as much stuff as you can in big Rubbermaid totes. We have one or clothes, one for kitchen necessities, one for food, and one for extra kitchen needs, soap, paper towels, toiletries etc. Store your gear in these when at home to keep
Everything clean dry and organized.

When it's time to camp, everything is stored and ready go. Load up the totes and coolers and go.

Usually store my tent and air mattress and sheets in the one also.

Put a bungee cord over the top to keep the lid on.
 
Thanks guys. Still haven't had a chance to go camping yet. Today makes day 38 since my last day off so not much time to go camping. We did make a day trip to uwharrie on July 30th. Had a blast and wife enjoyed it. She rolled her grizzly coming down a rocky incline on Dutch John. Didn't hurt the bike but she was bruised and sore for about a month. Worst bruise was from her helmet slamming into her chest.
 
Glad she's OK. Everyone's give great advice on how and what. The best advice left is to start small and go often. You will learn what's important to you and know what to leave behind. When I go I pack different depending on location and if it's the whole family or just me.

Lastly learn the basic knots and where to use them. It will save you headaches later.
 
Two more cents

If you're using an air mattress put a furniture pad on top and bottom. One insulates the mattress from the ground and the other keeps it quite. And both protect it from getting a leak. I'm using a 7 year old air mattress and we only tent camp and it holds air as good as day one. Nothing SUCKS more than waking up on the ground.
 
My girl and I went camping for our first time this past memorial day weekend. We tried to think in advance but there were a few things I wish we'd brought... like bacon.

Get a fan and mini light for inside of the tent. My fiance and I went in June and it was HOT in that tent! (Not because we did anything in it...)

+1 on the air mattress. We brought a queen, with sheets and pillows, with a 12V pump. It worked well in a 3-person tent.

Freeze your water bottles before you pack them. You'll probably only need 1 2lb bag of ice for an overnight stay. My 4lbs of ice was mostly ice 5days later in my Coleman extreme.

If you get a coleman extreme, figure out a way to put a handle on it. I used wire rope, grounding lugs, wood screws, and some silicone hose to make a handle. Things are aggravating to open with callous hands.

We brought lunch meat, snacks, and water with some sodas in glass bottles. We bought water in jugs with a pour spout to refill and use to wash our hands.

A small hatchet came in handy, and a rope saw (Has two handles on a toothed bit of wire to cut wood) to prep firewood. Bring some "Local flavor" ads as kindling. You'll have to collect firewood from the trail. We arrived and set up camp first, then went for a trail ride to have some fun and collect fallen wood along the trail. We left the extra at the tent site for others to use after us. If you want to really get fancy, just bring a battery-powered sawzall to help cut things up.

Bring a griddle and a couple of old pots that you don't care about if you really want to cook something. Basic silverware was useful. Bring smores fixins. We just made sandwhiches.

We laid down a heavy tarp under the tent to protect the base of it and our mattress from the ground. I also went to lowes in their rope/chain area and picked up green metal-core stakes that drill into the ground. If you get those, bring a 1/8-1/4" rod (or use the rod it comes with) and a small hammer. Hammer the rod into the soil with a bit sticking out to grab, wiggle it around until it is loose, remove it, THEN put your screw-in stakes in the dry ground. If it's moist, they may drill easily.

We put everything in Hefty bins to help move things in and out of the bronco. Helped to sort and keep track of everything. Dollar general has some decent cheap bins with a green plastic lid that would work well, but they are not sealed from bugs and such that might find their way in.

Oh, and a revolver full of rat shot is a good thing to keep on you.
 
Thanks nice to hear another camping newb's perspective.
 
No problem.

All people start somewhere.
 
The learning, that's part of the fun. We went down to Carolina Beach and camped at the state park weekend before last, decided to try the 1lb propane cylinders to cook with and not lug my big tank. It sucked halfway through a big supper cooking it ran out and had to be switched then ran out during breakfast b/c 2nd supp tank was 1/2 empty. Now on I will just lug the big tank. Its a learning curve.
 
For packing in I use hammocks. They're way easier to pack & handle, and sleep good without an air mattress. The new ones pack in a pouch you can almost fit in your jacket pocket.
 
Buy two air mattresses. Use one leave one in the box. We replace ours seemingly yearly. Our camping trips arent complete with out at least one trip to town. We were camping a lot at one point. So we got new ones regularly. I wish I could get her to invest in some foam or something like a thermarest.
 
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