My sons 4 and pretty much since he could talk we've been talking hiking the Appalachian trail together someday.

He doesn't know what that really means, i probably said i always wanted to at some point and he internalized it deeply.

So this year we've been testing the waters with camping.

The first time we went was perfect, we did a 12 mile hike one day, where i only carried him for 4 miles which was incredible. The second time we tried camping there was a very unfortunate incident with a little girl in a lake and it left him (and me) a little traumatized so we went home on the first day.

Now a couple months later, thinking his love for camping had been destroyed before he really found it, he's off of school this week and begged me to go camping. So naturally i took of work and said hell yeah, booked up a couple nights at the first campground we went to which is much more secluded and my speed anyway, I'm not a fan of the campground with pretty much waterparks (no judgement if you are).

I'm hoping everything goes smoothly and we can plan some winter camping after this!

I put together a simple ~40mi/65km day trip to test out bike camping! Things went pretty well all things considered, getting out of the city and back is always the hard part in the ol US of A. I really couldn't have asked for better weather.

Lessons Learned:

• 3 4.25 L was just enough water for me to cook with and have on the bike ride to and from the campsite when the weather was nice 75f/25c.
• I need a little camping stool, I got 10 ant bites right on my waist line from sitting on the ground while cooking lol.
• Using two rocks to prop of my pan over sticks to cook worked surprisingly well but I should probably get a camp stove just in case things get wet or I camp somewhere sticks aren't around
• The few miles of gravel road SUCKED. I would not recommend anyone ever do something like this on anything smaller than a 32mm tire

Open Questions:

• What do you do with all of the dew? This time it was easy to put away the tent wet and dry it out at home, but on a multi day trip that wouldn't be an option at all!
• Do you just deal with everything being wet all of the time?

Lucked out on a lakeside spot in County Meath (Ireland). Weather was great. Took two of my kids and one of their friends.

Just finished my morning coffee. They're all still asleep. Life is good.

My only ski-based camping trip so far. A fun time. Let me see your winter camping pics.

foam mat roll, exactly like this, from harbor freight (or wherever). cut it into squares or narrow strips, or micro(for easier packing).
why: save your butt. softer than sitting on rocks, gravel, or concrete.
benefit: cheap, light, effective.
cons: easy to forget (thus leave/lost risk) , often packs awkwardly.
*tip: large pieces double as shading tool eg when walking in the sun.

Tried the (relatively) new picaridin bug spray (gel, actually, in my case, but there's spray and lotion as well) this season, and I am never ever going back to DEET.

No smell, no grease, no damage to synthetic fabrics, and works just as well as 90%+ DEET formulations if not better. Tested in deep woods crawling with ticks and inundated with mosquitoes. Major success.

Just thought I'd share as a bonus for my fellow federated campers who haven't heard of this stuff yet. 5/5 stars, A+++++ would slather again!

My partner and I are planning a road trip up from the swampy southern US to CO in early August, and are considering camping out at Great Sand Dunes National Park for a night or two.

Anyone have experience camping out at GSDNP in mid-late summer? I've read online that that sand temperatures can burn your feet during the day, mosquitoes will eat you up, and the wind will fill your tent with sand. We're wanting to experience something very different from the camping opportunities more local to us, but not sure if these are challenges we can overcome with the right gear/planning, if they're overblown compared to what we're used to (dry heat vs 100% humidity and mosquitoes being a constant presence our entire lives), or if we would just end up miserable and potentially cut the trip short.

Is a canopy tent a good idea for shade, or just a wind sail that we won't be able to secure well enough to loose sand? Similarly would you bring special tent stakes for sand? Where we typically camp in wooded areas, there's generally not enough wind to even need tent stakes.

We would want to do some hiking, but aren't equipped well enough for real backpacking. We'd be tent camping out of the car, with supplies enough for a week long road trip already.

We'll need to get camping permits very soon if we do stay there, so I'm hoping to gather some insight from other's experiences to make an informed decision now.

What is your favorite season for camping?

What is your favorite place for camping? (Sea, mountains, riverside, lake)

What are your best camping recipes?

What apps, websites, strategies, et cetera, do you guys use to find good campgrounds?

I’ve been looking into trying a short camping trip just sleeping in my car, but I’ve found it difficult to find good campgrounds through a couple of apps I’ve tried (I haven’t put that much effort in however)

Mainly curious how people with actual experience go about it before I start really looking on my own.

I live in the southern United States to be clear.

hello, I’m going camping for the first time this upcoming summer, what would you recommend i take/ pack? Please let me know, it would mean a lot to me to get some help from experts! Thanks :)

We decided to check out a different camp site over the weekend and got swarmed with wasps when the sun was at its warmest.

Luckily the next day and during packup it was over cast and cool so they couldn't fly, but we spent like an hour shaking wasps out from all the poles of the canopy. We easily stomped to death over a hundred wasps that fell out, I've never seen anything like it

They have the badminton rackets for knocking apples out of a wild apple tree across the field. We made a surprisingly tasty apple crisp with instant oatmeal and some vutter on the fire that night.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/46601463

Swing your legs out one side, stand on stones. The other side? Stand in water 😅

Usually you wouldn't camp so close to water, but this was such a cool spot I couldn't help it. Plus it was on a fairly busy trail, in good weather, so.. 🤷‍♂️

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/42097989

tl;dw: among other issues, the network doesn't appear to store messages until they're confirmed to arrive, so it's very possible to miss incoming messages with no indication to either party

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/44495222

I'm trying to find information on this. So far their website has no useful information besides sanitizing with a bleach water mixture.

Several reddit threads have people arguing everything from buying a new one every year, to storing it dirty and never having a problem, to completely drying it out.

I currently use a life straw bottle, I drink out of it while hiking, and just turn it over and squeeze the bottle into some larger bottles to use for cooking and stuff. It's not ideal and I'm looking to change it up. Currently I store my life straw bottle in between trips by following their instructions, sanitize with bleach water, rinse, then fill with salt water mixture to prevent growth and keep it wet. Drying the filter ruins its ability to get wet again, and therefore it doesn't filter well.

What I'd like to do is store the Sawyer squeeze the same way, sanitize, rinse, store in salt water, maybe in a mason jar? But would that damage it? Does drying it ruin it too? Some people complained it's hard to actually get it dry.

How in the world is it that there is nothing in the manual or the FAQs about storage?

https://no.lastname.nz/post/1447253

Not backcountry, but might be interesting to some here

The whole 6 week trip in a campervan around New Zealand will be posted to !OurCamper@no.lastname.nz

Me & My Mom Outfitters proudly presents 😁 This thing has been in the making for a whole year with a lot of difficulties encountered, but it's finally done. The one thing I miss when hammocking is the protected lounging quarters of a tent. But here it is now!

We have a waterproof floor that pegs to the ground, ultralight mosquito net for walls and the roof bit out of monofil fabric. The roof has slots for spreader poles, which I'm still to make out of aluminium. Branches work too. Zipper entry is reinforced with monofil. The tent is supported by the hammock ridgeline and suspension alone, so setup is quick and effortless. The vibe upstairs is rather psychedelic without a tarp on top :D

The hammock is also self made, with a monofil inner layer to carry the load and a slightly longer silnylon outer layer to stop wind and form a little air gap that holds body heat.

Summer vacation has just begun – adventures await...

cross-posted from: https://reddthat.com/post/44918476

This past weekend I was able to get out on the water and overnight at a marine state park!
Did I forget to take pictures at the campsite? YES! Regardless, y'all get a trip report!
We launched from Boston Harbor in Olympia, WA and paddled to Hope Island State Park.
The sun was shining, the weather was great, and we had our choice of campsites. We did arrive at low tide, which made hauling kayaks up the beach a bit of an effort.

I tested a new stove which worked well, and used my 15 year old REI Chrysalis solo tent for the first time in a while. It continues to hold up!

We launched the next day a bit after high tide, paddled around the Sound a bit, then headed back to our launch point. We did have to fight the current a bit, but the mountain was out, we were visited by seals, and a good time was had by all.

Another well slept hammock night. Slept like a baby after sauna and hot tub and ~ 02.00 BBQ supper: in the morning I woke up without having shifted or moved one bit – still holding the tin I keep my earplugs in :D

The weather's been terrible over the midsummer festivities – bad enough that my family decided to skip any attempts to enjoy the main festive day of juhannus and instead chose to drive the eldest's house moving load to her new place :o)

Yesterday looked like a surprisingly decent piece of summer, so I ran to the woods for a moment of peace and, as it turned out, solitude – the place is a campsite for a group of friends, but I had it all for myself. Cooked food, enjoyed my own spruce tip beer, played the djembe to get it to battle tune after a head replacement, got the tent sauna going and swam in the lake. Good times.