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<p>That looks awesome. </p>
<p>I’m trying to get in a little camping outing sometime in the next week. Just depends on the weather. If we get a sustained stretch, I’ll go car camping for few days. If not, I’ll try to sneak in a backpacking overnight. Gotta get back on that horse after my first shot at it brought me to my knees.</p>
<p>I have a pair of Nike dri-fit shorts with the sewn in liner that I wear pretty much every day. Those, and my sandals with the rubber toe cover. Swimming counts as washing in the backcountry. Also, we freeze our first 4 days of meals in different shape containers and just eat as it thaws.</p>
<p>US Forest Service land is free to camp pretty much anywhere, just follow the rules. It saves you from being right next to the 18 year-olds with the music and the alcohol.</p>
<p>We loved Glacier NP. Swim in Iceberg Lake if you can (20 seconds max) and bring a fishing rod down to Hidden Lake. We stopped by Granite Peak Chalet but not Sperry.</p>
<p>We have a pump that we just plug into the 120 volt charger thing next to the tailgate. Pretty handy. They have coolers that plug in as well.
The forest service campsite we stayed in is not free.
<a href=“http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/okawen/recreation/fishing/recarea/?recid=59281&actid=43”>http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/okawen/recreation/fishing/recarea/?recid=59281&actid=43</a></p>
<p>They run from free to $25 a day.
Most typical is $5 to $12.</p>
<p>Fun to come home to all the responses! At this age, I’m hearing many folks say, don’t go, as Old Fort suggests. Getting ready to camp is a PITA. Once I’m there, there is no place I’d rather be, as all the pressure of home maintenance and obligations are stripped away. I can read to my heart’s content, write, play instruments, hike, write, walk or swim or boat, depending on the local and equipment, as bird fly by and the horizon is watched. In a hotel, I never want to stay in the room, so am out doing and seeing.Camping is far more relaxing. </p>
<p>I went to REI to get the most comfortable chair possible, which much enhances the experience. </p>
<p>Sleeping comfort is a bigger deal, bothers some more than others. Therma rests can be quite cushy these days, depending on the model, and there are many options out there. Me, not so much. I grew up camping and slept on rock hard futons for years. </p>
<p>Oh, I miss the west and camping in various found spots on BLM and Forest Service land, , as well as backpacking. But Wisconsin has some great spots, if needing to be reserved 11 months in advance! </p>
<p>EK, you sure have it down. Loved the link with myriad suggestions, as well as the apps. The night sky app is incredible, and part of why I got an Iphone, as I have poor memory for constellations. I LOVE WA state, and the myriad special places to camp. </p>
<p>Regarding ground cloths, I can’t imagine camping without one. Mostly for the sake of preserving the tent bottom. you want that thing pristine, unscuffed, to remain waterproof. Plus, when in a downpour, tuck the edges up under the tent bottom, so ideally the rain goes under the ground cloth, not under your tent, seeping up into the floor. </p>
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<p>I came back from the two night trip I went on last week feeling like I had taken a week off from work. :)</p>
<p>I probably have nothing on my kids.
Oldest went backpacking through Four Corners/ Canyonlands as a senior in high school and youngest not only has been backpacking much more than me, in Wa & in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, but in order to graduate from her environmental ed program, she backpacked for two weeks through Stehekin, including four days by herself.
I need my dog for entertainment & company.
He is also great to pull me up hills.</p>
<p>I did a TON of backpacking in my teens and twenties, now that I am a bit older and have kids I am trying to adapt to camping at state parks and the like - it is weird to be so close to other people, much less to have a car at hand!</p>
<p>I don’t recommend banging on anything with a frying pan - I would rather reposition a stake than risk damaging the pan.</p>
<p>Instead of dryer lint, try corn chips - they burn a little slower, and you can always eat Doritos or Fritos or Sun Chips if a fire is not needed!</p>
<p>Make sure you pitch your tent away from the low spots. In some campsites, this can be surprisingly hard to do.</p>
<p>I always pitch a high-ish tarp somewhere on the site. It can provide shade when it is too sunny, and a place where you can cook or eat or sit when it rains.</p>
<p>Ground cloths are not usually necessary - they exist to protect the bottom of the (more expensive) tent in locations and under usage where damage is more likely. This does not describe most car-accessible campgrounds, but if you have destructive kids it might still be a good idea!</p>
<p>Because of my job I often spend my weekend backpacking in a national park, so most of my experience is related to backpacking, not car camping. </p>
<p>-Bring a pair of cheap plastic sandals that you can throw on and off in a moment’s notice. If it’s midnight and you need to go to the bathroom, having a pair of flip flops next to your sleeping area is extremely handy.
-Cover a few cotton balls with Vaseline. Makes starting a fire extremely easy.
-If you have a stuff sack for a sleeping bag, you can easily make a pillow. Just stuff clothes into it, and it’s very comfy. Of course you could also just bring a pillow.</p>
<p>@whenhen, I actually carry a pair of lightweight tennies when I backpack. Yes, extra weight, but luxurious to have when you take your boots off at the end of the day. One time I ran into a guy who had infected blisters way up in the backcountry. He couldn’t even get his boots on. We gave him some antibiotics, and my tennies happened to fit him (I am a woman, but size 10 shoe), so I gave him those. He mailed them back to me along with a new guidebook to the area a few weeks later. 
I like the kind of people I meet on the trail!</p>
<p>Crocs are great camp shoes. Easy to lash to a backpack. Easy to put on and take off. Handy if you need to take your boots off to ford a stream. Washable if they get muddy. .I have a “no shoes in the tent”, so the Crocs stay just outside the tent.</p>
<p>And, of course, Crocs are very stylish with shorts and hiking socks as seen at the end of this video of my overly-ambitious backpacking outing…</p>
<p><a href=“Sawyer Pond - YouTube”>Sawyer Pond - YouTube;
<p>Here’s a camping tip. Don’t hike 7 miles on a hot summer day with a 49 pound backpack your first time out… :)</p>
<p>Nice video! With crocs. </p>
<p>I have never seen such an elegant sleeping platform. What state? </p>
<p>From my first backpacking trip, age 15, I’d add, wear socks, even with fur lined boots. I was a clueless Phoenix kid. The blisters were impressive. For a horrific boot story, read Wild, by Cheryl Strayed. </p>
<p>Gee, idad, if that is a pond – what the heck is a lake?
It was all beautiful.</p>
<p>We do a lot of car camping. (yes, we are wimps, but we still use tents!)</p>
<p>We always put down a ground cloth. The state parks here have gravelly pads and the stones can rip a hole in the floor of the tent. I bought two flannel-backed vinyl tablecloths (just a couple of $$) and put one on the picnic table and cut the other in half to put on the benches at the table. They last for 2-3 summers and then I toss them. I bring an extra ground cloth to cover our firewood.</p>
<p>We’ve graduated to using cots, and what helps me a LOT is to put a thin foam mattress on the cot. Not just for comfort, but it insulates the underside so I don’t get cold and achy. I bring flannel sheets and use my sleeping bag as a comforter. I have a big Costco beach towel that also makes an excellent warm blanket. </p>
<p>Grilled cheese sandwiches are a terrific breakfast meal and do not take a rip-roaring fire to cook. (Butter the inside of the griller, not the bread itself.) S2 makes a killer beef bourgignon in a cast iron pot. He has two cement blocks that he brings and suspends a sturdy branch between them for hanging the pot. It’s the ultimate one-pot meal.</p>
<p>Big folding chairs are essential. Ones with neck support are even better for naps.</p>
<p>Discovered the constellation apps on our last trip. My dad (a serious amateur astronomer) might be convinced to get a smartphone if he saw what I could pull up on the app,</p>
<p>One of our family camping food traditions is getting Jiffy Pop and singing the jingle as it cooks. </p>
<p>That reminds me. I saw these thermarest cots at Rei and they look pretty great.
Our sleeping bags zip together, so we also can sleep on a queen size air bed together, but unless it is really cold, I am just as happy sleeping by myself.
Bonus, the dog doesn’t like the air bed.
<a href=“http://www.cascadedesigns.com/therm-a-rest/cots/category”>http://www.cascadedesigns.com/therm-a-rest/cots/category</a></p>
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<p>It’s a backcountry camping site in the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire. A log shelter and six tent sites with those tent platforms, all on shore of Sawyer Pond. It’s about a 2 mile walk from the nearest road (which is the route I should have taken). I hiked in 7 miles from the other side and it just about killed me. Next time, I’ll drive to the closer spot. 2 miles is plenty with a heavy load.</p>
<p>I had the place 100% to myself. There was a mom and 2 kids hiking in to stay in the shelter that I passed as I was hiking out.</p>
<p>I am more of a car camper. There are some fantastic back country camping sites up in the mountains. My idea was to do two day hikes, but, at this point, I’m not sure I can reach them with a heavy pack. I’m scaling back the weight and distance for a few easier outings. My next desitination is a 3 mile flat walk.</p>
<p>Most of the remote campsites in the White Mountains have those tent platforms. In many cases, the terrain is simply too rugged – too rocky, too hilly – to pitch a tent otherwise. The campground in Bar Harbor had them at almost every site. Really comfortable. Really dry. And very low impact on the terrain.</p>
<p>Wow, that platform is flat, and that’s a beautiful area. But if I arrived there, I wouldn’t be able to pitch my tent-- I guess you knew to bring the guylines for the fly?</p>
<p>One of my camping tips is to go ahead and set up the tent with all the guylines and adjusters. Makes it easy to fully guy out the fly, which is always going to improve weather resistance and ventilation.</p>
<p>Because I knew that I was going to encounter these platforms, I also put together a little kit with six extra extension guy lines, in case I needed to reach to the far side or even to a tree. The place in Bar Harbor actually gave out little packets of nails for anchoring tents, but I’m not carrying a hammer in the backpack!</p>
<p>It occurred to me that you could just wrap a guyline around a stick, drop it through the cracks between boards in the decking, and pull it taut.</p>
<p>My tent (MSR Hubba) doesn’t even have all those guylines. </p>
<p>Those MSR tents are awesome. From what I can tell, just about everything MSR makes is awesome gear. I have their snow shoes, their water filter, and one of their backpacking stoves. </p>
<p>You’d probably need to add some short guy lines to the four corners (where stakes would normally go) and run those out to the edges of the platform. Just something to keep the tent from blowing away! The people with non-freestanding tents and tarps have the hardest time with the platforms. It looks like your Hubba will at least stand up by itself without stakes.</p>
<p>I love the Hubba. I have its bigger brother, the Hubba Hubba, for when I’m feeling like the tiny Hubba is too much of a coffin.</p>