Camping!!!

Much later this week, I am going camping with friends which is great because I need a change in environment.

I was curious, is there anyone here who like doing outdoorsy things a lot or even a little bit? If you are someone who hates doing ANYTHING outdoors and rather stay inside, stop here just to read the comments if you want.

The only time I go camping is with my friend, but other than that I am not going out of my way to camp in the wilderness.

I like the outdoors to some extent, but really I rather stay inside and just relax.

Why about some of you?
Thoughts and feelings?

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During the summer? I hate the outdoors. The rest of the year its fine.

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I love camping, and crave it every summer. Though I don’t go out of my way to camp alone—it’s better with other people.

I grew up technically staying at campgrounds a lot throughout my childhood, and some of those places were really nice or gave me great memories, like smell of the wilderness with a fire going.

When I was a kid, I’d only ever sleep in the tent a few times, and that was whenever it was out. Otherwise, we had an RV (and that’s a whole other story). But I came to love camping so much that I always crave for the real camping material lol

What we usually do that makes it worthwhile is roast hot dogs until they’re practically burned and eat them (either with or without a bun, with ketchup and mustard) and it tastes so good! We’ll also make S’mores because you can’t do camping without it lol We’ll also either tell scary stories around this time, or listen to a Lore podcast while staring at the fire, or sometimes we’ll do that while in the tent with all the lights off. Makes it spooky.

We’ll typically go to places without fun activities just because it’s not always available to us. For example, when we used to live in California, whenever we wanted to “get away” from our parents and life, we would take the tent and some chairs to the KOA down the road, even though it didn’t have any big trees and grassy areas (the ground was really hard). But we typically went there since they had a pool that was opened year round, which was cool. Other times when we wanted actual wildlife, we would go a little further away to a campground near a lake with lots of trees and stuff.

I’ve only actually been “real camping” once where there was no campground, but was in the middle of nowhere in the middle of a forest, and that was last July where we went to Colorado to see my sister’s now ex-boyfriend and ex-friends. They’re big on hunting, and would go to this specific area to not only hunt but camp. You were able to see the stars perfectly, and hear all kinds of animal sounds. We actually got scared at one point because it sounded like coyotes were really close to us. But it was really beautiful out there.

But honestly, as much as I love doing outdoorsy stuff, I do hate the bugs. They’re the worst part of it. That and if I have to walk anywhere because I loathe walking, and many other exercises. :rofl:

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That is understandable.

When it is hot and humid, cooling down inside is more important than simply being outside suffering from heat.

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I love backpacking! Just got off the trail from a 7 day trek and it was great lol.

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I can remember camping as young as six. I’ve never lost my love of the outdoors! We frequently go up to the mountains for the weekend and either tent or trailer camp. When we can we bring our dogs, but they tend to get eaten alive by bugs, so we don’t do that too often. I’ve camped in all kinds of climates (including snow), and we have multitudes of gear suited for different environments.

We also go hiking now and again. The last time we went to the other side of Lake Edison and hit a little of the Pacific Crest Trail. From that camp we hiked through the snow up to a lake at 10k feet (in our shorts and short sleeve shirts) and spent our lunch up there before coming back down to our base camp.

We do lots of other outdoors stuff too (I grew up fishing as well, but more on the ocean, my husband got me into more freshwater fishing.)

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I haven’t done any camping since high school, eons ago. I have done a few day walks around the Noosa beaches and the Noosa naitonal park. They were fun, except for the sunburn, heat stress, and forest of blisters. My brother does a lot of hiking and camping, and his advice helped point out the major dos and do-nots of hiking (wish I knew those before my walks).

Some valuable lessons:

  • Wear toe socks (blister protection), and silver-lined socks if possible (silver is anti-bacterial).
  • Avoid cotton: heavy when wet, difficult to dry, doesn’t store / retain body heat, poor UV protection.
  • Get correctly fitted shoes, and take two pairs.
  • PACK LIGHT.
  • Use a backpack with adjustable height, back, and shoulder straps. Packs with load-bearing belts are also good. Your hips, not your shoulders, will carry most of the pack’s weight.
  • Take twice the amount of water you think you need.
  • Wear UV protective clothes if available (any sun protection is better than nothing).
  • Travel in pairs or groups. Two is one, one is none ~ military saying.
  • Wool clothing (esp. inner layers) is great for insulation and moisture wicking…get the sweat away from your skin ASAP…I bought and test-wore merino wool top and pants (inner layer), and began overheating within a few seconds even though the material was quite thin.
  • Pre-empt blisters with band-aids or ideally water-proof blister pads / bandages / tape.
  • For long trips take GPS locator beacons, also known as Personal Locator Beacons. There’s a reason these (EPIRBs) are now mandatory in any decent merchant navy.
  • First aid kits, and basic first aid knowledge, is a must.
  • Personally I avoid any petroleum / plastic based clothing, which limits my hiking attire options. But I really don’t like the idea of such (toxic) chemicals touching / rubbing against my skin for long periods…Another reason for woolen inner-layers I guess…

When I next travel overseas I intend to hike / walk wherever possible, with trusty Nikon DSLR attached. One reason my eyes are glued to the October airfare prices (norther hemisphere’s autumn).

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Two hiking channels I recommend…
Chasing Mountains.

Kraig Adams

Honourable mention to the Bush Tucker Man TV series…

America: Man Vs Wild
Australia: Camping

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I mean, i live on a farm soooooooo yeah we do a lot of outdoors. It’s nice in autumn and spring, winter can be fun, but summer downright sucks

Used to do a lot of camping as a kid tho

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