How many camp in a tent?

[Borngeechee]

If'n you're "car camping", go heavy on the niceties!

How big is the tent?

Cooking table, screen room, great chairs,table for inside tent, water containers x 5, high end food etc,

Electric (may as well!) on site?? Extension cords, lamp for tent and cooking area........etc etc.

It's not to big. It's a 2 person dome tent. Still trying to figure out what I should and shouldn't take.

[Borngeechee]

Thought of another "must" have.........a fan.

If you don't like the heat, a fan can really help you sleep and..........if all the strange noises out in the wild are going to keep your wife awake at night the fan could help a ton. YMMV

I just read her ur post about the animal sounds and her whole expression changed lol. I don't wanna carry a lot of home comforts and take away what camping really is. What would you say the must haves are plus maybe a few luxuries?

[Elmo]

Fahnstock has tons of 1st world amenities but it is also crowded so you have other campers near you which can take away from the camping experience.

 

I think the biggest complains from first time city campers are:

 

1.  bugs

Bring bug spray.

2.  being dirty

You can buy bio-degradable soap and a collapsible bucket.  Fahnstock has water pumps so you can just fill up a bucket and bring it back to your camp site.

3.  rough, uneven ground makes sleeping uncomfortable

A cot or an air mattress will help.  Also, buy a heavy duty tarp from Home Depot that is slightly bigger than the size of you tent but not too big that it'll interfere with the stakes.  The tarp will keep the bottom of the tent dry in case it rains and makes the ground not as cold.

4.  doing the dirty

Fahnstock has bathrooms.

 

Oh, and I hope you have one of these...

http://www.rei.com/product/695265/msr-miniworks-ex-water-filter?cm_mmc=cse_PLA-_-pla-_-6952650015&mr:trackingCode=716A67C3-3A88-DE11-B4D4-0019B9C043EB&mr:referralID=NA&mr:device=c&mr:adType=plaonline&mr:ad=53280440440&mr:keyword=&mr:match=&mr:filter=126986928040&msid=pV05u8ov_dc|pcrid|53280440440|&lsft=cm_mmc:cse_PLA

Edited June 8, 2015 by Elmo

[Elmo]

Oh, and roasting marshmallows over a camp fire keeps city girls happy.  This was at Fahnestock back in 2011.

[Jeremy K]

The wife and i are tent campers too . Usually just at somebody else camp for a weekend. Two of the worst thunderstorms i have ever witnessed were experienced from inside a tent. We both grew up in tent camping families . The wife is building our first kid right now and i plan on continuing to go tent camping,some of my best childhood memories are from camping .

[Trial153]

I really enjoy tent camping, more so now with the kids. My wife and I make it a point to take a couple long weekends each summer and camp in the Daks. While this doesn't replace our regular vacations it's still something we look forward to each year.

[Lawdwaz]

I just read her ur post about the animal sounds and her whole expression changed lol. I don't wanna carry a lot of home comforts and take away what camping really is. What would you say the must haves are plus maybe a few luxuries?

 

Sorry I didn't respond sooner but I'll tag this and try and get back to it tomorrow night........two scoops of mint tingaling and a sugar cone are making me sleepy.......................

[Jeremy K]

I just picked one of these up on fleabay , we had one when i was really young and for some reason i always think of that table when i think back to the days of camping next to the genesee river in shongo.

[Two Track]

For my wife, she only goes if she has an airbed or cot to sleep on and can make coffee in the morning.

For some those are must haves, for others those are luxury items.

 

If you have a big heavy dinner, and comfortable spot to sleep, should make it easier for her to go to sleep.

 

My wife was Brooklyn girl who never tent camped before.  After a few years, she has gone tent camping (car camping) without me a couple times with the girls while I was camping with the Boy Scouts.

 

If alcohol is allowed, a bottle of wine is nice with dinner, or a couple of Mike's hard lemonades sitting around the campfire in the evening.

 

Some friends take a heater with them for use in the pop-up camper (non-electric site), we just add a blanket to the sleeping bag if cold and cuddle-up.

 

Luxuries we use car-camping:

• Stove stand (frees-up picnic table space)
• occaisionally 5-ft folding table (as alternate to stove stand and provides more prep area) usually when camping with another family
• screened-in dining fly
• lanterns (instead of just personal flashlights)
• additional single burner stove for coffee or camp toaster while main stove is in use for eggs and bacon
• occasionally gas hibachi for burgers and hotdogs or steak (faster than using the campsite charcoal grill and it works in the rain)
• airbeds (for the wife)
• portable radio
• camera
• FRS radios for hikes (kids tend to like running ahead) or to let us know when to head back for dinner when fishing  (cell phone use is extremely spotty where we camp in the Catskills)
• extra large tarp (if expect lots of heavy rain, set it up over tent as extra protection from the elements - have had heavy blowing rain come through the zippers).

I have the list of the must-haves (checklist) at home.  Always take extra rope and stakes, and a ground cloth for under the tent (keep all edges of it under the tent or water will pool between the tent and the ground cloth).

 

As for sounds at night just tell her that is the bats eating the mosquitoes or an owl, a deer passing through, or the neighbor in the next site snoring.  They freak more if you tell them racoons, foxes, swamp monster, bigfoot, etc.

[EspressoBuzz]

I love backpacking and still have my 4 season tent from those days. Nowadays I'm car camping and while I enjoy many campsites from Long Island to the Adirondacks my favorite state campground is Taconic State Park Copake Falls. For those of you car camping who want more privacy the general rule is DEC campgrounds are less packed together (except for few along prime trout streams or in high traffic areas) and parks in Parks, Recreation and Historic Sites system are more crowded together but have more family and comfort features.

Edited July 7, 2015 by EspressoBuzz

[genesee_mohican]

I'll soon be heading to Rollin's Pond Campground in the ADK's for 10 days of tent camping, hiking, canoeing and lots of fishing. My daughter and I have been going there every summer for 15 years.

[EspressoBuzz]

As for sounds at night just tell her that is the bats eating the mosquitoes or an owl, a deer passing through, or the neighbor in the next site snoring.  They freak more if you tell them racoons, foxes, swamp monster, bigfoot, etc.

 

Years ago when i first started taking my future wife camping and backpacking she had a problem falling asleep because she kept hearing Bigfoot or the one lone mountain lion in New York outside our tent. So i bought a tiny Radioshack radio with a tiny speaker that ran on a 9 volt battery, I'd place it on low in the tent pocket that's usually behind and above where your head would be and it pretty much solved the problem, even the white noise static worked!

[EspressoBuzz]

[NFA-ADK]

This is our winter hunting tent.  We use to use the motel but I really like camping where I hunt, the time saved on driving is key.  Only rough part is leaving we usually get snow and everything freezes especially the ground steaks.  Last year I set up and took down the tent alone, unable to get the frozen tent back into it's stuff sack it became my passenger for the ride home.  I also do not understand reading a book while you are in the middle of the ADK during rifle season but to each his own I say!

[DirtTime]

Went out again for the 4th weekend. Sat. was bad in the morning, but even though it was still chilly the rain stopped. The crappy thing about tent or pop up camping is rain. If you take down wet, you have to set everyhting back up to dry out.

[Zem18]

I'll soon be heading to Rollin's Pond Campground in the ADK's for 10 days of tent camping, hiking, canoeing and lots of fishing. My daughter and I have been going there every summer for 15 years.

I'll be across the road at Fish Creek Pond starting next Sunday with the family and some friends for a whole week. Can't wait. Picked up a bunch of fishing stuff today at the Unadilla gun show and flea market. If you can, stop by site 288 for a beer. (Will be there starting 8-16 through 8-22)

Edited August 10, 2015 by Zem18