That headline is pretty much what my brain has been shouting for the last few weeks. Camping is awesome for many reasons. It's cheap, it's fun, it takes place in nature, and even if the campground gets wifi and cell phone reception, you can pretend it does not and ignore all that shit.
Camping is also awesome because you are constantly met with opportunities to exercise that feel nothing like exercise. I like swimming, especially, and even though I swim slowly I can swim long distances and my form is pretty good. I also like hiking but it's way too hot right now. When I get a campground with a decent rental marina, I like pedal boats and canoes and kayaks, as well.
All that said, I'm not one to sacrifice comfort. A few basic things make camping more enjoyable.
The first is a reliable tent. Jay and I bought the Columbia Cougar Flats II, and we really love it. One person can set it up, but it's best with two, and it fits into a little rolly bag. We did a lot of research and decided we wanted a large tent to accommodate us, our dog, and as many friends as dared show up. When you get any tent, you need to seal the seams. You can get a really basic tent and seal the seams really well and it will hold up even in pretty substantial rain. My friend Austin, who came camping with us this weekend, had a really interesting set up with a hammock inside a mosquito net, with a rain fly. A shelter means that you won't have a soggy camping trip.*
The next thing I like to have for car camping is an inflatable bed or a cot. The inflatable beds are cheap and really comfortable, but you should bring a fluffy blanket of some sort because they don't breathe and if it's hot that can get gross and sticky. I prefer them for the aforementioned comfort, and also because they roll up into a small bag. When you have a tiny hatchback and a huge dog, packing space is at a premium even if you're not backpacking.
Finally, even though most campsites have picnic tables, a camping chair is almost indispensable for comfort. Plus, you can pick it up and take it to the lakeside, up a hill to a place with a great view, or just to the other side of the fire when the effing smoke keeps blowing in your face.
Other considerations include non-offensive bug spray and something to keep the bugs out of your area; sunblock; first aid kit with cortisone and antibacterial ointment (plus plenty of advil if your idea of camping involves a lot of vodka); a fan or small heater; mp3 player and speakers; and an ice chest full of healthy foods. Stay tuned for more on that last bit in part 2: Camping Fun Healthy Foods Yay!
*Not in any way making light of the sad news from an Arkansas campground last week.
2 comments:
Whee! Camping at Eisenhower State Park at the Oklahoma/Texas border is one of my favorite spring and fall traditions. On Facebook, you will find many photos of me in hoodies and sweaters with plastic bags over my head as I tend the fire and try not to get a face full of smoke. Just thinking about it brings to mind the stinging of smoke in my eyes and the smell of hand sanitizer. My boyfriend and I have found out the hard way we can't take our dogs camping, sadly. They have very poor recall (selective dog hearing ftl), and they've chewed up a couple of leash and harness combos the couple of times they've gone, and someone has to be holding onto them all the time. That someone has historically been me, and it's been no fun. I would love to have a dog I can take camping. Now, camping trips require either all that effort or a dogsitter, and our last dogsitter bowed out last fall due to a cat allergy. Boo.
It's hella fun, though. We tend to go when it's cooler and get a campsite with a shelter in case of rain (our first adventure several years ago involved the guys tying a jagged tarp to several tree trunks because of rain, and then two people had migraines), and we haven't done the boating thing since the body of water up at Eisenhower doesn't have kayaking that I know of. The hiking is pretty good, and I love taking long walks alone on the roadways of the campsite, as there's some really nice views of the lake. Yay camping!
Also, I am glad you guys went camping a day later. My first thought was "Check Maggie's FB to see where she is" when I saw the story about the flooding. How horrible :(
We have a trolley line that we put Bo on, so he's never off leash entirely. The main inconvenience is when we want to go swimming, we have to take turns, take him in the water with us, or have a buddy watch him on the shore. Still, we find a tree to loop an extra long leash onto and throw down a bamboo mat and he pretty much just chills out.
Fortunately our tent is big enough to hang out in if it rains, and has a shelter on the side that we can prop up. We haven't had to deal with rain yet, thank goodness, but I don't really mind it, especially when it cools things off.
I really want to try kayaking sometime. If I love it I might even buy this inflatable kayak as a reward for under 200 lbs. and do it a lot. Jay wants to rent a flat bottom fishing boat and take Bo out with us on the lake. We'll see how that goes. I don't like tumping over.
The campsite we were at this weekend was on a lake, but was pretty near the area that flooded. Sarah F. called ahead of time to make sure it was still open and safe. It was really sad to hear about all those people at Albert Pike. It's such a beautiful campground and I can only imagine it would have been far worse if the flood had come one day later, with the weekend crowd. Sad sad sad.
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