What's your best tip or hack for camping?
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Any kind–drive-up camping, backpacking, RV camping, in the woods, at the beach, in a shelter, let's hear it all.
Know where to pitch a tent.
If you are close to a stream, pitch the tent a few meters above the water. If it rains you don't know how quickly it can rise.
In the same wake, if you are pitching on a plain, pitch your tent on a relative rise. If you pitch in a relative depression rain will drench you.
If you pitch on a slope, and there will usually be slight slopes, pitch your tent so, that your head is facing upwards when sleeping.
If a storm is expected you might be inclined to pitch under a tree, but be careful. If a branch breaks off and hits you, that can be very bad.
If you pitch your tent in the open and it is a hot summer, the inside will get very hot very quickly. Make sure to get up and out early, don't get wasted at night and bring reflective covering. People died at festivals when they stayed in their tents when getting wasted and then getting roasted in their tents.
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Any kind–drive-up camping, backpacking, RV camping, in the woods, at the beach, in a shelter, let's hear it all.
I never really see people doing this, but I've had a great time pitching my tent in the back of my pickup instead of on the ground. You get a perfectly flat surface and some foam or an air mattress make it pretty comfy.
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Any kind–drive-up camping, backpacking, RV camping, in the woods, at the beach, in a shelter, let's hear it all.
If it's really rainy protect your fire by having two people hold a plane up.
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This depends on the state.
For instance in Brandenburg and Schleswig-Holstein you can camp "in the wild"*
*there is limits in natural preserves, and what is defined as camping can vary. e.g. tarp vs tent, obv. no RVs...
Nope. You can't.
Brandenburg only has extended and codified the "taking an interruption of your travel" (Rast) into their nature laws - and you must leave after one day. You are only allowed to use it minimally and e.g. make no fire,etc.
And even then you need permission from the owner - which the state doesn't usually grant for their woods/grounds.In Schleswig Holstein it's totally forbidden besides the "wild camping spots" - but these are just more "wild" campgrounds, similar to what you find in US national parks. And cost money,btw.
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I don't do it much any more but one of my favourite pass times used to be taking a load of acid and then going to a very public place or somewhere that you are forced to be around lots of people and have many interactions.
Busy shopping centres, a zoo, busy pubs, an ex girlfriends family wedding where I knew no one. I guess it was kind of masochistic in a way but I just really enjoyed putting myself into challenging situations whilst tripping. The challenge was always to try take the highest dose possible and still be able to actually keep my shit together. I'm sure plenty of people I interacted with at those times thought "this guy is blasted out of his mind, Jesus" but who gives a fuck, I'm never seeing these people again and it actually made me want to speak to people in the first place.
These days I prefer to just lay down, listen to music and drift off into the stratosphere.
When I was younger, I really wanted to drop and skydive, but the older I get, the more I lean towards lay down and music.
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Hammock tent. All the advantages of a tent and a hammock.
Don’t have to worry about your tent getting flooded, no need for an air mattress or sleeping pad.
I have a bug net that came with mine, so no bugs either. Now I just need to find two trees...
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When I was younger, I really wanted to drop and skydive, but the older I get, the more I lean towards lay down and music.
That would be pretty intense and fucking awesome but yeh these days I dunno if I could be bothered.
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What is a blender bottle? but sounds cool
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Hammock tent. All the advantages of a tent and a hammock.
Don’t have to worry about your tent getting flooded, no need for an air mattress or sleeping pad.
Hammock camping is great for bikepacking too!
They can can get uncomfortably cold really fast at night though.
If it gets colder than 60 at night you're going to need an underquilt. That plus a rain tarp and you're golden.
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Any kind–drive-up camping, backpacking, RV camping, in the woods, at the beach, in a shelter, let's hear it all.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Watch some primitive/bushcraft survival videos on YouTube. There's a lot of good tips and tricks, especially for when you aren't exactly prepared for camping (emergency situations) and need shelter, fire, food, water, etc.
Favorite channels:
- Bertram - Craft and Wilderness (off-trail camping videos)
- Coalcracker Bushcraft (lots of good info)
- Donnie Dust's Paleo Tracks (primitive tools)
- Primitive Technology (fire by friction, primitive crafting)
- Survivorman - Les Stroud (survival, cooking, history, etc)
- Woodsbound Outdoors (good info and demo)
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If you're out bike touring, KOAs almost always have spots set aside for cyclists to camp. Both KOAs and state parks are really useful for showers and clothes washing. Was genuinely surprised how many state parks had both when I toured across the U.S.
If you're in Washington state, the state parks are legally required to find room for you to camp if you rolll up on a bike and they're otherwise full.
That's great info about KOA and Washington State!
Love staying at state parks on bikepacking trips, the warm showers are always a lifesaver.
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Any kind–drive-up camping, backpacking, RV camping, in the woods, at the beach, in a shelter, let's hear it all.
Put on some John Waters movies and load the karaoke machine with lots of Cher and Elton John.
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Get the good shit! If its less than 40% DEET it ain't worth a damn.
This. You need high conectration deet or icardin, and you need to basically rub it all over your exposed skin and clothes. Then it works quite ok.
The best method is to apply bug spray and make sure someone else in your camp does not use bug spray. I swear the fuckers take the path of least resistance.
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Any kind–drive-up camping, backpacking, RV camping, in the woods, at the beach, in a shelter, let's hear it all.
Headtorch.
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Be prepared
Counter argument: be unprepared and ready to improvise. I swear half the fun is just zip-tieing random stuff together late at night in the light of your phone torch.
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Any kind–drive-up camping, backpacking, RV camping, in the woods, at the beach, in a shelter, let's hear it all.
Coffee. If you are a coffee drinker, get a way to make half-decent coffee.
Or tea, or hot chocolate if you hate caffeine. Nothing beats the feeling of a hot cup of something after a short, noisy, miserable night.
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Any kind–drive-up camping, backpacking, RV camping, in the woods, at the beach, in a shelter, let's hear it all.
Get some sort of 5 gallon jug that has an on off valve for water. Helps if you want to wash hands or balls
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Coffee. If you are a coffee drinker, get a way to make half-decent coffee.
Or tea, or hot chocolate if you hate caffeine. Nothing beats the feeling of a hot cup of something after a short, noisy, miserable night.
For the coffee drinkers: https://velo-orange.com/products/soto-helix-coffee-maker?keyword=coffee. We use these as daily drivers with a really good manual coffee grinder. Added bonus: our coffee can be about the same as we get at home.
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Coffee. If you are a coffee drinker, get a way to make half-decent coffee.
Or tea, or hot chocolate if you hate caffeine. Nothing beats the feeling of a hot cup of something after a short, noisy, miserable night.
What's your go-to brew method for camping? I find the Aeropress tough to beat.
Although my favourite camping coffee memories are with my parents' beat-up old moka pot and pre-ground beans from the grocery store. I love me a good cup of coffee, but sometimes the best cup isn't about the beans or the brew. It's about the time, space, and people you share it with. Some of my all-time favourite cups of coffee came out of that piece of crap moka pot.
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If you're in bear country, you want to hang your food high from a tree branch. Not right next to the trunk, bears can climb like squirrels. It's really amazing how fast they can climb a tree.
Also hang toiletries; don't keep toothpaste or anything scented in the tent with you.
That will work in some regions. In others you may need to rent a bear canister. Talk to your local rangers to find out what's appropriate, it depends on the local bears.
