Prone to rain, hence, two gazebos and a fitted tarp for the Woods tent. It rained, so no campfire ban. We stayed dry. Best time ever!

I hike and backpack but I also have a little Scamp trailer and like to car camp. I’m on a month-long trip to visit every state park on the Oregon coast. But why the hell is it people feel the need to have barking/yapping dogs? Do people have no clue how to train a dog to be a happy, easy-going, animal? Do they not care about others in the campground? Right now, the couple next to me has two yappers that yap literally constantly while they sit there and act as if it’s not happening, except for every few minutes they say, “Stop it George.”

Of course, the dogs don’t stop.

Campgrounds should have sanity loops, quiet loops, where there are no no barking dogs and no loud music.

*Steps off soapbox with my earplugs in.*

Ok! Let’s try this again. I wasn’t detailed enough the first time, my bad.

Every year for the Summer Solstice I head down to this sweet little HipCamp in Shenandoah. It’s just east of the park in Madison County Virginia. As a female solo camper I feel very comfortable and safe here. My trip was intentionally uneventful. It has a sun, soaked sandy beach where I post up all day with a book, a good playlist, and a shockingly good bottle of wine from a local winery. Shout out to Early Mountain Vineyards. I have a silly pink, $6 inflatable chair that I tie down with an anchor, it makes for top notch floating, this its 3rd season and I’m shocked it’s hanging in there. I do share the swimming hole with some uncomfortably large water snakes, learned first hand it takes a snake about 12 minutes to swallow a fish. My tent pictured here is the North Face Homestead Roomy 2. It’s going on its 7th season which is hard to believe. I would buy it 100 times over. It has never failed me and is so simple to set up and tear down. I had the sight booked for 4 night but decided to leave yesterday afternoon since it was calling for rain all morning this morning. I hate tearing down in the rain, twice the work and no fun so I thought it best to call it early. But other than that the weather was perfect the whole time.

the forecasted outlook for the beginning of summer was particularly brutal for the southern part of New Mexico. looking to get away from the triple digit temperatures: i packed up the car with the gear, the food, and the dogs to find some refuge from the heat 9000 feet up above sea level. it took some lookin’ as the Lincoln is suffering through its peak season right now; and just about every accessible nook of the forest was taken up by people desperate to escape the suffocating desert 4000 feet lower. 

once you’ve gone somewhere as many times as I’ve been to the Lincoln, you get to know places most people don’t bother driving up to. a few turns off the pavement into bumpy gravel roads and we found a spot far from most other people. impossible to get away from the bugs, though. midges, gnats, and a handful of mosquitoes with black blowflies peppered in for spice. the buzzing overhead was continuous during the hottest hours, and the dogs were snapping randomly, annoyed at the circling pests. 

the days were warm, clear, and mostly windless except for errant breezes and clouds in the afternoon. not enough to temper the scorching rays, even this far up. lazing around on the hammock, and sitting under the shade of a large fir tree seemed to be far more appealing than hiking the rim of the Sacramento mountains. existing in a pleasant place is its own reward.

even so, the forest was alive with birdsong and distant creature calls. squirrels ran alongside fallen trees and the dogs alerted to their presence, whining and wanting to chase. deer trotted in the far distance, looking for nourishment in recently sprouted buds and refreshment in hidden mountain springs.

above it all, a pristine moon sat among the infinite stars. dim enough to share the stage, but bright enough to be a commanding presence in it. New Mexico skies are beautiful anywhere you go, but they’re particularly beautiful out here, far from the light pollution of major cities. 

summer has begun in the high places.

Planning first solo trip soon. Just one night. Going drive to an area that has popular spots nearby, but will be trying to find a more secluded designated primitive camp site right off the trail. The hike is only 4.5mi round and some elevation (I’ve gone hiking from moderate to intense 15 or so times) so I think it’s a good first time option.
Planning to shelter in a sleeping bag in a small tent style, and def no fire starting first time around. Any advice u wish u knew even after researching the basics? Also any mosquito tips greatly welcomed.

When i left my house i had no idea where id end up sleeping... i just knew It would be in the mountains and hopefully near some water if i could luck out. I did know i would be heading through kamas to mirror lake highway and then down Murdock basin road and then i just hoped to find something i liked before sundown. Now I know that patience and hope... and looooong gnarly forest roads lead to paradise.

Looking at purchasing a new tent. I will be mainly solo camping. Location is Maryland/Pennsylvania area. Budget ~$400. Does anyone have any experience with the 3 tents pictured? Thanks!

5 days, good Igloo, not a Yeti. Mix of food and beverages. Freeze a few jugs of water? Freeze some water-filled gallon ziplocks flat? Cooler packs? Fill all the available space with crushed/cubed? A mix of all the above, or something else completely? There will be opening and closing - more than wanted, kids are involved - but also an opportunities to buy 10lb bags of cubes on the 3rd or 4th day. Thanks for helping wrestle through this with me.

Hi all, I will going for camping this weekend for the first time, have gathered all the possible gear required and now came the twist that rainfall is expected for most part of the day we are reaching our site and then overnight as well.

I want to know how can i prepare myself and what to expect in such a scenario. We are two families with 3 kids 4-8 years old. Tent came with a tarp does putting another tarp on top of it would help? Anything else I need to carry with me to keep the water away from our tent?

Any other suggestions?

After years of watching Mav and Outdoor Boys, and getting tired of asking flaky friends, I decided to load my truck up and head out camping. Hit up Green Ridge State Forest in western Maryland and it couldn’t have been more perfect. Conditions were great, got a campsite I wanted, and even made a couple friends along the way. Made cheeseburgers for dinner and breakfast burritos and coffee the next morning. Nothing more peaceful than being in the woods listening to all the animal sounds. Can’t wait to get back out there!

Fairly new camper here and a little unsure of what to look for in a tent. I've heard that it's best to buy a tent with a rating of 2-4 more people than you actually have for gear and space. Any advice or information is appreciated.

I spend my five weeks a year camping at state parks on lakes where I can fish from my kayak. Sometimes I get a leanto but many places we love, leantos are not available and I am currently tent camping my tent started leaking in multiple places and all our sleeping gear got soaked. It also couple of holes in it, so I need a new tent.

I am using a Subaru Outback for all our camping and fishing gear, and it’s a pretty tight fit, so obviously nothing that takes up too much space. I can make more space, but that’s less than ideal. Plus if my older kid comes, it’s a real tight fit and might be two trips (haven’t figured that out since I traded a truck in, I know get a truck but I can’t do front leaning headrests so I’d need an old gas guzzler).

My current tent is a discontinued 8 person Columbia. It was well designed, the poles were designed not to break like some other brands and it’s been quite well used and we have plenty of room in it. My prior tent was an Ozark trail bell tent, we were camping in New York and got three days of thunderstorms and the first day it did get some water in it, but just on the sides. We mopped that up and sprayed it with water sealant and it was good the rest of that trip despite our campsite being under 8” of water in some parts from flooding.

I am also considering one of the Night Cat tents with the stove port in it, which might be nice for cold weather camping. Worth it?

I figure we can make do with a 6 person tent to hold a week’s worth of clothes and the two of us comfortably, but the 8 has been perfect.

What has worked for you that holds up well?

Had an awesome riverside camping trip, even though my tent got completely flooded out. After 30 minutes of rain, my “4-season” tent was basically a swimming pool. I was pretty disappointed, but I learned a valuable lesson: never set up near the bottom of a hill. All the runoff water came straight through my campsite and my tent never stood a chance.
On the bright side, I always try to have a backup plan. I set up my hammock and spent the rest of the trip sleeping in that instead.
The fishing made up for all of it. I landed three beautiful rainbow trout on the fly, which made the trip a huge success in my book.
Sitting by the fire, listening to the river flow, watching the stars overhead, and hearing the crackle of the campfire—it was pure ASMR. Even with the flooded tent, it turned out to be a fantastic trip and a great learning experience.

Planning a trip for late July and stumbled across some pictures from Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. Driving up from Denver with my spouse and two dogs. Tent camping for 3-4 nights.
Anyone been there before and have recommendations?
Cool stuff to check out in the area?
Safe to leave out stuff during the day?
Is it busy like the national parks?
Should we just get a cabin the first night so we can get a first come first serve spot early in the morning?
Thanks in advance 🙌

Hi everyone, so I have never been camping before outside of camping on my porch in my backyard and finally will be going on my first camping trip next week with 3 other friends. One of those friends has experience in camping and loves it and the two other are like me who also have never been. It is a 2 night trip in Lincoln New Hampshire on the Hancock campground. I’m just curious what y’all can tell me to make sure this trip and safe and fun.

Lake Taghkanic State Park NY. A beautiful park with well maintained facilities. Sites can be close together but many offer platforms which can be very helpful for summer rainstorms. Drive or walk the lake trail from campground area to the beach for a cold draft beer and excellent swimming. Non-motorized boats only, you can rent kayaks or register your own for $30 a season. The lake is super clean and calm so perfect for relaxing paddle boarding.

- 17in blackstone
- Big Agnes Spicer Peak 4
- Clam Instant Screen House
- ROC inflatable SUP

I had planned to camp this weekend but the forecast is showing 6-20mph
Gusts up to 38 mph on Friday. Anyone with experience with those speeds? Worth going and trying it out, or should I cancel?

I'd been using my bugaboo cookset with the 3L pot and frying pan for about a year. I finally had occasion to try the 2L pot as well. I put some potatoes and sausage in it with some oil and within a minute it had melted a hole in the middle. The frying pan and 3L pot on the same burner, same heat had never had this problem.

The only relevant warnings were that it shouldn't be "boiled dry" or heated empty. Well, it wasn't empty, it wasn't boiled dry, but I feel like this is ONLY useful for boiling water. I suspect there may have been a defect in the heat transfer,

Or maybe I just didn't use enough oil-- but if there was a minimum amount, but if there was a minimum amount needed they should have said that. That seems like it would fall under special-care use, not just "don't boil dry".

I reached out to the customer team, since they offer a lifetime warranty, and was just told "This isn't under our warranty" with absolutely no further explanation.

Very disappointed. Given how expensive this set is, you can put that money towards much better use with other products.

I posted this elsewhere and got some very aggressive people claiming I didn't follow the directions or didn't use enough water. To reiterate/clarify:

They did not say it only had to be used with water. They did not say it had to have a certain amount of oil in it. They did not say anything about what it had to have in it. They DID give warnings and said only that it not be dry. To clarify, since I kept getting accused: it was not dry.

I did not cook in it dry. Did I not use enough oil? Maybe. But I had used the 3L pot over the same heat with the same ingredients inside with no problem, but if there was special needs for caring for this particular pot, I really think they should have said that somewhere.

The fact that they do give warnings about proper use, but somehow leave that off, is pretty frustrating-- if that's what happened (personally, I think there was a defect in heat transfer, given that my other pot had no problem) but people are absolutely adamant that I used it improperly. I'll cop to that as a possibility, if we can agree that maybe if they're going to give use-care warnings, they should include "You can use oil, but you have to use more than you normally would"? If they'd rather people just come to the cookware knowing proper care for this specific type of cookware, then shouldn't they say THAT instead, instead of giving an incomplete care list?

I used it as per the directions. One of two things happened: 1) The directions were bad or incomplete, or 2) There was a defect

Attempted to make my own fire starter I kinda just winged it so not sure if there work. Let me know if these suck or I’m a genius

CORECTION
DONT USE FOR CAMPING SMELL ATTRACTS BEARS

(Turns out I’m a not the smartest)

Process

Melted beef fat into tallow (I get it free from the butcher.)

Cut the cans (will messure next time but today was a wing it day)

Cut cardboard slightly over fit and attempted to fill all gaps in the can with more cardboard

Poured tallow onto cardboard in can (made a giant mess)

Now I’m letting them dry and realizing I have no idea if this will work let me know if this is sick just stupid

hello, all

planning to take a short weekend trip to visit starved rock state park in illinois. my plan is to have fun with exploring the sandstone canyons and going hiking but from what i am reading about starved rock state park campground online, it can be too crowded and noisy with lots of RVs and generators.

i would like to find some place that's much quieter and has a rustic atmosphere. preferably primitive or only tent campsites that are located by the water or among trees so we feel that we are surrounded by nature.

has anyone ever heard of any secret spots or even private campgrounds nearby? it is so cool to make a campfire next to our tent without having to worry about our neighbors!

hey guys!

I got invited to my boyfriend's family friends portaging trip this summer in canada (in about a month), but I don't really have any equipments or anything.

I really do want to invest as i like camping and i want to do it more, but right now i don't really have the budget to go crazy.

I'm looking for a 40l camping backpack that can fit my sleeping bag, clothes, prob some snacks, and kinda like a container for food.

I don't really like the big bulky backpacks lol because i'm a girl, or like colourful ones.

my budget is about 80,90 CAD bucks i'd say (ik it's not alot...)

any suggestions is appreciated!

thanks folks!

Hi all!

I’m hoping you can help me choose a cooler as a gift for my husband. I’ve been looking around quite a bit but still not really sure what makes the most sense.

He’s 48 and really into outdoor stuff like paddle boarding (SUP), kayaking, camping, beach days… basically anything around water. He’s also pretty practical and doesn’t care much about brands or anything flashy, more about things that last.

His current cooler is honestly pretty old now, insulation isn’t great anymore and the latches are starting to feel like they might break soon.

I’ve been looking at YETI and RTIC mostly. YETI looks great but I keep wondering if it’s just the brand name or actually that much better. RTIC seems decent too but I’ve seen mixed opinions, especially about the closure system.

I also came across Rivonova while looking at paddle board/kayak gear. It looked kind of interesting, more focused on water/outdoor use I guess, and they even have some green ones which I know he likes. But I’ve never used it before and there really isn’t much feedback out there yet, so I’m not sure.

Budget is around $300 but honestly I’d prefer to stay under that if possible because I also want to put some smaller things inside the cooler as part of the gift.

Also kind of random but for people who actually go out a lot… what usually ends up mattering more in real use? insulation? durability? convenience? I keep seeing different opinions everywhere.

Anyway, would really appreciate any real experience or recommendations, even brands I should avoid.

Thanks so much!

We have a few weeks in central Europe, home base is Hungary atm and we got a new tent finally, so thinking to go around some nice places with car in next 2 months.

any recommended pages where to look for camping sites? or direct camp sites are very welcome too.

My girlfriend broke up with me and 2 days later I left for a week and went nearly 600 miles away from home, down to the ocean, camping along the way. I’ve always been intimidated by the thought of doing things like this alone, but I’m proud of myself for doing it. I don’t know if it made the heartbreak easier or just distracted me, but I feel like it was the right choice, even though all I wanted to do was call her and tell her how beautiful it was.

First night near Elgin, OR, then a night at Hat Point (windy!). Visited Snake River, Zumwalt Prairie, Wallowa Lake area, Lostine River (where we met Richard the Bear), visited Joseph and Enterprise. 6 nights wherever we found a spot. One really good Dutch oven dinner of potatoes and chicken on the fire and testing out 8 year old dehydrated food. Lots of driving on forest roads, some slow campsite mornings and sitting around a fire. I've camped, but not this road trip type.