Do Bears S**t In the Woods? (The Camping Thread)

[ScottyB]

you might as well call me Lord Of The Glamp because that's the only way i roll. honestly its more of just "this is what i need so my wife and kid are happy and we can all enjoy the experience more." at some point i definitely want to work my way up to hiking into a remote spot on my own or with a couple hiking buddies and just bushcrafting it or hanging out for a few days on limited supplies and hiking back out.

camping is really more of a convenience mechanism for me to either go flyfishing or hiking. you couldn't just plop me down with a tent in an RV campground and have me be a happy boy. i really like places that are pretty quiet and wild and help me take advantage of the closeness to natural features. we did exactly that last weekend:

stolen from my xterra thread


basic campsite setup (some stuff obviously not used in the summer):
• Mountainsmith Genessee4 3.5-person tent w/ground footprint
• North Face Homestead Picnic Table Shelter
• TNH Sleeping pads and a Sea to Summit Comfort Plus (guess who gets that one)
• North Face 40deg bags
• ALPS sleeping bag liners
• Costco travel down comforters
• Coleman Triton 2 burner stove with carry case
• YETI 75
• Stanley 32oz french press
• MSR 1.6L, 775ml, and Alpine frying pan
• Goal Zero Lighthouse mini
• Petzl Tikkas
• Anker powerbank
• Sea to Summit "kitchen sink" and camp suds
• Estwing E44A camp ax
• lil' Gerber Paraframe II (xmas present) pocket knife
• assorted paper plates, plastic utensils, spices and hand towels

if i was only buying for myself instead of 3 people at a time, i'd be looking instead at a better packing sleep system, smaller tent and a much more abbreviated cook setup, but this packs down "OK" for a small SUV and frankly makes the whole thing fun because we get to be outside but in some level of comfort. a lot of this equipment is pretty $$$, so i basically collected it all slowly over the past year as deals popped up during the holidays and seasonal clearances.

on the trip that picture was taken, we had bigtime rain the night we set up camp and having a good, solid watertight tent and some cover over the picnic table was priceless for being able to enjoy the weekend. really changed the game from being worried about constantly being wet to just being able to enjoy the weather and just sit under cover when we didn't want to be out.