13Aug2024
Making the Camp Toilet
My dad taught me to camp before I was potty trained. My family went to pristine forest camps in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the forties. We walked to springs for our water and cooked fresh trout and hash browns with onions on a cast iron griddle over the campfire. My dad’s two rules of camping were to "respect Mother Nature" and "always leave the campsite cleaner than we found it". He w
Continue Reading10Aug2024
Prepare When Hiking for the Unexpected
Several years ago, some friends and I went hiking for the day in the local mountains. There was 5 of us, and our plan was to park one car at the bottom of the mountain, and the other at the top, that way we could start our hike at the top, and have an all downhill hike to the other car, down the canyon about 3 thousand feet in elevation change. This was supposed to be a day hike, as we had plann
Continue Reading09Aug2024
Camper/RV Inspections
I have always loved camping and when I retired, I bought a new pull type camper and a large truck. My wife and I started out on our camping voyage and were happy as a lark. We were going out west because we live in Tennessee and were looking forward to another beautiful place. We put everything in the camper that we thought we would need for the trip. We were planning on staying about 3 weeks on
Continue Reading29Jul2024
The Summer I Camped Like a Hippie
It was 1972 and it would be the best summer of my youth. It was the summer I camped like a hippie. I had turned twelve that year and middle school had proven to be a culture shock for me. I had never been a hip kid. I recall that was the year I had gotten my first pair of bell-bottom pants; Mother had been apprehensive about buying them - even though they had been all the rage for years and wer
Continue Reading28Jul2024
Camping With a Vehicle
My husband Bill and I used to do a lot of camping and off-roading. Bill never went anyplace without a plethora of supplies, tools and equipment. This way, in the event of a car breakdown, he would have what he needed at hand to fix a vehicle or to survive in a less than hospitable environment (we may be the only people to go on a day-trip into a California desert with arctic-type cold weathe
Continue Reading22Jul2024
Camping at Keuka State Park NY: Making Memories in the Rain
The wholesome family experience of camping is not limited to clear starry nights and chasing fireflies. In 2004, a stormy night on a hill gave camping a whole new perspective for this mom from New York. Jackie was determined to make camping a part of her children’s lives. School was still in session and preparations had begun several weeks earlier. Jackie booked a tent-site for a weekend in l
Continue Reading13Jul2024
“Okay, God, I Get It: It IS a GRAND Canyon!”
My roommate, Jenna, and I view nature in two forms. First, there is “nature” which consists of flowers organized in dainty rows, zephyrs blowing through oak leaves and air conditioned buildings within reach. Then, there is “THE nature”; cruel and biting, layered in sweat, and bears attacking humbly constructed tents. So when we were required go hiking the Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA for a
Continue Reading07Jul2024
Camping in Collegiate Peaks, Colorado
“I look like a skanked-out mouse,” my sister complained after two days without a shower. At that comment we both started to laugh. Dampened but not Deterred: Camping in Collegiate Peaks This past summer my sister and I went camping the Collegiate Peaks in Colorado. It was our first time backpacking. Everyone seemed pretty impressed that two young, inexperienced girls road-tripped it out to C
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