no Emerald Ash Borer where you are then, I guess

Like I said, all parks have their own rules and they change, so you have to check with the park you're in... better yet before you're in.

:D

An example of bizarre fire rules is that Virginia has a statewide fire ban during daylight hours in spring. So you can go camping and have it be kind of cold, and collect some downed branches off the ground and have a nice fire at night. But if it's cold in the morning and you have a big pile of leftover wood, you can't start a fire to warm up a bit the next morning.

Army tents come in "shelter halves" which two man teams put two together to make the tent.
During a training exercise a looong time ago my tent partner put it up while I was doing some other task and covered the bottom (inside) with nice soft vegetation.
The next morning I discovered it was poison ivy, to which he seemed to be immune and I never have been. Gahh!

I will not piss you off again.

I promise.

I'm sorry to have commented in a way that made you angry or upset. I did not intend this result. I don't know how I offended you with what I said, but I obviously did.

Won't happen again.

You haven't offended or pissed me off. You're comment seemed a little snarky, though, so I responded in kind :) Maybe you didn't mean to be and I took it wrong. That would be my bad

get a room you two...


I wanna watch.:yum:

Mr. Clod is severely allergic to poison ivy--just a little touch on his hands, and it "goes systemic," which means his entire body breaks out and the inflammation takes 2-3 months to heal. I can't even imagine what would happen if he slept on a pile of it.

Part of the invasive insect issue is hauled firewood so it is a good idea to follow the local rules.

I missed a whole page of responses. Sorry for being re-dumb-dant.

The poison ivy incident was at Benning School for Boys in Georgia, where I think they have ivy as opposed to our nearly identical poison oak in the west.

I had a girlfriend who shared Mr. Clod's severe allergy to the nasty plant.
I still feel extremely chagrinned and remorseful almost fifty years later for telling her on a December hike through a leafless forest: "You can't catch it this time of year."

I had a reaction on my first Boy Scout campout; I woke up completely covered in rash.

No idea why; I grew up frequently exposed to Poison Ivy, and had occasional rashes just at the exposure area; it probably was some other allergen.

It wasn't super-uncomfortable, actually, but it looked terrible, and scared the Scoutmaster.

I got poison ivy second hand when I was young. The stupid people I lived with brought a basketball that had bounced into the evil weed into the family room. There it sat until I came in from playing, turned on the tv, and played with the ball on the floor. I broke out all over my fingers - I only touched it using the tips. In between the fingers was the worst. Painful as all get out. I had Miss Piggy and Kermit band aids.

I never had a problem with poison ivy until I did.

That's when I decided to teach myself what it looks like. Now I can spot it from a distance. In the daytime, anyway.

The leaves don't go on the tent floor, but under the tent. A hatchet is good for pounding tent pegs in the ground or cutting off your fingers. Better to have a 7" filet knife hanging off your belt. You will use it more.

Just take a section of fallen wood in your hands like a baseball bat and wrap it on the nearest tree. Dry wood will break up. Green wood will remind you what it feels like to hit a 100 mph speed ball.

Another poison ivy story I just remembered: in college, they had a volunteer service day coordinated between a bunch of different organizations, and one of their tasks was clearing brush from some place. The next day, literally hundreds of students showed up in the health center all at once with poison ivy rashes.

So. I have another camping adventure coming up next weekend. It's with the hiking group (not sure if I mentioned before) that I joined, but left me behind again. I would cancel, but I've already paid and offered to help the person setting up. As of now, there is no information on the fire situation or anything. I am planning on treating it more like the hike in sites I have reserved later in the year. I want to see if there is any way that I can leave the cooler in the car and walk back and forth to get food or if I should depend on dehydrated/canned food.

What I have planned so far:
Breakfast
- Egg tacos wrapped in foil I can reheat on a small skillet on my camp stove
- Backup - Shelf stable cheese and sausage with bread or crackers

Lunch
- Sandwich and fruit - Only one lunch day. Could be while hiking
- Backup - Canned soup

Dinner - Assumption is there is at least one fire a day
- Hobo packet with chicken and veg
- Backup - Canned soup

Definitely taking my 5 gallon water jug. I need a smaller container for a limited kitchen box. Maybe just a box for now, but long term, it should be something else. Maybe I should make a bag or something easy to carry. I was initially thinking of using a duffel bag. Then, I could carry my food stuff, clothes, pillow, etc in one bag and hopefully make less trips. Experimentation is upon us.

Five gallons = c. five days.
Get a backpack, preferably on a frame.
Learn from the group.

So some more information on the other invite. There will be a catered dinner on Saturday. I'm still bringing some soup for back up. The rest will likely stay the same. I am also eating before I get there on Friday. The organizer is making vegetarian chili. I get the feeling it's going to be all beans and I hate all beans. Except for chickpeas when made into hummus.

@Diaphone Jim - better to have more than needed and not enough. I have a day pack with an internal frame. I don't need a true backpacker pack just yet. I doubt there is anything to learn from the group, but you are right, I will take it if it happens.

For car camping, 5 gallons seems like a great idea, especially if you already have the container.

For backpacking, have you ever tried to pick up a 5 gallon bucket of water? It's doable, but you will be glad to put it back down shortly.

Remember - this is not true backpacking - I am only hiking in 125 ft to one site, 2200 ft to another, and one mile to another. A mile might be a little tougher, but if I only have to do it once, I believe it's doable - even if I have to make a separate trip for just that.

BUT, I'll be able to test it out this weekend. I can measure the distance from the car to the site I do have a container already. If it's too much, I can adjust how much I fill up the container. Water is definitely a different carry than a kettlebell, so I am sure it's not going to be as easy as I think

Well, the group just posted and said we can cancel and get a refund because it's going to be hot. Debating.....I wouldn't be hiking with them anyways. I don't know what to do now.

Nice thing about carrying water is that if halfway to the site you are regretting your decision, you can just dump some out.

This is true :)

Well, I am NOT going camping this weekend. I don't want to be around those people, so I cancelled. I am thinking of adding one night of camping in July, though.

It will probably still be hot when I go camping in two weeks, so I may be sticking to the same type of food choices - not fire dependent.

You have to be careful making plans to go camping with other people because the word camping defines different scenarios for different people. To some it's a tent in the backyard with mom bringing snacks and to others it's jungle with native bearers. Planning has to be specific until you know your co-conspirators pretty well. ;)

Considering it's the same group that couldn't even wait for me hiking, I don't think it would be a good experience. It would be different if I was actually going hiking with them. I think I'll go for a waterfall hike instead. Much better

Water is heavy.

not if you take the dehydrated stuff

It is if you have to haul water to hydrate it.

That's always the catch with dehydrated water.

So, NEXT week is going to be my second camping trip. Since the temps have been in the 80s+ this week, I was contemplating getting a portable gas grill. I don't need a stand. Every where I'll take it has a picnic table. I want gas so it will be easier to cook for just me. I don't think I need a large cook space, though. I don't want a stove, I want fire. That way I can cook my wieners properly :right:

I was thinking of the Weber Q. Reviews say there's a problem connecting the tanks and with the regulator. It also only has one burner.

There's also a multitude of coleman grills. I haven't looked into these too much. I started getting overwhelmed


I be lost. HELP! :mecry:

An earlier version of this is what we used all through my teenage camping years.

That was for car-camping though. If you're backpacking it, you want something else.

If you need more than one burner you're living to high on the hog. http://cellar.org/2012/bwekk.gif

Thanks for the suggestion, but that's a stove. I am looking for a portable grill. It will be for car camping.

:P I mean that there is one tube for the whole grill, so one temp knob for the entire thing. No indirect cooking will be had. Not too sure if that matters, though.

One thing is I do want to use this at home, too. Since I live in an apartment, we aren't allowed to use grills on the porches. I could just move this to a picnic table and grill away for the summer.

We've had ours for ever, got it from Walmart, probably 15 years ago. It's awesome, easy, compact.... wasn't too expensive ....and no idea what brand. will try to find it and lyk. When Beest died, several of the paintball team posted memories on his facebook of him getting up in the morning and cooking bacon on it. The best thing about ours is it has a half rack above the cooking area to keep done food warm also usefull for defrosting if that's how you roll..... Because we are many, that extra rack was essential, may not be such a necessary feature for you, but just thought I'd mention it

@monster - I found a post this week about someone regulary cooking bacon on their grill. I found one, actually, not too expensive, that has a warming rack. I actually didn't realize all the other ones are missing it. I've got it all put together.

The only thing is that one of the locking lid clasps doesn't work. I'm not sure what to do about it

Anyways, here is the one I went with

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Blue-Rhino-...ill/1000364855

yes ours is just like that. It's great

It's made by Blue Rhino.

It's red.

I may need a safe space.

Or a big ol' dank-stinking fatty.:fumette:

Oh good! Nice to know it has a good history.

Just breathe - you'll get through it - lol :D

So, I mentioned that the locking clasp on one side was broken. I went to the store to ask them if they could order a replacement part. Instead, the lady took one off the display. She just requested that I bring back the broken one so they could write off the one for damages. Now, it is built and both latches work :D
Attachment 63815

Make sure to shop at that store again. That's good service.

That's amazing, they didn't even request the broken one first.
Yes, like glatt said, shop there whenever practical. :thumb:

Yeah, that's really cool of them.

I KNOW! It was Lowes Home Improvement, so I was expecting it to be a big production. Nope! Although, now I know that if it's just a small part, take it with me.

Probably says more about the sales lady than Lowe's, but absolutely remember her if nothing else! And return because of her.

And be sure to tell her supervisor/manager/boss how helpful she was.

True. The problem is I don't have much use for Lowes. I got my grill. I'm good until I need gas.

In case you're not aware of it, your small propane tanks can, in a crunch, be refilled from the larger ones used for gas grilling. It's a hassle to do; but, as long as you can cool down your empty tank (refrigerator, cold running stream, well) to condense what fumes remain, you can get a worthwhile fill level. It just won't be as much as in a new tank. The small propane tanks are fairly inexpensive; so, it's not something you'd want to do regularly. Still, it wouldn't hurt to keep a coupler with your grill just in case you ever need to bum some gas off someone. The coupler is simple and doesn't cost much: https://www.ebay.com/itm/MacCoupler-...AAAOSw9mFa-eCD

So, my great camping triumph fizzled in a deluge of rain. So, I left. Not even 24 hours. I wasn't going to leave, but then, I figured why am I staying? Who am I trying to impress? So, yea. The first evening was fine. A little chilly, but whatever. The second day was weird. Hot, cold, humid, all at once. Still, I set off hiking. I watched the storm roll in. I got soaked on half my hike. Still ok with it. I cleaned up, put on dry clothes, threw a picnic blanket in the wet hammock, threw the wet clothes over a fence to dry. Relaxed. It was awesome. Sun was shining, so I decided to wash the dishes from the previous meals. I grabbed the last dry, warm thing I had and headed there. What happened? Torrential downpour! Fuck! I washed the dishes and waited for the rain to stop. I was still willing to make it work. Now, everything was wet. Even the last hoodie. Then, another downpour. Sitting in my tent, I decided I was miserable and it was time to go home. I was only 2 hours from home, so, I threw everything in the car and left.

Now, I must wait until July for my next trip. *SIGH* I'm going through the pics now.

That was for the best. It's supposed to be for relaxation and not too much like work. I can weather torrential downpours fairly easily with my Gore-Tex lined gear (hooded parka, trousers, gloves, socks, super-gaiters, and sleeping bag cover); but, that stuff is big bucks and requires learning a bit about design, fabrics and construction to get your money's worth. It would take the fun out of car camping unless you're into that kind of stuff for other reasons.

Rain, rain, I'll go away and come again some other day. Strategic withdrawal works fine for most.

You are gaining great experience with each outing. If everything is soaking wet and you have a car, by all means, take advantage of what you have.

You were a volunteer for this mission, which means you can un-volunteer at any time for any reason, like it became un-fun.

Or un-dry.

What they all said already. It’s supposed to be fun. I hope, I believe, it was fun to get back home into the warm-and-dry. Better luck next time!


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Learning to abandon a camping trip because of crappy weather is like learning to put down a book that turned out to be shit halfway through. Hard ... with a guilty sense of failure..... but so liberating and easier each time until the guilt is replaced by pity for those you leave behind who have yet to learn.

Thanks everyone. I went back and forth for a while, but ultimately it was the same as all you said. :)

Hopefully next time will be better. I really want to try sleeping in my hammock one night.

If you have a rope hammock with a spreader bar, a good night's sleep is not in your future!
There are lots of good, comfortable ones out there and many pages on the web.
Get a good one and practice at home.

Shit. That's the only way to go for me. I feel like a tamale in a regular hammock. I feel like I'm trussed up for the pot.

I have an ENO hammock. A tamale hammock - LMAO. I didn't mind the trussing up. I was able to close it all around me and block out the light for a little rest time. It was nice

All set up
Attachment 63859

Laying in my hammock
Attachment 63860

Fogginess
Attachment 63863

All the food. Not that there was much
Attachment 63864