[How To] Camping-The Basics - What do I need?

bicyclist said:
Think about whether you really want to deal with fixing meals on the road. It's a major time sink and requires packing extra stuff (stove, pot, utensils, condiments, cleanup stuff). This is largely a question of your travel style. If you like to meander, smell the flowers and put in easy mileage days, the time spent fixing meals is no problem. If you're trying to cover the ground, the combination of time spent cooking, cleaning and extra packing eats into the day.
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This it true. MotoCamping is more fun if you're not trying to get somewhere. If you are trying to cover ground then motel camping works much better. You get on the road much earlier and be able to ride later and sleep better. A hot shower or sauna feels good too. The contentental breakfast gets you down the road quicker too. And I enjoy those early morning hours of riding (5 AM to 7AM) more than any others (but watch out for the critters).
 
I haven't done a lot of camping on trips yet, (3 nights while on the road plus the four at Spearfish last year), but I'm thinking eating at the campsite isn't going to be high on my list. Getting repacked is slower than getting setup still (I've got the setup down to about 20-30 minutes, and the getting repacked has taken me closer to 45 minutes), but I'm thinking riding a few miles (30-50), stopping for breakfast, and then back on the road, is going to work in the mornings. So far, I've set camp up and then ridden to a restaurant to eat. Last October when I campted at Kanopolis State Park in Kansas, I ended up riding nearly 45 miles to get back to Salina for supper, but I really had a good meal. Eating places and camping places probably won't always be that close together on the Epic Ride, so this may be an evolutionary process.
 
Phil, we are all on a different feeding schedule. I really like a coffee and food first thing in the AM which I can get at a motel. But when camping I just eat a pop tart (or something like that) junk food and a bottle of whatever they call that coffee mocha stuff (ask Chris) befor riding. Then after riding for an hour or three I stop for a real breakfast at a restaurant. Lunch is usually apples or other fruit at a roadside break. Supper is often french bread, cheese, and merlot or similar. Cooking anything adds 2 more element to camping - cooking and cleaning. Cooking works out better for groups where more than one person can be fed with about the same amount of work while sharing chores, stove, and pots. I do cook sometimes, but usually find it too much trouble when traveling. If I'm just camping and riding out of the same camp for several days then I do cook. Less food at a campsite means less bears and coons too.

My main frustration with camping is finding a decent tent site. It seems like "camping" these days requires at least 6 wheels and 400 horsepower. What they call a "tent site" at some campgrounds is a piece of land between two RVs. I've been stuck at a spot about ten feet from the muffler of some RV generator. US Forest Service has rustic campgrounds that are more tent friendly, but not always easy to get to. Finding a good campground near your travel route is challenging for me. Those are the ones that fill up first. I hope to improve that this year with a better GPS and a smartphone.

Staying at a motel allows me to pull in later, leave earlier, and ride longer. But I always carry my camping gear on the bike. Lastly, riding with a group changes everything.
 
If I am traveling to make time I stay in motels. 600 or more miles a day. Leave at sunrise ore before, stop at sunset or after.

Camping is for liesure travel. Stop earlier and leave later. Campsites off the road a ways. Cook supper and breakfast and make coffee in the morning. 300 mile days common.
 
charlie b said:
If I am traveling to make time I stay in motels. 600 or more miles a day. Leave at sunrise ore before, stop at sunset or after.

Camping is for liesure travel. Stop earlier and leave later. Campsites off the road a ways. Cook supper and breakfast and make coffee in the morning. 300 mile days common.
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I figure camping costs me an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. (Over a hotel) But since I am not a hard charger anyway it doesnt cut into my travel time that much. I am more
apt to camp if the weather is nice and the campgrounds are nice and senic. You can always grab breakfast on the way.....If its hot and un-scenic, I love an air conditioned motel with close food
nearby.
 
Ok OK, I am addicted to Starbucks in a bottle. But if you eat freeze dried, there is no cleanup. Still, If I must get up and travel from a tent, I like to stop at a real restaurant after 30-60 minutes of dodging suicide deer. At Spearfish, I would rather go out and eat with friends as a social thing. When I am camped out in the high desert of Reno for the races for 9 days, there is darned little time to eat so I scramble eggs in my tent and get to the flightline....same at Quigley...nothin like a starbucks, a gooey roll and scrambled eggs with bacon bits at sunrise....




junglejim said:
Phil, we are all on a different feeding schedule. I really like a coffee and food first thing in the AM which I can get at a motel. But when camping I just eat a pop tart (or something like that) junk food and a bottle of whatever they call that coffee mocha stuff (ask Chris) befor riding. Then after riding for an hour or three I stop for a real breakfast at a restaurant. Lunch is usually apples or other fruit at a roadside break. Supper is often french bread, cheese, and merlot or similar. Cooking anything adds 2 more element to camping - cooking and cleaning. Cooking works out better for groups where more than one person can be fed with about the same amount of work while sharing chores, stove, and pots. I do cook sometimes, but usually find it too much trouble when traveling. If I'm just camping and riding out of the same camp for several days then I do cook. Less food at a campsite means less bears and coons too.

My main frustration with camping is finding a decent tent site. It seems like "camping" these days requires at least 6 wheels and 400 horsepower. What they call a "tent site" at some campgrounds is a piece of land between two RVs. I've been stuck at a spot about ten feet from the muffler of some RV generator. US Forest Service has rustic campgrounds that are more tent friendly, but not always easy to get to. Finding a good campground near your travel route is challenging for me. Those are the ones that fill up first. I hope to improve that this year with a better GPS and a smartphone.

Staying at a motel allows me to pull in later, leave earlier, and ride longer. But I always carry my camping gear on the bike. Lastly, riding with a group changes everything.
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Yeah, Chris sun-baked the bear claw while he was at the Air Races the day before. :)
 
Actually, Mountain House freeze dried food makes a very tasty Scrambled egg and bacon pack you just add boiling water to (and of course I add bacon bits cause you can never have too much bacon. That and a bear claw
and bottled coffee have done me well camping in remote places for a night. But at Reno,(and Quigley and Oshkosh) I friend brings me a cooler so for the week I scramble real eggs and bacon bits to go with the bear claw
and coffee.....at home, I am huge on recycling and composting....on the road, the paper plate goes in the trash and the teflon pan gets a quick wipedown. Then, its off to the races!
 
I prefer the Mountain house stuff too. Anything that sounds good as a casserole type dish is great freeze dried. If you arent too picky Costco carries a box of 10meals that isnt too expensive.

The only drawback is most are made for two people and they have a ton of salt in them. Good if you are out working but have to watch it if you are just riding.
 
Mountain House is expensive and hard to get at a discount, but it is the best tasting, especially the Lasagna and sweet and sour pork. The MH pro-pack single servings are just about as expensive as the dual servings (which wont feed two hungry people) but are much smaller and easier to pack. Both the single and dual are light and compact. As I grow older, I am growing more critical of MREs and dont use them very often. I might carry one, out of its main package and the important stuff, like the cookie, in a zip lock bag. About the best thing you can say about an MRE is that it will sustain life and , before the days of the mini-stoves, you could heat it up in the tent, no problem. But I have yet to set a tent on fire with the new generation of mini-stoves....so I feel good about cooking in the tent.
 
"" said:
Thanks for that info. Nice shot, too. That would be thrilling.
I tried that for my Boy Scout merit badge, but wrapped the dough in tin foil and stuck it onto my Honda. We don't get much sun here in Pittsburgh...
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I am a fair cook at home....on the road, I am a lazy cook. If you ever pass through Three Forks MT on I90, stop off at "Wheat Montana" bakery and deli. Now THEY can bake a bear claw!
Chris who never got a merit badge.....but then neither did Lewis and Clark.
(Note to self: Do NOT put the bear claw in the rain suit bag in the Old Faithful area. The ravens have learned how to work the zippers on the bags.....you think I am kidding, dont you)
 
Chris,
I knew that Ravens are smart, but your shot is sure proof. That is an amazing picture. You should post it on Facebook.
 
Sailariel said:
Chris,
I knew that Ravens are smart, but your shot is sure proof. That is an amazing picture. You should post it on Facebook.
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I should....now here is the rest of the story....my buddy and I left Old Faithful and walked to our bikes...I saw a glove on the ground and the zipper open on my rain suit bag....I figured that after 45 years of touring, someone finally went through
my stuff looking for cell phones, cameras, etc. When we pitched camp that night, I found a business card from a photog under the rain suit bag. On it was a note. " Hi, my name is blah blah and I am going around the west doing photography.
I saw a raven going through your bag and took his picture. I would be glad to send it to you...." So I emailed her and she sent me that pic.....(inside the rain suit bag was a bearclaw in a baggy and the baggy was torn open).
 
Do Ravens have a keen sense of smell? I wonder if they have found a new foraging technique and randomly go through accessible tourist bags. :)
 
Don't know about ravens but raccoons seem to. When on a Scout training course we came beck to camp and found on of our fellow trainee's band new back pack had bee ripped open and a bag of chips removed. The raccoon ate ONE chip. He also ruined the back pack. NEVER leave food in tents.
 
Very well thought out and excellently written. Your experience shows. Thanks for sharing.
 
Mellow,

Well, if you can't tell, I have "proven" all your points.

Some that I doubted I proved anyway, like wearing gloves when sleeping. Never did that before this trip and I doubted it would make a difference. After all, I've slept out in near zero weather before without them. But, I also had a sleeping system made for that kind of weather. When you need just a bit extra it works. Oh, and if you don't have any gloves, try a thicker pair of socks over your hands. Works great :)

And the pillows are worth their weight in gold. I used to get by with a bag full of clothes, but, no more.

Couple questions.

Space blankets. Are they good for anything? I thought about putting one under my air mattress or maybe between air mattress and bag. I thought about over the bag but feared condensation would make it a bad idea.

I had read something about using trash bags over the feet when sleeping to keep condensation from getting the bag wet. Any truth to that?
 
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