Camping & Backpacking

[Cadanance00]

I'm out sick today and bored so here:

I went backpacking/camping with my dad and older bro in southern Oklahoma this summer and stayed out three nights and I learned a lot of things about camping.

There are no good packs. Some are just less hateful than others. Pack light, it's a matter of what you can leave home rather than what you should take with you.

Take lots of water. And try to camp where there is some.

Forget about modesty. There's no place to change, your bathroom is everywhere and it's really good to have someone pour water over you to rinse off the day's sweat before you go to bed. You can be naked all you want but there's a reason for clothes. You'd get scratched up and bug-bitten without them.

If it's hot and stuffy in the tent have a wet cloth you can wipe down with.

You can't sleep outside the tent unless you want the mosquitos to suck all our blood out before morning. Or you have a hammock with netting.

Three people are really crowded in a two person tent.

Make a wide circle of urine around the tent. Animals don't like the smell of humans and will keep away. Deer with come up in the night to see who the hell is in their space. Sound s like monsters with all the stomping and snorting. Deer are dangerous, stay away from them.

Swimming at night under a full moon is an experience you'll never forget. Even if it's hot you'll get cold.

Don't go if rain is in the forecast.

You don't have to have expensive boots. The Indians walked all over those mountains in moccasins. And don't go with new shoes.

If anybody has advice and experiences please share it.

[phuckphace]

I've "camped" in Oklahoma before on the shores of Grand Lake, which is to say we borrowed a lakeside cabin that belonged to a rich guy from my parent's church.

we planned to tent it up outside and only use the cabin for the bathroom and microwave, but it ended up being 114F / 70% humidity and we spent the first night swatting mosquitos the size of hummingbirds. oh, and mosquito repellent attracts wasps.

the rest of the week was spent inside with the AC cranked up. Huck Finn I am not

[Desuetude]

I've never backpacked but I've camped a couple times in proper campsites so there tends to be semi-decent facilities which, I know, is basically cheating but its illegal to camp anywhere that isn't an official campsite and I'm not up for being fined on holiday.

Your experience sounds a lot more interesting than camping in a muddy field somewhere in the UK with a load of other British people who can't afford/be bothered to go abroad on holiday. Fuck your "don't camp if rain is in the forecast" tip, you kidding bro? If it doesn't rain it doesn't count as camping over here. Rain is all part of the camping experience.

[Babs]

I've never legit camped. I've stayed in cabins and RVs, but never in a tent. I'd like to one day. I go "camping" each year for a family reunion at a campground in Wisconsin that has more novelty value than anything. But I have done things that come with real camping, like smoking in the woods on the hiking trails of the novelty campground (if that's what you and your friends do, it seems absurd to go camping without a little something to puff on) and skinny dipping.

My siblings and I have talked about setting up a tent and camping in the woods down the road from my house, but that's something to do when it's not hunting season since we'd be trespassing and don't really care for being mistaken for a deer and shot.

[Cadanance00]

Yep. It was like 96 in the daytime.

We went to the Arbuckle mountains, which are really hills, and you can "back country" camp which means you can choose your campsite off the trail somewhere.

I had the illusion I was going to sleep outside 'under the stars' but yes the mosquitos are big as hummingbirds, there are spiders and shit crawling on the ground - not to mention the odd rattlesnake or two. So inside it was. Dad took one side, bro in the middle and me on the other side. Dad snores and bro sprawls in his sleep. I mean, I love him but I don't want sleep in his loving embrace. My sister was going to come and we would have another tent but she changed her mind.

There's a river running thru the state park and swimming holes in places. We went down after dark to go swimming but we discovered we weren't the only ones. There was a group of college students there drinking beer and swimming but it was good. They offered to share their beer and Dad let me drink one. It was cold getting out of the water because the wind is so dry but by the time we walked back up the hill to our camp we were all lhot and sweaty again.