Planning a summer camping trip for vacation?
Start planning now.
Have you decided where you are going?
Search on the name of your preferred location for things to do and special events during the time of your visit.
Request brochures from area attractions.
If you can, make reservations at the park you will be staying at. Not all parks take reservations so do your homework. Also pay attention to deposits, payment, and cancellation policies. Often, reviews of various parks are also available to help you make a choice when the area is unfamiliar. (For novices or families, I recommend state parks. They have excellent facilities and reasonable fees usually, as well as the security of a park ranger patrolling.)
Check your equipment. Do you have it all? Does any of it need repair or replacement? If you are replacing items, do your research. Purchases such as tents and sleeping bags are multi-year use items, so choose wisely and spend wisely. Online shopping makes comparison of features & prices much easier, as well as increasing your choices of products. When buying online, make sure you are aware of return policies if you are unhappy with your purchase. Product reviews are another wonderful feature, and these are available at the retail sites as well as various websites.
Double check the amount of space you have for your gear while traveling. Face it, it has to all fit in your vehicle and still leave room for your passengers. Dogs may be adaptable and agreeable about riding on top of the tent & 3 cots, but your spouse may have objections! Weight is also a consideration--your vehicle has to be able to handle both the weight and volume of your gear. It adds up very quickly.
Minimum suggested gear
Summer camping (50-80 degree weather)
Tent with mesh windows of correct size*
Sleeping bag rated for summer use**
hygiene kit***
Chair or stool**
camp stove
Cooler
Mess set (plate, bowl, cup, spoon, fork)**
Saucepan (2 qt.)
skillet
mixing bowl (2-3 qt.)
pancake turner
large spoon
Weather resistant box for food items****
lantern
flashlight**
first aid kit
bug repellant
*tent manufacturers rate a tent for occupancy. However, in general they seem to be using pygmies who really, REALLY like each other or elementary age kids. Typically, a 3-man tent will hold 2 people comfortably. 5-6 man will do a couple with 2 kids, and a 7-8 man will accomodate a couple with 3 kids. Teens are adult size, so calculate them as an adult, not as a kid. Not all parks allow more than 1 tent per site, so find out before you buy a tent for the kids.
**one per person
***towel, washcloth, toothbrush, shampoo, soap, deoderant, toothpaste and anything else needed, one set per person.
****a plastic tote keeps food items consolidated, but never assume it will even slow down wild animals from accessing it. Keep all food items secured in your vehicle when away from your camp or at night.
Other items that might be of interest or useful
coffee pot
spotlight
cot
air mattress
portable table
radio
compass
walking stick
cotton sheet (for those hot nights)
extension cord (campgrounds with electricity)
fan
extra cooler for iced drinks
extra pots & pans
thermal mug
sleeping pad
book
maps
day pack
Each time one gets ready for a trip, the process gets easier, and each time the size of the "family" changes, the process has to re-adjust to the change. This trip, we are combining two "families" into one vehicle for fuel efficiency, but that makes for interesting packing too! The van has room for 7 passengers, but in that calculation, they don't add room for tents, sleeping bags, camp stove, backpacks, dogs, and miscellaneous gear. Oh, and the dog crates! Thank goodness I use wire crates that collapse, because space will definitely be at a premium. I think we are going to be brave, and even let Sissy ride without being confined to a crate, largely because of the space issue.
It took me about an hour to pack this time. Less sleeping gear, less clothing, less everything because of a short trip and warmer weather.
What kind of clothing? We are traveling light--shorts, tshirt, sleepshirt, swimming suit, underwear, socks, jeans for him, and capris for me. We also have rain ponchos and light jackets pre-packed in the van.
For sleeping, its ultra minimal--a sleeping bag will be our sole pad, a microfiber sheet to cover with, mostly to keep stray mosquitos off of us.
Our emergency backpacks will be along as well, and have things like flashlights, benadryl (I have severe allergies, and that's my first line of defense.) bug repellant, matches, small blanket, etc. packed in them. Red Dog has her own backpack, and she's carrying important things like Whole Meals (a canine's version of MRE's) and cookies (Grandma Lucy's this trip) as well as spare leashes (on occasion, Red has the uncontrollable urge to destroy leashes by biting them into small pieces. Spares are important!)
Food is another big deal--the food box has the basics from the pantry, the cooking pots & utensils, silverware, etc. I will confess, we will be leaving with an utterly empty cooler, and stopping to stock it before getting to our campsite. Who knows what will appeal to us when we get to the store! Generally, I suspect it will be simple stuff, and we usually cook a pot of beans of some kind and have my peculiar version of corn-cakes baked in a skillet on the stove to accompany it. This time, I'll have to take some photos of the meals we actually eat while camping.
"It's cheaper than a therapist, so...
...why not give it a try yourself? "
hosted by
Gia Scott & the Hippy
Camping Trip(s) from the
Get-Ready-Go Crew
January 2009
The crew from Get-Ready-Go was on a couple of camping trips this winter. One trip was to an undeveloped campsite, which means there are NO facilities of any kind. That trip, the temperature dropped to 17°.
How does someone stay comfortable in temperatures like that when sleeping on the ground in a tent...or, like the mysterious Mississippi Hippy...in a bedroll on the ground in the open?
PREPARATION!!!!
1. Wear the right kind of clothes.
2. Have the right bedroll/sleep system.
3. Stay dry
4. Don't let yourself get chilled.
5. Use the right kind of campfire.
What did I have?
I had my favorite "First Up" tent, which is rated to sleep 4-5 people, but it works great for a couple with a pair of dogs. Our sleep system was not particularly technical--I had a comforter, a couple of blankets, and a wool blanket that was under us, which is very important. A common problem is the ground literally sucking the heat out of your body as you sleep. The ground is cold, you can't ever warm it up with your body, so don't even try. Insulate yourself from the ground somehow. There are many options, ranging from cots to closed cell foam mats. Check out the options from outdoors equipment suppliers. My personal favorite is the closed cell pads if I'm sleeping on the ground. They are relatively inexpensive, effective, and compact. Over us, I had unzipped a sleeping bag rated for 20°, to use as a comforter, along with a couple of other blankets to accomodate the "blanket thief" during the night.
This is the "First Up Tent", a tent I highly recommend for car camping for a couple, even with dogs! Most people can actually stand up inside without stooping, although if you stand 6 ft tall--sorry, you'll be ducking too.
For the dogs, it was a combination of things. My dogs are house dogs, which means that fur or not, they are not going to be comfortable in the cold. Sissy has short hair and is prone to being cold blooded to begin with, so she often wears a coat or tshirt. For this trip, she had a fleece jacket. Even Red Dog with her much heavier coat wore a fleece jacket as well, although hers came off during the day despite the chill in the air. Sissy also had her own blankets to keep warm with. We also had our own clothing.
Red Dog is on the left, Sissy is on the right. Both dogs are modeling their fleece jackets on another trip. Sissy has discovered that chairs get her off of the cold ground as well as nearer the humans.
Rule #1 is to not sleep in the same clothes you have been sitting around in or doing stuff in.
You may not realize it, but the tiny amount of water vapor that results from sweat etc. is enough to chill you as you sleep. Sleep clothes need to be minimal, a loose tshirt & sleep pants is sufficient, with socks if desired. Just put fresh ones on as you get ready for bed. I also sleep in a beanie, which makes it easier to stay warm.
We also "cheated" on the bed--we heated a pair of fire bricks by the campfire, which were then wrapped in a towel and slid under the top blanket at our feet. It radiated heat for hours and prewarmed the bedroll, making it cozy to snuggle into.
Rule # 2 is to layer your outdoor clothing.
Our clothing for being outdoors was more typical, the real key is to layer things. Tshirt with a long sleeved shirt, then a sweater/sweatshirt, then a jacket. Don't forget the hat! It makes a huge difference in the heat loss.
Rule #3 is to not have a giant campfire.
The campfire is another part of staying warm while camping. Don't make the common mistake of thinking a bigger fire will keep you warmer. If the fire is too big, its harder to control. It tends to burn and overheat rather than provide a comforting warmth. Save that giant bonfire for a signal fire when you need rescuing!
This page was last modified on Wednesday, January 20, 2010 03:56:48 AM
Get-Ready-GO
hosted by
Gia Scott & the Hippy
It's really all about getting your feet wet, in a safe and fun way, learning to enjoy the outdoors. We don't try to conquer it, but we teach you how to regard it as your friend. Its a fantastic way to keep the budget intact and "get away." Its great for kids, I know I read about one study that showed that kids who spent time outdoors in nature just generally did better at everything.
I know that after spending the vast majority of my life living in remote areas of the United States where camping wasn't so much a "fun-zy" thing as it was a way to be where I needed to be when I needed to be there, I ended up living in the 'burbs of New Orleans. Granted New Orleans isn't known for being a high stress major big city, but to me it was gigantic! The apartment complex I lived in at first had more occupants than any town I had lived in before!
After Katrina, everyone's stress levels skyrocketed. Between standing in lines and the daily tales of horror you heard from friends and acquaintances as we dealt with the aftermath, the frustration of trying to live in a city that suddenly didn't seem to be part of the United States anymore, and the normal stress of life, I started to see people dropping like flies. Suicide claimed way too many, stress induced illnesses claimed some more, and most of the rest seemed to start living on prescriptions to help them cope. I thought I was unaffected by it all, as my losses were minimal, until one day I was reading an article by Chris Rose, a local journalist who did his own battle with depression in the post-Katrina phase, and I realized...I was affected too.
I found the same relief I had found a very long time ago when I was a single parent with little time, less money, and a lot of worries. I went camping, I got outdoors, and as I learned about the world around me, I found a new peace, a new joy, and a way to safely escape the stress and give myself some coping room.
Along the way, I met the Hippy, a survival expert and camping fanatic with an amazing amount of knowledge, and a lot of knowledge in particular about the Southeastern United States' flora and fauna, which was utterly alien and kind of frightening to me. I had heard stories about snakes that attacked by dropping from the trees, giant spiders that could practically carry away a turkey, alligators that lurked everywhere to kill my dog or me, strange venomous snakes, and plants filled with poisons. Then there was the land, or lack thereof, to add to the fear factor. Swamps and bayous, rivers and lakes, all filled with assorted watery monsters that would sneak up on me to kill or maim me.
I knew the deserts and high plateaus of the West, but this may as well have been an alien planet that I was now faced with. Despite being moderately experienced at camping and hiking, I was intimidated by this new habitat and climate.
I haven't had any horrific experiences in the wilds here. Granted, Red Dog hasn't been allowed to swim in waters likely to host alligators, and maybe I'm a little paranoid about THAT...but she doesn't complain too long! As I discussed camping with the other people I knew, I realized that there were a lot of people out there who had never experienced the fun of camping, never slept a night in a tent, and knew even less about the world they had lived in all their lives than I did after a couple of years. It wasn't that they didn't want to do it or didn't want to know, they didn't know how and were more intimidated by the seemingly exclusionary camping club than they were by the prospect of venomous monsters lurking in the shadows.
A plan began to form in my mind as I thought about the world we live in. Our economy totally sucks right now, and everyone is strapped for money. By the time you buy gas to go somewhere, the motel fund is sucked too dry to bother going. Most kids are living with divorced or separated parents, and often their parents have not remarried, leaving them struggling in a world where the economy is prejudiced against the single adult.
Money for vacations is tight, money for weekend get-aways is tight. Sometimes there is no TIME for a proper vacation, or the juggling of kids and school and visitations make it tough.
I wanted to give these struggling families an option, to let them get out and experience the outdoors. I wanted for singles of all ages to feel free to try it, whether its a middle aged man or woman with no kids, or a struggling 20something with 3 kids, they need to discover that the natural world is an amazing thing filled with beauty and wonder, a place to find peace and tranquility, not something to fear and dread.
The best protection for Nature is to have the majority of our population appreciate its value, rather than regard it as "unused land." Voters who have never visited a National Forest are highly unlikely to be enthusiastic about tax dollars going to protect something they don't care about.
So, with the Hippy's assistance, Get-Ready-GO was born. We will soon have some great podcasts available free of charge.
We have books to recommend reading either by borrowing them from your local library or buying them yourself.
We'll have pictures, stories, reviews of equipment and products, how-to articles, and anything else that our readers/listeners want to know about.
Its all geared for the "regular people," not high end users with unlimited budgets.
Along the way, we're also going to include emergency preparedness, as it is so closely related to camping and the skills used there, and is also an important piece of knowledge to have, even while we all hope that we NEVER need to use it. Its too late to wait until you need that particular bit of knowledge to learn it, but camping is a way to "practice" while having fun. We will even include some links to other sites that may have some useful information!
This page will be changing often, reflecting new information we add, so check back often, as some things may only be posted for a limited amount of time.
If you are shopping, please consider the advertisers we have listed as you compare prices and goods, and if you choose to buy from them, please do so through the links on this page, as that is how we break even on the expenses of maintaining this page.
Summer Camping--A Group Weekend Trip
I took a weekend to go camping with a few friends near our favorite creek, and it was a great time. This is primitive camping at its best, which gives us all a break from the world fo technology that we all live in. It was also an exercise in "group camping," which can be tricky at times.
It can be tricky to coordinate meals, camp cleanup duties, and schedules at times. With our group, at least no one had a schedule issue, so we didn't even go there. But, what I meant by schedule issue is when the group does not have the same sleep/wake cycles, and the noise bothers the others in the group. When camping with a group that isn't familiar with each other, set some basic ground rules, even if the area in which you are camping doesn't have them, such as "quiet times." Mostly its about being considerate and polite to your co-campers.
Meals can be trickier, especially if your group does not have someone who is an organizational maniac. Loosely coordinated meals means either too much food or not enough. There are two very simple ways to deal with this.
The first is to go with pre-packaged meals such as MREs or freeze dried meals. They are available in a wide variety of flavors & ingredients to satisfy everyone, they are shelf stable, and easy to prepare. They are, however, a bit more expensive than "normal" meals for a weekend trip.
The second method is to designate one person as a "camp cook." This person does all of the shopping, brings all the food, and divides the cost among the entire group of campers. This is somewhat an act of faith though, because not all camp cooks are created equal. If the group has camped together previously, the camp cook would be selected over time by reasons of their skill, their willingness, and their devotion to providing tasty meals for hungry campers.
It is really not difficult, even with today's skyrocketing grocery prices, to have a great selection of snacks & meals, including ice and beverages, for under $10 per day per person if your cook is a savvy shopper. If anyone in the group has special dietary needs, make sure the cook is able to accomodate them or supplementary food(s) will have to be brought for the person in question. Some situations demand that the food be provided by the family of the special diet person, such as wehn it is an infant. Expecting the camp cook to accomodate that radical of a departure from the normal fare is not fair at all.
Camp clean up duties are a touchy subject at times. This includes trash and debris not being left around the camp or in its vicinity, maintaining an inoffensive latrine if its primitive, and then the regular duties of post-meal dishwashing. It is NOT fair to expect the camp cook to also wash dishes and clean camp, or you may find your cook refusing to participate in future trips on the grounds that if she (its a fact, when its a case of everything being one person's duties, its often "mom" that gets the tap.) was going to work that hard, she would just stay home. Camping is supposed to be fun for everyone, so divide up the chore portion. Even very young children can help with dishes (they think its fun, and the mess is outside on a picnic table, not in the kitchen at home.) and picking up camp. Helping to pick up the mess also encourages the mess to not happen to begin with!
NEVER EVER leave a camp looking messier than when you arrived. It should be as clean when you leave as you wish it had been when you arrived---so if it had been left with trash, debris, etc. when the prior occupant had used it...just clean it up, including the fire pit. ALWAYS clean out firepits, as some people are uneducated and will do things like toss batteries into a fire, and these are explosive when they get hot enough. If the fire was put out before something like that did explode, it may be you who has the unpleasant experience. (Yes, I did learn this the hard way once.)
In the post weekend discussion with one of my co-campers, we concluded we were carrying along too much excess gear, that weekend camping should not look like we are going on a year long expedition down the Amazon river. Its very easy to start bringing along everything, including the kitchen sink, as you acquire more gear and more skill in camping. This is the reverse of excess minimalism, and turns the trip into a misery of loading/unloading, setting up/tearing down, and packing it all up both to go and to come back home. Gizmos and gadgets are entertaining, but think twice about whether or not you really need them along on a short trip.
I have a bad habit of bringing along extra gear on these trips, "just in case" it is needed. It was June, and while the southeastern USA has frequent rain and thunderstorms, its very warm to very hot. Just for basics, I had brought along two tables, my chair, a cot, three tents, a cooler, and my cook kit (including 3 different kinds of stoves.) Out of that gear, I actually only used ONE tent, ONE cot, both tables, and the cooler. The only thing I got out of my cook kit was some cinnamon and a can of peaches. I never used any of my stoves, as we used the stove of one of the other members of the group.
Meal preparation also got excessively complicated too. Different styles of eating weren't conducive to one cook cooking one meal at each mealtime. Several of the group were "grazers" who were apt to eat a few bites here and there during the evening. The kids in the group, (early teens) were more interested in the snacky sort of foods as well. Cooking, barring that of the camp coffee that gets guzzled down, was actually not even needed, and we probably would have spent less money and had happier diners if we'd gone with the MRE routine.
The sultry evenings were just not conducive to appetites that wanted a meal, but the continual activity and dips in the creek were good for inspiring the grazing type of eating. We did have problems with keeping coolers actually CLOSED to preserve the ice's life as long as possible, so in a group situation, perhaps a single cooler designated for beverages and snacks might be a good idea to keep the other coolers closed.
I did test a new tent on this trip, one with an integrated frame and it impressed us all with its simplicity on a budget. I had bought the tent on clearance at K-Mart for about $32, and it was a bargain! It didn't get a real storm to test its weather worthiness, but for an inexpensive tent, it was a dream to put up. I'll post a review of the tent soon, along with its specs. (The photo of the tent, along with some comments, are in an article on the left side of the page.)