Camping: grab your sticks and pad and head to the woods!!

Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX

Local Boob
the "legal hobbies" thread led me to wonder how many people enjoy camping, and I did not find a dedicated thread to camping on the forum.

So, what is your camping interest/ involvement?

I grew up with camping and being in the outdoors as a second way of life. Our family vacations were always centered around camping somewhere in Michigan, Canada, or New England. It was roughing it...not glamping. Dad and grandpa were big into Boy Scouts, so I went through the whole Scouting thing too in the 70's and 80's.

I hiked part of the Appalachian Trail in the 90's with my sister and was into ultra-lite/back country camping as well.

Now, I am preparing to do some bike packing to scratch the ultra-lite itch, and on the complete opposite end, am planning on getting a tear drop camper to do some glamping since my wife likes the outdoors, but "will not poop in the woods". I never, ever thought I would be in a situation where we have electric in the campsite...having a hard time with that...but not really. just being in the woods is Zen to me

I prefer fall and winter camping - cold weather - to warm weather camping. Wife likes summer, so I go glamping in the summer with her, and legit camping in the cool with my mountain biking friends. Best places/most fav places for me have been in the middle of nowhere, Ontario Canada (100 miles northwest of Sudbury); Copper Harbor Michigan area; the Lake Placid area of NY...

Camping is also another activity that allows me to have GAS....

so lets hear it and see pics!!!
 
Lifetime camper here. I love the woods, so I bought a home on a mountain in the woods. Now that I live here I no longer have to go camping or hiking.

I see deer, fox, rabbit, groundhogs, snakes, lizards, turtles, opossum, armadillos, hawks, owls, vultures, and everything else that lives in the woods.

When I was a kid we would go camping every year, multiple times. We went to Disneyworld when I was 10 and camped while in Florida in an orange grove in February.

Camping is different here in AR than it was as a kid in NY. In NY the campgrounds were bigger and more spread out. Individual campsites are more isolated from each other. It was actually about being in nature. Here in AR the campgrounds are more compact and the sites are small and right on top of each other. It's more about being at the lake.
 
My last, and I mean last camping trip was to Virginia Beach, new camp site, all soft ground, rained, all mud. Had to take down a six person tent that was wet, muddy, and I was getting over a strept throat. My next trip was a Ramada. I did take a five day canoe trip down the Potomac years earlier that was a blast. Four guys, two canoes, from Cumberland Maryland to Harpers Ferry, W.Va
 
My last, and I mean last camping trip was to Virginia Beach, new camp site, all soft ground, rained, all mud. Had to take down a six person tent that was wet, muddy, and I was getting over a strept throat. My next trip was a Ramada. I did take a five day canoe trip down the Potomac years earlier that was a blast. Four guys, two canoes, from Cumberland Maryland to Harpers Ferry, W.Va

I wouldn’t ever camp at the beach. All my camping has been in the mountains/foothills.
 
My wife and I love to camp, mostly in our van, we have a new tent we want to use but, the last few trips bears have been near so the van is better. We're planning a trip soon to do the Blueridge in both directions.
We camped in Yellowstone, Yosemite, in the high Sierras, the Pacific coast, the Rockies, the Vacas, Michigan, and the Smokies.
I have taken a Remo pad kit on vacation in the past, like to sit on a cliff over the ocean and drum.
 
It's fun, I've done it. At times, it's almost tough, but it's usually worth it.
For me, it's about getting away to a nicer place, and embracing the difference. I do have a favorite camp site, and try to reserve the same one every time.
However, I think the nearby campsites might not enjoy the pad work... It's quiet up there.
 
I've always enjoyed camping-there is more access to showers instead of skinny dipping in lakes, creeks, etc or getting under a water spigot. There are more fire restrictions than when I enjoyed camping as a kid but I like places that have a shower access open to public-I don't mind communal showers-had that at a youth hostel in Netherlands in 72. All the camping stuff is better engineered, lighter, warmer, better everything. I use a Coleman portable propane gas grill at home despite having two nicer grills much larger and more expensive. Even family gathering even though I can't cook as much per cooking it cooks faster so I do a large group faster with my little grill with burgers and steaks. When I was a kid we made bets how little we could take and would we make it through night before getting scared (telling spooky stories), or getting eating up by bugs and wimping out. It was an adventure. We always managed a fire and I loved telling spooky stories-you can imagine my imagination running wild. Looking up at the stars-seeing falling stars or listening to crickets, frogs, or owls. Sometimes older kids camping would attack our camp and rough us up or steal whatever we brought-all good fun.
 
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Good stories. I envy y'all.

My last time camping was over 30 years ago on my honeymoon. With a bride that had never even seen the inside of a tent.

To surprise my new wife, I thought she'd enjoy camping. As a bachelor I road tripped & camped (usually on a beach). Now the opposite corner of the country was within reach! Explore new places! Isolated with my woman! 😎

If you ever drive the coast of Maine, you'll find it's nothing like the PCH. It's a narrow 2-laner that winds as much as a wet spaghetti noodle. We ended up at a private campground, with the sites about 30 meters apart. Literally on the coast, about a 20 meter walk to the rocks. Lobster traps were just offshore. Trees everywhere. Very dense and private. And so dense with mosquitos the owner of the place had a special hat with corks dangling around the entire brim.

After it rained on the second night, she was done.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away:

Mountain Biking 1984-02.jpg

Mountain Biking 1984-07.jpg
 
I wouldn’t ever camp at the beach. All my camping has been in the mountains/foothills.
I would have agreed with you until I went beach camping a couple of months ago and honestly it was one of the best sites I've ever been to.

Not actually camping ON the beach but you're literally a 50 metre walk away from this:

163598581_1054874031707084_2132539373352561399_n.jpg

Plus you're allowed to have a fire (not a big deal in most countries but pretty rare in most Aussie campsites due to bushfire regulations).

165639913_132030182202100_4025011332659469949_n.jpg
 
If I go camping im in an R.V. I want to know if pizza hut is anywhere near. At night I want the doors locked and welded shut. In the morning I want a meat and potato breakfast burrito from taco johns. The most outdoorsy thing I'd do might be looking for four leaf clovers with the kids for 10 minutes befor the pizza delivery guy shows up.
 
Camping in North America says 3 things to me: bears, mountain lions, bears, rattlesnakes and bears.

the worst animal ever to encounter while camping is humans...they are more dangerous; less respectful; more destructive and more unpredictable. My least pleasent camping encounters have been wiht humans...especially if they are fueled by alcohol. i f**king HATE drunk camping. I leave the city to get away from that world

my big issue in camping is spiders...one of the many reasons I prefer cold weather camping....the bugs go away
 
Camping in North America says 3 things to me: bears, mountain lions, bears, rattlesnakes and bears.
When camping as a kid we would drive to the dump and watch the bears eat. I dont like snakes, got tons of them here including timber rattlers. Never seen a mountain lion. I hear they prefer Californians.
At night I want the doors locked and welded shut
Bears, rattlesnakes, and mountain lions dont have thumbs. They dont use/need/comprehend doors. You will need them operable so you can escape.
 
ohh man....starting to love the stories and pics!!!

here are pics of last summer at a cool glamping place in MI...Mackinac Mill Creek...even though it was full of land schooner RV's, and other campers, this site was one of my most favorite because of:

Lake Huron 6 feet out of the tent door...sunrise on Saturday morning...I was in heaven
padlake3.jpg

standing in the water looking back at the tent...notice the "on the fly" blue ground cloth rain fly...the kids used the tent last summer and lost the actual rqin fly...which I was not notified of until I unpacked the tent to set it up. So the kids got to sleep on the edges of the tent where water might leak in. It rained that night, and no leaks...
padlake4.jpg

my sunset ritual was to walk down to the beach, and chop out looking out onto where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron come together...serious Zen. Temps in the low 60's; 10-15mph wind...we have pics of me actually on tht rock chopping out on my wifes phone, but the waves kept knocking me and the pd and sticks into the water...that's why I moved to the bench...feet still in the Lakes
padlake1.jpg

this had been the view just to my left about a half hour before the pad pic (random guy in the pic)
padlake2.jpg

so, the Great Lakes are a very spiritual/religious area to me....people talk about having or being in places where they are uplifted...this is that place for me. The remnants of the great Ice Age right there. The serenity. The terrain. The climate. All of the natural and human history in the area is just mind blowing to me. I have been around, camped around and seen all of the Great Lakes. We plan to retire to some part of the "Upper Mitten" of Michigan (since I don't think I could feasibly retire to Canada) if things go right monetarily. My wife is from MI, so it will be going home for her.

Keep the pics and stories coming!!!
 
ohh man....starting to love the stories and pics!!!

here are pics of last summer at a cool glamping place in MI...Mackinac Mill Creek...even though it was full of land schooner RV's, and other campers, this site was one of my most favorite because of:

Lake Huron 6 feet out of the tent door...sunrise on Saturday morning...I was in heaven
View attachment 104137

standing in the water looking back at the tent...notice the "on the fly" blue ground cloth rain fly...the kids used the tent last summer and lost the actual rqin fly...which I was not notified of until I unpacked the tent to set it up. So the kids got to sleep on the edges of the tent where water might leak in. It rained that night, and no leaks...
View attachment 104138

my sunset ritual was to walk down to the beach, and chop out looking out onto where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron come together...serious Zen. Temps in the low 60's; 10-15mph wind...we have pics of me actually on tht rock chopping out on my wifes phone, but the waves kept knocking me and the pd and sticks into the water...that's why I moved to the bench...feet still in the Lakes
View attachment 104139

this had been the view just to my left about a half hour before the pad pic (random guy in the pic)
View attachment 104140

so, the Great Lakes are a very spiritual/religious area to me....people talk about having or being in places where they are uplifted...this is that place for me. The remnants of the great Ice Age right there. The serenity. The terrain. The climate. All of the natural and human history in the area is just mind blowing to me. I have been around, camped around and seen all of the Great Lakes. We plan to retire to some part of the "Upper Mitten" of Michigan (since I don't think I could feasibly retire to Canada) if things go right monetarily. My wife is from MI, so it will be going home for her.

Keep the pics and stories coming!!!
Mask? At the lake? 🤔
 
Mask? At the lake? 🤔

this was last summer...July-ish, so beginning of the pandemic; we were probably one of only 3 families there with masks and no Red Hats....

I have no problem wearing the mask...never have; I got over the discomfort of the mask because I am a big boy; already been juiced, and still wear the mask every day because it is the right thing to do; we are still required to wear them at school as well, so it is still SOP for me; I will wear it till the scientists tell me that it is safe not to;
 
The most magical campsite I know is on St Agnes, Isles of Scilly (pron. 'Silly'), UK.
It's the last inhabited island in SW Britain and the campsite is right above the beach in the little bay you can see on the left side with the boats anchored.
In the evening, you look out at the amazing Bishop Rock lighthouse flickering in the distance- the last building in Britain - then nothing but thousands of miles of atlantic all the way to America.
 
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N
this was last summer...July-ish, so beginning of the pandemic; we were probably one of only 3 families there with masks and no Red Hats....

I have no problem wearing the mask...never have; I got over the discomfort of the mask because I am a big boy; already been juiced, and still wear the mask every day because it is the right thing to do; we are still required to wear them at school as well, so it is still SOP for me; I will wear it till the scientists tell me that it is safe not to;
No scientist in the UK has recommended wearing a mask outdoors in fresh air. It's the safest place you can possibly be.
 
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