What all do you do when camping? (not at events)

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little_joe

little_joe

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I am curious what things you all do when you go camping = not at events, but just a weekend away. I am especially curious to hear from those who have no children.

Camping activities are very location-dependent. On the OBX, hiking ain't much of a thing, but I could sit on the beach indefinitely and never be bored.

So, what kind of things do you do? Hiking, sightseeing, reading, fishing, pan for gold, drinking - let's hear it!
 
Sex...like the entire time. We only stop to eat and hydrate.

Ok...for real...Hiking / walking is one of our go-to activities and it helps to de-craze our lab. Definitley site seeing if there is stuff to go see. We also will spend time preparing meals, trying to do something different and not just the same thing. I'm also a huge fan of naps as I don't get the luxury of taking them while at work and am usually so busy during the typical weekend at home (self inflicted for sure).

A lot of it depends on where we are camping, like you mentioned above - URE vs OBX, etc.
 
Like many people here, most of our family vacations revolve around some form of camping. Everything from car camping at Rodanthe and eating pizza right behind the campground at Lisa's Pizzeria for dinner, to full on backpacking when we were younger and being out for several days without resupply and having a 4 and 9 year old along.

Our camping background started with backpacking, then ultralight backpacking, then motorcycle or small car camping . . . and we have just bigger and bigger over time adding more luxuries and enjoying camping more and more.

Camping is just a cheap way for us to both be outdoors and spend a night somewhere.


Most recently, I have started doing this thing: National Park Passport Stamps - Wikipedia
But haven't done much of the sites with the new business etc :)


Key Principles for Fun Camping For Us:
  • All camping trips for us are to go somewhere to see stuff, ideally new stuff. It could be scenery, it could be a land mark, it could literally be a new town that we want to check out. We may camp nearby and then come into town and hit a museum, etc . . .who knows, we don't limit ourselves :)
  • We try to eat/drink as best possible given the variables of time/space/money. This might mean tinfoil burgers with veggies in a campfire pit, but it is cheap and good.
  • We try to go when weather is mild at least - erring on the side of cold as we have nice sleeping bags for cold weather.
  • I limit the family to basically 1 big activity per AM/PM - over-planning kills vacations
  • We always end on the way home with a night in a hotel and a hot meal at a restaurant
  • The travel is as important as the destination - we love to take back roads vs interestates, etc.

Checklist:
  • We identify a list of all the possible things we COULD do then prioritize, often by voting as a family.
  • We then make a short list
  • We find state parks if available for showers every so often
  • We look for water resupply
  • We look for a route to piece it together
  • We look for alternative camping ideas
  • We check for prices on a B&B or hotel for the last night somewhere otw home
  • We tie in trips to interesting towns on the way there or there or otw back
  • We find interesting places to stop etc.
Example:

Key idea: Go to Brevard area - see waterfalls, check out the downtown, stay at the Davidson River Campground, loop back through Asheville
Stuff to do on the way there - take Hwy 49 check out Barn Quilts, hit NoDa - have a lunch of a packed sandwich in Charlotte
Set up camp at the state park - make food, campfire, etc sleep
Drive up to Looking Glass Falls, slide down sliding rock . . .



You get the idea . . . :)

​
 
Damn Jamie, you guys are organized. We pretty much load up the truck with enough food and essentials to sustain us for the number of days and hit the road, pretty much open to what we find. The last few years it has involved following Rocket Man through the woods :)
 
NCFJ said:
Damn Jamie, you guys are organized. We pretty much load up the truck with enough food and essentials to sustain us for the number of days and hit the road, pretty much open to what we find. The last few years it has involved following Rocket Man through the woods :)
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I think once the kids are out of the house we will be more like you guys.

The coolest part is the kids now plan entire trips for us - - its like hiring a travel guide. :)
 
Fish. Cook. Complain. Sleep. Complain.

The thing I probably enjoy the most is the feeling of accomplishment after the final packing of the truck for the ride home. It's always the best load because you've had multiple times to practice it over the last few days!
 
I can't remember the last time I went camping without the club.
 
little_joe said:
What do you complain about? Serious question.
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I forgot, you don't know me well! Heat, cold, comfort, rain, wind, bathroom situation, the things I forgot or wish I'd brought, litterbugs, lions & tigers & bears. And people who start a giant fire then leave camp for any reason.

EDIT: ...And that I don't do this more often.
 
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Our camping really has no structure..... when we are with friends or by ourselves. Camping is supposed to be relaxing... adding a rigid time frame brings a level of stress back in.

Generally we sit around, converse, read books, hike, cook, swim, I don't sleep very much as I'm a night owl but also have an annoying habit of rising with the sun.... double that if camping.



If with friends we generally don't plan ahead either if our friends are ones that like to plan ahead of time we let them do that and we don't do everyone is happy. We take turns cooking and that is about as structured as it gets.

Hiking is the mainstay of camping for us as well as back country exploring. Most beach camping on the west coast from Malibu north to the Canadian boarder has mountains and hiking right next to it. For the outer banks we basically do the same things we did on the STR. (Is that not happening this year?)

I can also just sit in my chair with a beer in hand and stare at nature for hours. Depending doing on location we may explore the small towns near where we camp.

The majority of outside club camping we did outside of the club in NC was up in pisgah, did Carolina beach a few times. Our favorite weekend of the year was our labor day pisgah trip that we were invited to in 08 at the cove creek camp ground.


So generally the goal is relax..... how we feel and location really dictate what we do at each site.

Oh and double for Jon's first statement.
 
JohnVee said:
I forgot, you don't know me well! Heat, cold, comfort, rain, wind, bathroom situation, the things I forgot or wish I'd brought, litterbugs, lions & tigers & bears. And people who start a giant fire then leave camp for any reason.

EDIT: ...And that I don't do this more often.
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John is the reason the rant thread was started. ;)
 
It dependends on many factors, like size (solo or small group, big group), camping type (remote, sites, or parking lot), purpose of trip (explore, show some trails, destination type trip), time of year and weather.
I prefer to go and explore, walk/drive down trails and see whats on other side, camp in remote location away from everything. Then set up camp, eat, document trip, maybe play with radios, and chill. Get up early the next day and repeat.
 
As a family we usually stick to camping in the little pop up we have now most of are plans are made around fishing or swimming some hiking but mostly to get to a more secluded place to fish.
I always bring a shovel though to make some loose dirt for the kids to dig in or look for bugs.

Solo camping or small groups, again mostly gauges toward fishing but with a hike into a lake stream or river somewhere alittle out there that not many people go to. I like to try and catch dinner on these trips if I can key word is try.

Hoping to work in a beach camping trip if there are any good places out here and do some surf fishing.
 
Target practice and skeet shooting is a great thing to do, especially if your camping in remote areas where it will not bother anyone. Lots of gravel pits near all the forestry roads, where I go, easy to setup a safe range.
 
Generally it's kayaking/fishing when I'm bringing the little camper. If I could find a way to tow my boat and my camper that would be ideal. Probably going to do what I did last year a couple of times - find a state park, camp right on the lake, boat/fish/swim/drink/eat/watch the sunset/fire/drink/sleep/etc...
 
GLTHFJ60 said:
I can't remember the last time I went camping without the club.
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Its hard to beat camping with people who are so awesome about all things camping, trucks and even crap like Scotch, Beer and other weird endeavors. :)

All said, you are also like a Scout Dad, Johnny - have to camp with the Troop a lot :) Fun to do your own thing, but when you are camping out every month with the Troop/Club - - no time to do personal stuff :)
 
Even with kids, we've gone to the Asheville area (Lake Powhatan) and done some brewery tours, garage sales, and just plain wandering. Seems there were a lot of mountain bikers at that campsite, and would love to see what everyone was riding.

In, Cheraw, SC we've been kayaking on two occasions, great carnivorous plants and cypress trees.

Lake Jocassee, and Keowee, SC and Smith Mountain Lake, VA we either rented pontoon boats or had someone bring a boat and boated, wakeboarded, ski, kneeboard, jumped off cliffs, and swam.

Multiple barrier island trips where you had to boat in and drop off the gear to camp, where we bodyboarded, and surfed.

And of course there's the Pisgah trip where sliding rocks and waterfall swimming is the main draw regardless if it's Pisgah or Gorges.

And then there was Scotland...
 
Last fall I went camping with the family and 3 other families. My 18 inch Weber Smokey Mountain fit nicely in the back of my 80. I smoked 6 racks of ribs in the middle of the woods. Best rib's I have ever done.
 
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