Got a couple days to go out

[Squirtgunsquirter]

Heading out to do some camping and exploration, I'm probably not going to swim across to the Island I normally go to. The river may be iced over... not sure.

I'm not taking a tent, just a bivvy sack, I might as well practice some shelter making, plus the dog always destroys the tent when it's wet and sandy.

Just have to wait for the daughter to get up, so I can get dropped off.

 

[Squirtgunsquirter]

Postponed!

The daughter came home sick from school early, the Wife got called to a birth.

Such is life. If I can, I will get dropped off tonight, if not, tomorrow it is.

I can't leave a car parked where I camp, it would get vandalized. Nobody goes out in the woods, but kids from town go out and drink in the park parking lots, and shoot cans and vandalism happens on a regular basis, just not worth it.

 

[DrHenley]

I can't leave a car parked where I camp, it would get vandalized. Nobody goes out in the woods, but kids from town go out and drink in the park parking lots, and shoot cans and vandalism happens on a regular basis, just not worth it.

You need to camp somewhere else!!!

 

[grayghost668]

you need a new camping spot

 

[Squirtgunsquirter]

Well, for what it's worth

7lb baby girl, mom healthy, slight hemmorage

I don't get to go camping, the wife has too much stuff going on.

I need to move somewhere else, everywhere around here is too close to town, the good parks (with decent parking) are up north.

 

[Squirtgunsquirter]

Well, I managed to go out, got back a little while ago.

I was going to "cowboy camp" with just the milsurp bivy sack, and two down sleeping bags.

Fell asleep, and woke up to freezing rain (not in the forecast) and everything soaked. I woke up because the bivvy sack had soaked through, and was actually freezing to my outside sleeping bag. The inner bag wasn't freezing, but was soaked. First time I have seen the dog with ice in his fur, lol.

I got out, put my (soaked) DIY jacket on, and it warmed up surprisingly fast, despite being wet. I was still shivering.

Took me an hour and a half to get the fire started again, I had to baton my machete through small logs to get anything dry.

After I finally got the fire going, I made coffee and hung everything up in the tree to dry, in the 30 mph gusts at 25 degrees, lol. After everything refroze, it was fine. I made a spruce bough bed for the dog, and loaned the poor guy one of my bags, he was miserable.

Waded back across the river today at about noon.

I'm going to back to the tent full time. I was pissed, I could have easily gotten hypothermia, and I checked the forecast twice before I left. I even had the material laid out before I left to make a new tarp, but I thought "it'll be fine" haha. That would have been a half hour well spent.

Still, it was a good time, and I need to get out more.

Oh, and the gunfire and burnouts in the parking lot were still going strong when I fell asleep at about 10 pm, checked this today and it was 9mm cor-bon (expensive bottle plinking) and .223. New trash at parking lot: dodge caravan back and passenger seat, a box of old porn cd's, and about 12 vials (the glass kind you snap the top off) of an unknown painkiller, someone was probably shooting up. ing PBR cans, and Michelob bottles, and porn cd's, and all the park signage. Not very good grouping on the signs, maybe woozy from shooting up the painkillers and drinking the PBR? Oy.

 

[DrHenley]

LOL, Been there done that on the Cowboy Camp...got the t-shirt. A group of us in college went on a backpacking trip in the Smokey Mountains - sans tents - and when we went to bed we were looking up at clear skies. By 2 am it was pouring. I had an old fashioned semi-waterproof canvas sleeping bag that stayed dry for a couple of hours, and I just pulled my head inside. But by morning the water had soaked through.

Nowadays, it makes no sense NOT to have at least a small pop-up tent with you.

This one is only 4.5 pounds:
https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Outdoor-Warrior-Backpacking-waterproof/dp/B0775JCFB4

But I think I would like this one better, even though it is 6 pounds:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-...-Pop-Up-Camping-Tent-w-Taped-Rainfly/35848037

 

[Squirtgunsquirter]

Thanks Dr.

I felt as bad for the dog as for myself. I will have to make a lightweight waterproof cover for the down sleeping bags, otherwise he soaks stuff and trashes the tent.

 

[Arcticdude]

I've got a lot of canvas tarps left over from my horse packing days. These tarps are various sizes and are water proof. I often use a couple to make a shelter while hunting or on the trap line.
Granted, a small tent would be lighter to carry, and would keep a person drier when it rains. Around here it seldom rains during winter, just snows, and summers are usual dry.

 

[Squirtgunsquirter]

It all needs to be light. When I go out by myself, I tend to do stupid stuff, like wade across the river to islands, or swim, walk on the ice, rappel down bluffs... not always, but enough that I bought camping stuff that would work for that. It has to float, has to be light enough to hike off trail, and work with a sport climbing harness.

Drives my wife nuts, she worries, but she doesn't really need to. I'm a lot more laid back than I used to be, I'm not heading out for a 100 mile bike trip with a fleece blanket and a bag of powerbars any more.

And yeah, a hot tent looks better and better to be honest!

 

[DrHenley]

Main problem with sleeping under a tarp where I go in the woods is that water coming from underneath is a bigger problem than water coming from above.

 

[Squirtgunsquirter]

Too True!

I like the hammock for that reason. I just cant sleep comfortably in it.

 

[DrHenley]

Yep, I have agree about the hammocks...most of them anyhow. Although, my daughter had a hammock that was pretty comfy, but would be too bulky to carry in the woods.