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I hate camping - but some good news


SC Tiger
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My son's Sunday School class had a camping trip this past weekend.  Overall it was really good except for the fact a downpour came at the precisely wrong time - right as we were setting our tents up.  Everyone's tent was the "rainfly" type which meant that the top is open until the fly is installed.  Well, in our case the ran came before the fly was fully on it so we had puddles inside the tent.  Wound up having to mop them out with what semi-dry towels we had. 

I have come to a conclusion....I absolutely hate camping.  I love being outside and in nature, don't mind cooking on a campfire, etc.  Don't even mind going without AC or a shower for a few days.

What I DO hate is having to sleep in a sleeping bag in a tent.  I absolutely cannot sleep in a sleeping bag, and in a sleeping bag on the ground?  Forget it.  Basically I didn't even doze off.

The good part - SC Tiger Cub finally decided to get baptized.  He had professed his faith before but he was never really ready for the baptism.  COVID didn't help.  Well he finally decided to do it this past weekend.  Handily enough, I am actually an ordained deacon which means I squeak by the 'qualifications' to baptize someone.  And there was a river beside the campsite.  So that was good.  We're all really excited about that actually.

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  • SC Tiger changed the title to I hate camping - but some good news

Interesting.  I love camping.  Even when we get wet.    I don't mind sleeping in a hole in the ground if that's what i got.

Congratulation on the baptism.   That is a truly major event in one's life.   I was 40 when I did it.

I was so ready they were lucky i didn't do a cannon ball and backstrokes and a couple of loops around everyone.   Waited my entire life for that moment.

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Sounds like a fun weekend that will last for eternity. Very important event for your son.

 

I camped for a week long training course some years back. It rained all night. I woke up with my feet in a 4" deep puddle of water, sleeping bag soaked, I was cold and wet, temp that morning was 46°

Sun came out, I hung everything on a rope and it dried in a few hours. I moved my canopy to the front of my tent and then hung a tarp off one side and over the tent all the way to the ground. Pulled the side of the tarp out with some ropes and stakes to make it peaked down the middle.

Then I drove into town after class that day and got a coleman catalytic heater at walmart. It rained all that night. I woke up the next morning dry and warm enough, lit the heater, and got out of my bag thirty minutes later to a tent that was all of 70°. It rained every night all week. I was warm and dry each morning and I'd do it again anytime.

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When I was a kid, we camped out in Army half shelters in cotton sleeping bags. No way to stay dry. Coyotes howled all night. Didn't sleep much but couldn't wait to do it again. In the summer we traveled all over the western US and Canada with our family sleeping in tents including in Yellowstone with bears roaming through camp. Loved every minute of it. 

Here in Ak, I likely traumatized my youngest son for life when he woke up during the night to find me stabbing holes in the floor of the tent with a Buck knife to let the water drain out. We were 8 miles up in the Kenai Mtns on a Goat/Bear hunt and the torrential rainstorms came. The tent was a borrowed one that wasn't up to the task. Rather than pack it out after failing us so miserable, I burned it at the stake.

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A nice mattress in the truck beats a tent unless it’s more than a couple nights. I like to camp out for a day or two, usually because I’m photographing in the area. Then hit a nice hotel for a day or two then on to camping at the next location. 

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29 minutes ago, Walt Longmire said:

When I was a kid, we camped out in Army half shelters in cotton sleeping bags. No way to stay dry. Coyotes howled all night. Didn't sleep much but couldn't wait to do it again. In the summer we traveled all over the western US and Canada with our family sleeping in tents including in Yellowstone with bears roaming through camp. Loved every minute of it. 

Here in Ak, I likely traumatized my youngest son for life when he woke up during the night to find me stabbing holes in the floor of the tent with a Buck knife to let the water drain out. We were 8 miles up in the Kenai Mtns on a Goat/Bear hunt and the torrential rainstorms came. The tent was a borrowed one that wasn't up to the task. Rather than pack it out after failing us so miserable, I burned it at the stake.

Yeah - as a kid I could see that.  But I'm getting to darn old.  Would still like camping if I could figure out a better sleeping system.  I actually have a hammock and a tarp, so I may do a test run with a setup similar to what Lazy R posted.

I considered stabbing a hole in the tent to let the water out but figured it would let more come in, so we just mopped it out with towels.  One lesson I do remember learning from Cub Scout training is that the ground cloth should NEVER extend past the edges of the tent and should actually be slightly smaller.  Otherwise it can catch rain and funnel it under the tent.  My tent has a tarp-like bottom so it doesn't matter much.  I also use a compression bag to pack it as opposed to the case it comes in.

I have also concluded that a clothes/drying line is a very underrated part of camping.  

How did you explain the burned tent to the owner?  :anim_rofl2:

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A lifetime ago I spent a week in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.  The fishing was fantastic, we had a huge lake to ourselves.  Even the bears made an eventful week.  But man, every day it would dawn sunny and beautiful, start clouding up in the late morning, then by early afternoon a monsoon followed by sunshine and evening.  The wall tent we had was soaked, as well as everything inside.  And don't get me started on the skeeters.  

Camping should include at least a 4 star hotel.  

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1 hour ago, SC Tiger said:

Yeah - as a kid I could see that.  But I'm getting to darn old.  Would still like camping if I could figure out a better sleeping system.  I actually have a hammock and a tarp, so I may do a test run with a setup similar to what Lazy R posted.

I considered stabbing a hole in the tent to let the water out but figured it would let more come in, so we just mopped it out with towels.  One lesson I do remember learning from Cub Scout training is that the ground cloth should NEVER extend past the edges of the tent and should actually be slightly smaller.  Otherwise it can catch rain and funnel it under the tent.  My tent has a tarp-like bottom so it doesn't matter much.  I also use a compression bag to pack it as opposed to the case it comes in.

I have also concluded that a clothes/drying line is a very underrated part of camping.  

How did you explain the burned tent to the owner?  :anim_rofl2:

Now days I bring along a cot if possible. Always have a blow up Thermarest. 

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216932240_2861621600757736_3110571331420051518_n.jpg.d1ec8b0bc9837a6be300f9298a69f097.jpg

 

I went camping a couple weeks ago.

That's my tent off to the right, with the generator and aircon hooked up to it.  

 

mine is the truck to the left; the one without the turret and gun mounts and all that other fun stuff.

Those boys like to play, but mine is a work truck.

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I love camping. Doh.

What an opportunity to advise my minivan camper build lol

I can park EVERYWHERE over night, often right on the beach. No rain, no bugs, got everything I need.

 

 

 

 

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Just finished the butcher block for my kitchen isle, with drawer fridge, induction cook-top in a drawer and sink to come.

 

 

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41 minutes ago, Cougar_ml said:

216932240_2861621600757736_3110571331420051518_n.jpg.d1ec8b0bc9837a6be300f9298a69f097.jpg

 

I went camping a couple weeks ago.

That's my tent off to the right, with the generator and aircon hooked up to it.  

 

mine is the truck to the left; the one without the turret and gun mounts and all that other fun stuff.

Those boys like to play, but mine is a work truck.

When I pulled duty as the Battalion Driver. I  would live out of a Hummer for 72 hours at a time. Just basically camped next to it. 

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2 minutes ago, Batesmotel said:

When I pulled duty as the Battalion Driver. I  would live out of a Hummer for 72 hours at a time. Just basically camped next to it. 

I worked battalion flight ops.  Or rather, that's just who I was assigned to.

I spent most of my time out in the field making sure the heat, aircon, and power all worked how they were supposed to.

I set up shop in an office conex on back of an LMTV.  Wired into the same generator as the TOC (Tactical Operations Center)

Wired a field phone over to the TOC (all of 40 feet away), was parked on the backside of the TOC underneath the camo net (66 panel net, it was huge) and when not needed spent my time watching movies or TV shows on my laptop in there.  One of the commo guys was in there with me most of the time.  Had a 6KVA battery backup, electric heat, an air conditioner, an old PA speaker wired to the laptop for sound, and a couple cots in there.  I was better set up even than the LT COL and the CSM.  

 

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11 minutes ago, Cougar_ml said:

 I was better set up even than the LT COL and the CSM.  

 

Cool. I was just camping out. Basically on call for 72 hours to drive anyone, anytime. Best part was officers often wanted to grab good food as I was driving them on their errands. They were very generous feeding me. When I got back my little camp was always untouched. 

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I love camping.  The husband and I camped all the way to Wyoming last month, and I tried out a new air mattress - turns out it had a leak, but it also had a foam layer, so even though the air was gone by morning, my hip didn't wake me up hurting.  So, now I have to get the repair kit and find the leak and fix it and it will be even better.  The husband likes ultra-light backpacking - he has a hammock he made himself about 15 years ago, but he would like a new, lighter one so...

anyone with an ultra-light hammock have recommendations for brands?  I'd get it for him for his birthday, and he'd try it out over Thanksgiving break (he likes camping when it is cold and there are no bugs - I'd rather have heat even if there are bugs... so I send him on his winter camping trips alone.

 

Anyway, I also discovered our tent is FABULOUS in windstorms - it lays down in the wind (yeah, right on my face, but...) as soon as the wind stops, it pops right back up.  I spend far too long laughing at the tent while the wind was gusting it over and popping it back up one night.  This is a distinct improvement on the old canvas tent I grew up with - once that thing went down, it wasn't going back up without a whole lot of help and probably a few swear words.

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12 hours ago, SC Tiger said:

My son's Sunday School class had a camping trip this past weekend.  Overall it was really good except for the fact a downpour came at the precisely wrong time - right as we were setting our tents up.  Everyone's tent was the "rainfly" type which meant that the top is open until the fly is installed.  Well, in our case the ran came before the fly was fully on it so we had puddles inside the tent.  Wound up having to mop them out with what semi-dry towels we had. 

I have come to a conclusion....I absolutely hate camping.  I love being outside and in nature, don't mind cooking on a campfire, etc.  Don't even mind going without AC or a shower for a few days.

What I DO hate is having to sleep in a sleeping bag in a tent.  I absolutely cannot sleep in a sleeping bag, and in a sleeping bag on the ground?  Forget it.  Basically I didn't even doze off.

The good part - SC Tiger Cub finally decided to get baptized.  He had professed his faith before but he was never really ready for the baptism.  COVID didn't help.  Well he finally decided to do it this past weekend.  Handily enough, I am actually an ordained deacon which means I squeak by the 'qualifications' to baptize someone.  And there was a river beside the campsite.  So that was good.  We're all really excited about that actually.

Great news on your son. Praise God for that!

As for camping, I did a fair amount of that in college with friends and in the years after with my wife, but she had no more interest once the kids came along.

I'd still be up for it, but she prefers to camp like this these days:

image.png.15d8ddc950f822ba1b1749b331e59533.png

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9 minutes ago, Maccabeus said:

Great news on your son. Praise God for that!

As for camping, I did a fair amount of that in college with friends and in the years after with my wife, but she had no more interest once the kids came along.

I'd still be up for it, but she prefers to camp like this these days:

image.png.15d8ddc950f822ba1b1749b331e59533.png

I'm  your wife.  I've done "Campin".  From the back of a motor Cycle, with my darling wife, a pup tent... on Inter State "Rest Stops"...before that was not allowed...and other Weird ass "Camps"....It was Safer back then...

When ya get older...."camping" means a view over the lake, river ocean or mountains...from something like that.  WITH AC and Internet...sorry

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23 minutes ago, Maccabeus said:

Great news on your son. Praise God for that!

As for camping, I did a fair amount of that in college with friends and in the years after with my wife, but she had no more interest once the kids came along.

I'd still be up for it, but she prefers to camp like this these days:

image.png.15d8ddc950f822ba1b1749b331e59533.png

In my younger days we had a 2 man canvas tent that weighed 500 pounds (carrying it out), was either hot or cold, and guaranteed to leak when it rained.  But it did have a screen that kept those nefarious vampire skeeters out.   Coleman gas lantern and gas stove, hadn’t heard of a propane model.  
 

Nowadays a slow wi-fI signal is about as primitive as I want to get.  This “cabin” would be my idea of roughing it now.  

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Haven't camped in some time thanks to some injuries. I never could sleep in a bag if it was warm, I'd just take a sheet and make sure I had a pad of some sort, or better yet, a folding cot. I hate being covered in OFF.

I need to be able to stand, so tents are kinda difficult. Being in nature and surrounded by it are about as close to Heaven as I can get, and I'm pretty sure I got to see the waiting room, but that is another rant.

Congrats on Da boy.

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On one of my first backpacking trips I used a plastic tube tent.  You run a cord between two trees and pass it through the plastic tube and then sleep in the open ended plastic tunnel.  Sounds functional, right?  I woke up in the morning and I was soaked.  It had not rained during the night, so the outside of the 'tent' was pretty much dry.  But, the inside had collected the morning dew quite nicely and it all ran down onto me and my sleeping bag.  A functional way to collect drinking water if you need to, but a lousy tent. 

 

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7 hours ago, Mrs.Cicero said:

I love camping.  The husband and I camped all the way to Wyoming last month, and I tried out a new air mattress - turns out it had a leak, but it also had a foam layer, so even though the air was gone by morning, my hip didn't wake me up hurting.  So, now I have to get the repair kit and find the leak and fix it and it will be even better.  The husband likes ultra-light backpacking - he has a hammock he made himself about 15 years ago, but he would like a new, lighter one so...

anyone with an ultra-light hammock have recommendations for brands?  I'd get it for him for his birthday, and he'd try it out over Thanksgiving break (he likes camping when it is cold and there are no bugs - I'd rather have heat even if there are bugs... so I send him on his winter camping trips alone.

 

Anyway, I also discovered our tent is FABULOUS in windstorms - it lays down in the wind (yeah, right on my face, but...) as soon as the wind stops, it pops right back up.  I spend far too long laughing at the tent while the wind was gusting it over and popping it back up one night.  This is a distinct improvement on the old canvas tent I grew up with - once that thing went down, it wasn't going back up without a whole lot of help and probably a few swear words.

Mine is an Eno. Packs up to just bigger than my fist. Reasonably priced and good quality. Great for motorcycle camping.

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3 hours ago, minervadoe said:

On one of my first backpacking trips I used a plastic tube tent.  You run a cord between two trees and pass it through the plastic tube and then sleep in the open ended plastic tunnel.  Sounds functional, right?  I woke up in the morning and I was soaked.  It had not rained during the night, so the outside of the 'tent' was pretty much dry.  But, the inside had collected the morning dew quite nicely and it all ran down onto me and my sleeping bag.  A functional way to collect drinking water if you need to, but a lousy tent. 

 

Visqueen tube tents were our favorite for pack in deer hunts in the mountains of Wa State when I was a kid. Never got wet in one. Burned them rather than pack them out.

 

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9 hours ago, minervadoe said:

On one of my first backpacking trips I used a plastic tube tent.  You run a cord between two trees and pass it through the plastic tube and then sleep in the open ended plastic tunnel.  Sounds functional, right?  I woke up in the morning and I was soaked.  It had not rained during the night, so the outside of the 'tent' was pretty much dry.  But, the inside had collected the morning dew quite nicely and it all ran down onto me and my sleeping bag.  A functional way to collect drinking water if you need to, but a lousy tent. 

 

The moisture gathered inside was from your breath during the night, keep your head outside.  Same with a sleeping bag if you curl up with your head inside it will be all wet from your breath.  It's amazing how much moisture one exhales over a few hours.  Put stocking cap on and keep your head outside.  As already mentioned the Thermarest pads are a life saver, used to carry a three quarter length one when in remote high elevation areas.

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