Since it’s now been a year since major shutdowns started occurring, and vaccinations rolling out slow chances are it’s going to be another warm weather season of being forced to explore what’s close to us on our well-earned time off. Nett and I both for one purchased trailers this years. Camping resorts and campgrounds of every walk of life and location are selling out for 2021 like they never have in history because nobody is flying anywhere. Cottages, cabins and lake houses are selling far above their selling prices. People are learning to get out again, albeit they are getting forced to with so few options. Focus: All things roughing it and enjoying nature front and centre. Do you forage and depend on your skills in the woods? Do you partake in the decadent “glamping” lifestyle of bringing class to the outdoors? Do you like breaking your leg off a dock piling while water-skiiing high? Or do you simply view camping and such as nature’s way of promoting the hotel industry?
Glamping is way more trouble than it's worth; there is just so much shit to bring with you. I have a full hiking pack from when I did a large chunk of the AT a few years ago, so I generally just use that for when I go to a campground or whatever. Our second kid is due in June, just when things are going to be (hopefully) back to somewhat normal, so I won't be doing much hiking or camping this year. My brother and I are trying to plan a small trip in May, but with him closing on a house that month and my kid a few weeks away from that, its going to be tough.
@Crown Royal , it look like you bought something very similar to ours. Hope you enjoy it. From 2015 to 2019, we used the hell out of ours. My mom and stepdad have a 43' LOA luxury fifth wheel. That thing was nice when my son and I went and met them in Florida. Dad and stepmom have a big 30-something foot tagalong set up on a permanent spot on Douglas lake in Tennessee. Best advice I can give you is spend the money on a good mattress. We have the exact same mattress in the camper that we have in our home. We sleep like rocks. Make sure you buy the short queen if there is no gap between your forward bulkhead and the bed platform. We ordered a short queen, but they sent standard. That makes it super hard to get to our under-bed storage. Develope a good inventory of outdoor cooking stuff. Outdoor portable gas oven, and stovetop. A grill. Cast iron for cooking over a fire. I can't stand cooking in the trailer. That oven has a hot spot in the back center. You have to keep that in mind when you place things in it. Be prepared to turn the food, or rotate it a lot to get an even cook. We didn't camp any in 2020. I'd like to get it out and un-winterized, but if everyone and their brothers are going to be in the campgrounds, I may wait until it calms down. We keep saying we're going to do a loop around the country, but keep putting it off for one reason or another.
@Crown Royal Oh, yeah... I'm pretty sure you bought a used one. I would put tires and wheel bearings on it, if I were in your shoes. That way you're confident in them. The tires can look perfectly fine, but they sit in the sun, usually not moving for weeks at a time, they are more degraded than they look. They can deform and flatspot from the weight as they sit so long, then the stresses of a trip blow them out. My stepdad lost both tires on one side within 100 miles of each other and they looked perfect. I've flat spotted my motorcycle tires from just sitting in the garage for a winter. They need to roll occasionally to keep their shape. Use tire covers on the sunny side during storage. Nothing ruins a trip quite like a blown trailer tire.
I was hesitant, at first. I don't think I have used the oven inside the trailer, ever. I've used the stovetop inside for eggs and bacon, or grilled cheese and soup, when it was raining or freezing. I don't know why, I just like cooking outside and that oven I posted is a nice addition to your cooking options.
Trees whipping by on a dirt bike is as much as I want to see a National forest. More of a beach bum. If I lived closer to the ocean I’d be in to deep sea fishing more. I enjoy deer hunting and all but it’s a lot of physical work, I can see why it’s declining in popularity like it is. Camping and hiking seem like ten times the effort just with a nominally lower cost.
I tend to long day hikes rather than camping. I like camping just fine, but I really don't like camping with other people around, and it's a lot more work. I keep thinking about getting a camping hammock to try and reduce the burden of the tent + sleeping bag + pad. I've never camped in a trailer - I can see the appeal, but if I ever pick one up, it'll be small and high clearance since (as mentioned) I generally hate camping around other people. I'm perfectly willing to put down 20+ miles in a day, so I think that helps reduce the necessity of camping in order to see something remote or isolated, though some things you just can't get to in a day. But give me a light daypack with some snacks, a couple spare layers and a camera, and I'm happy to start before dawn and drive back to wherever I'm staying after sunset. What are you Idiots doing for your backpacks? I've gone through a couple of photo packs (F-Stop mostly) but none of them are as good as a proper hiking backpack, so I've reverted to my Osprey pack(s). My daypack is a Talon 22.
I have an Osprey hiking pack that I "like" but don't "love." It sits a little too low on my waist no matter how many adjustments I make. I also have a Talon 22 daypack. I have zero complaints about it.
Outdoor cooking is the way to go with any camper, especially in the summer as it just heats up a camper and makes it miserable. I went the boat route last summer and a lake house would be nice but is pretty much unattainable price wise for working class people these days, I have one rented in July for a week, it’ll be nice to be able to leave the boat docked in front of the house all week.
I love REI for fitting packs. When I bought my first hiking pack, the sales person was incredibly patient, and I must have tried 6 or 7 packs with a variety of weights. Osprey tends to fit me the best but I really liked the Gregory packs I've tried as well.
I would endorse Osprey packs as well. I've got two, and one of them serves as my gym & motorcycle bag because it's big enough and versatile enough to strap a helmet to it. I've not had one that I hated, and I've never broken one. I couldn't say the same for my North Face packs (never again), or my Kelty packs. Patagonia makes some good shit, but I don't really use that for hiking/camping. One of the most overlooked elements: a fucking hammock. I hated putting up a tent, and a good hammock is cheaper, easier, faster and way more comfortable. In PC, we all ate a ton of garlic and onions because it warded off mosquitos and served as a natural antibiotic. Trick is it needs to be fresh, not powder or minced and dried out. Fuck those candles.
The boat was the whole reason we got a camper. When we had a kid, I quickly realized the only way I was going to get to do any boating is if I had an air conditioned place for my wife and kid to nap next to the lake. Then down the road, we got lucky finding our lake house. Kerr Lake is still affordable for typical families. But we still got a smoking deal compared to everything on the market at the time. Kerr does have some outrageous little mansions priced near or above a million, but it is largely surrounded by regular, modest homes. Quite the opposite of most lakes I've been on that draw people with loads and loads of money. Although, the recent trend in the market here may soon make everything I just said untrue. Which will be good for us since we got in for such a low price.
My girlfriend is a climber and I've just started expanding my gear as I'm doing an Outdoor Leadership course later this year. I'll jump on the Osprey bandwagon as well, I've got an Atmos 65 and just picked up a Stratos 36 for day stuff and they are both leagues in front of anything I was given as part of the military. As far as other gear I would invest in a good Chilli Bin/Eski/whatever you guys call it, worth their weight in gold. These are from an easy climb we did on the weekend.
I recommend looking into Deuter for packs. I have a 22L day pack from them and it's awesome. Also their hydration setup looks weird at first but performs way better than Camelbak. Can't tell you how many times I've had a Camelbak spring a leak, and the Deuter one is bulletproof. Gotta love that German engineering! I'm not 100% sure about retail pricing since I get a pro deal but I think the whole line runs cheaper than most name brand outdoor gear.
Our trailer is staying in its lot at the campground, we paid the lot fees for 2021. It has a deck I just need to power wash and stain, and voila we have a getaway 45 minutes from our house. A family resort, so no weekenders and no techno music until 7am. As a dude, primarily my thoughts right now are mostly occupied with hammock purchases, hammock placement and hammock accessories I.e things that will help you not have leave the hammock in question. Also, I get to buy a bug zapper for the first time. I have waited for this day for four decades. Any recommendations? I know our USA board members could probably write a clinic on this subject. I don’t want anything nuclear, just a solid and aesthetically-pleasing mosquito killer for a seasonal campsite.
Ours is a 2013 Catalina Coachmen without slide-out sections. Here are the specs: They say it sleeps eight, I believe six but I haven’t seen the bunk area yet personally. A full bath means we can camp during lockdown. The inside is just fine (with a great mattress in the queen bed), the outside is where the fun and work comes. Most of our time is spent outside, so I have work to do on the lot before May 2-4. I think. It was covered in two feet of snow while I was there, I don’t know what I have to work with, or what other things I may have inherited. They left their garden hose spooler which was nice.
I'ma disagree. I like to see the lightening and flames, hear the thunder of amps passing through those little blood suckers. Let your inner sadist out and just enjoy the overkill and hope the little bastards feel it, if only for a brief moment of their useless lives. I know you have it in you.
When I was younger I did a lot of camping, year round. I’ve slept under the stars and in a snow bank in -20 temps and everything in between. Now? The ground is too hard and mosquitos buzzing in my ear all night is for the birds. We “go camping” in the Adirondacks now and then, but there’s a cabin involved, with electricity and air conditioning. I could rough it tomorrow if I had to, but I don’t have to. So fuck that.
Yep. I’ve done lots of survival training in the past, mostly when I was in the military. Did various para rescue, winter survival, and SAR courses, the most extreme of which was jumping out the back of a Herc into 5’ of snow with half gear and having to hump it 30 miles to an extraction point within a week. That was kind of fun, if not a certain amount of boring. It was also more than 30 years and X pounds ago. Now? Fuck that. I’m old, creaky, have things that hurt that will never heal, and while I enjoy the outdoors, I want to do it on my terms. Those terms include the trailer having a wine fridge, espresso machine, a hot shower on demand, and Starlink. I have no doubt that I could survive in a shitty survival scenario, but I don’t want to do it on purpose.