Camping

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Camping
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All kinds of ways to camp

• Primitive
• Tents and some services
• Tents or a camper and full services
• Recreational vehicle

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Sleeping Bags

• Best bags is
• One made of down
• The nylon will wear out first
• Avoid cotton materials
• Pad is recommended
• Air mattress
• Other material

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Care of sleeping bag

• Packing
• Best practice is stuffing it into a nylon sack
• Then place sack into plastic bag
• Washing
• Warm or cold water only
• Half as much detergent
• Use extractor (high speed centrifuge)
• Drying
• Low setting
• Terry cloth towel will speed drying

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Tent

• A shelter made of
• Nylon
• Canvass
• Has sides and a top
• Different types
• Dome
• Ridge
• Frame

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What size of tent?

• To be comfortable, the average person needs
• 2 ½ by 7 to stretch out
• Additional ½ headroom to dress
• For example a 3-4 person tent is ideal for two
  people.

Remember your tent is your home away from home.
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Where should you set up tent?

• Avoid meadows
• usually a low area
• Avoid flat mossy areas
• will attract water from miles away
• Be aware of ground surface
• Look for potential trouble due to rain
• Glass, sharp objects, low branches

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Ground Cloth

• Should be placed inside the tent
• Outside under the tent will trap water
• Should be plastic-type

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Rain Tarp

• 10 X 10 nylon or plastic tarp strung between
  trees
• Is great as a dry area in wet weather

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Camp Stove

• Types
• Gasoline
• Most reliable
• Very volatile
• Kerosene
• Same BTU as gasoline
• Less volatile
• Propane
• Relatively inexpensive
• Good heat
• Packaging can be problem
• Butane
• Cute
• Unreliable in cooler temperatures

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What to look for in a stove?

• Stability you dont want it to tip over
• Ease of starting built in pump is best
• Adjustable flame especially fine adjustments of
  the flame
• Susceptibility to wind avoid aluminum
  windscreens, they tend to be flimsy

Kerosene or propane is the best choice.
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Knife

• A good camping knife is
• 4 to 5 blade
• Thin (1/8) is best
• Use a sharpening stone
• Raise back of blade 15 to 20 degrees
• Push blade down into stone
• Maintain a light film of cutting oil or water

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Camping Saws Hatchet
Bow Saw
Hatchet
Folding Saw
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Fire

• Collect all needed materials before beginning
• Butane lighters work best
• Have matches available

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Building a fire

• Patience
• Lay a good foundation of fine tinder
• Above that crisscross a few larger twigs
• As tinder catches, slowly add larger pieces of
  wood
• Wet conditions
• Types of wood

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Smoke is nature's way of telling you that you
are suffocating the blaze
Most common reason for fire failure
LACK OF OXYGEN
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Extinguishing the blaze

• Where there is smoke there is fire
• Thoroughly douse everything with water
• Check the fire with your hands

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Ecological Concerns

• Leftover foods
• Either pack it out or burn it
• Garbage
• Burn all garbage
• Pack out anything that wont burn
• Fish entrails
• Bury them as far from campsite as possible
• Human waste
• Dig a cat hole (4 to 8 deep) and bury it
• Burn the toilet paper
• Washing dishes
• Do at least 100 from water source

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If obtaining water from lake/river

• Go well away from shoreline
• Go to deepest point
• Avoid greenish tinge
• Avoid stagnant areas
• From incoming source not outgoing source
• Not near a beaver dam

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Field water purification process

• Boiling
• Must boil the water for at least one minute
• Allow water to cool
• Portable filters
• Wont remove Giardia
• Chemicals
• Dont work well in the cold

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Animals

• Bears
• Dont confront an aggressive bear
• Dont run away
• Back away slowly and calmly
• Make yourself appear as big as possible
• Suggestion climbing nearest tree??
• Remember black bears are very good climbers

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Other animals

• Raccoons
• Are very good with their hands
• Are very inquisitive
• Skunks
• Will sniff out anything
• Potent defense!
• But also claws and teeth!

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A clean camp will have less trouble with
animals!!
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Repelling insects

• DEET
• Bugs are attracted to dark colors
• Repellents can dissolve plastics

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Your clothing

• Avoid cotton a pair of wet jeans could take 14
  hours to air dry
• Best to wear
• Wool
• Polypropylene
• Gortex
• Acrylics
• nylon

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Hypothermia

• Hypothermia killer of the unprepared
• Remove wet clothes
• sandwich victim between two people is the best
  warming method
• Radiant heat will work well too
• But intense heat can burn sensitive skin

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Footwear

• Lightweight
• Flexible
• Wear two pair of socks
• Outside layer wool
• Inner layer lightweight wool or polypropylene
• Secret
• Wear inner layer inside out
• Change inner layer daily
• Outside layer may be worn 2-3 days

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Other gear suggestions
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Skills are more important than things!!