#1hoosierfan
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2010
I keep adding things to my list. I hope it all fits in my suv.
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Mine is a Marmot Odyssey 4. It's kind of a modified dome design with some cross poles. And this is exactly where I bought it. I actually set up the thing myself. My wife frankly wouldn't be able to figure it out as she has zero mechanical inclination.
I'll usually set it up with a single queen air mattress. We don't have anything fancy -just a standard Intex. I do have an old Coleman 4D inflator. That came with a Coleman mattress, but that mattress eventually started leaking. I think most of the air mattresses come with adhesive patches too. The inflator is great up to a certain point, but eventually it reaches its limit and air is coming out as fast as its going in. That's the point when I whip out my hand pump inflator, which allows me to get it to the desired firmness. Also - it's quieter if I might have neighbors complaining about the inflator. Obviously the mattress starts shrinking when it's cold, but it's also losing air that needs to be replaced the next day.
Believe it or not, there are a lot of wild critters still in the NE so most of the local campgrounds set up metal dumpsters to throw away trash nightly. As such I just use plastic shopping bags instead of Hefty bags or similar. This gives the children another job: down to the garbage site at the end of the road to meet all their camping buddies and plead for money to get ice cream at the concession stand en mass. Or grab raw chicken legs from the cooler and go crabbing in the marsh before the sun has completely gone down. Whatever got them through the night was fine w/ me. Gosh I miss that kind of camping!
All our air mattresses are Coleman with the flocked tops and after trying 2 different types of air pumps we finally decided to get a Coleman battery operated model. Loud as all get out but it got the job done pretty fast. The noise also meant no late night arrivals or laid back setups.
What part of Indiana are you camping in? I grew up in southern Indiana and now live near Indianapolis, so I've got a good list of parks.
I would also add tarps. Lay your tent on top of one bc the tent gets so filthy if there is rain or mud. We also bought a storage container for the tent. No way it was going back in the bag.
The better tents for car/family camping are from the same manufacturers of backpacking tents. Typically that's the major outdoor equipment companies like The North Face, Marmot, Kelty, MSR, and Big Agnes. Eureka has different levels. Some of theirs are more in the bargain range with inexpensive fiberglass poles, but some of their higher end tents have aluminum alloy poles.I've heard well of the Marmot line! It always makes the short list of backpacking tents.
I did that all the time when I went backpacking. I basically had 3 shirts and some thermal underwear. But almost everything I wore was synthetic, so it was usually dry within minutes. The only problem with synthetics for me is that once the sweat dries it leaves me feeling kind of oily. I used baby style wipes, although I think rubbing alcohol might be useful around the neck and ears.Do not wear any clothing item to bed if you wore it during the day . It will be damp . Damp clothing will make for an unpleasant night .
The better tents for car/family camping are from the same manufacturers of backpacking tents. Typically that's the major outdoor equipment companies like The North Face, Marmot, Kelty, MSR, and Big Agnes. Eureka has different levels. Some of theirs are more in the bargain range with inexpensive fiberglass poles, but some of their higher end tents have aluminum alloy poles.
It's kind of hard to describe, but the best quality tents are actually pretty easy to spot. I mentioned the aluminum poles, which are lighter and generally stronger. An aluminum pole that's stressed too hard will bend. A fiberglass pole will splinter. Fiberglass poles also don't go well through sleeves because of the way the sections are linked. A better tent will have obviously better quality zippers and materials. I think the most important is the floor. A coated nylon or polyester floor is far better at keeping out water than a tarp style floor. I've tried out some cheap tents with tarp style floors. They claimed to be waterproof floors, but I had twigs and pine needles poking through them. Also - the top of the line tents will have specific nylon or polyester footprints available that exactly match the floors, which reduces water pooling. A separate tarp (to protect the floor) will normally be larger than the floor and that can collect water that pools when it rains.
Forgot to mention REI. I've got one of their tents. When I went backpacking I saw some people camping solo in 2/3 person tents. Mine was downright tiny compared to everyone else's. However, I remember getting into a backpacking campground where someone asked me why I didn't just sleep out without a tent. Those were a couple of buddies including one who had just a sleeping pad, sleeping bag, and mosquito net.My go to for backpacking is zpacks. But that’s over kill for car camping.
REI brand tents should be good enough while keeping the price down.
Forgot to mention REI. I've got one of their tents. When I went backpacking I saw some people camping solo in 2/3 person tents. Mine was downright tiny compared to everyone else's. However, I remember getting into a backpacking campground where someone asked me why I didn't just sleep out without a tent. Those were a couple of buddies including one who had just a sleeping pad, sleeping bag, and mosquito net.
The last year we were supposed to go camping before WDW was to be on a water access only site managed by the state's DEP . Much like the Feds, NYS, has campsites overseen by 3 or 4 different agencies with different levels of amenities. It has a small bear population but no "Yellow-Yellow" that I'm aware of. Still if ever you get to the NE and want to camp away from it all it's called Indian Lake in Hamilton County:There was an infamous (some say legendary) bear up in the Adirondacks that managed to open one particular bear resistant canister that no other bear since has managed to open. That ended up requiring a ton of redesign and it still managed to open it. Then a hunter killed it, and that was that.
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/nyregion/25bear.html
I did a lot of research before putting money down on our cabin tent: denier, fabric content, pole composition, zippers, etc. It was a bit difficult as there are few camping stores in NYC and fewer still with large tent floor models. Wound up ordering it online. One of the things I love about our particular model is that the two doors don't line up (makes for better floor layout options and if one zipper dies you still have another way to get out. Dead zipper never happened to us but I always keep a repair kit in case another camper needs help: bar soap for stuck zippers plus needle and waxed thread for tears and restitching). My one grumble was the floor material which I felt was too thin although it never tore. I placed one of those woven plastic outdoor rugs atop it and it feels better and I no longer need to sweep the floor out until tear down. Also it would be nice if the poles were color coded. I did it myself with nail polishes but still. My CC (Copper Canyon) has 10 years of use under it's belt (it's actually about 12 y/o now) and I know there have been some changes since then and I hope color coding is one of them. The only part I ever needed to replace was the rain fly due to sun damage (we frequently camped at the beach) after about 8 years. Another proponent of door mats, one outside and the other inside since it cuts down on dirt entering the unit. About zippers, when you see a tent with YKK double head zippers you know you're looking at a product with some quality components.The better tents for car/family camping are from the same manufacturers of backpacking tents. Typically that's the major outdoor equipment companies like The North Face, Marmot, Kelty, MSR, and Big Agnes. Eureka has different levels. Some of theirs are more in the bargain range with inexpensive fiberglass poles, but some of their higher end tents have aluminum alloy poles.
It's kind of hard to describe, but the best quality tents are actually pretty easy to spot. I mentioned the aluminum poles, which are lighter and generally stronger. An aluminum pole that's stressed too hard will bend. A fiberglass pole will splinter. Fiberglass poles also don't go well through sleeves because of the way the sections are linked. A better tent will have obviously better quality zippers and materials. I think the most important is the floor. A coated nylon or polyester floor is far better at keeping out water than a tarp style floor. I've tried out some cheap tents with tarp style floors. They claimed to be waterproof floors, but I had twigs and pine needles poking through them. Also - the top of the line tents will have specific nylon or polyester footprints available that exactly match the floors, which reduces water pooling. A separate tarp (to protect the floor) will normally be larger than the floor and that can collect water that pools when it rains.
Wow, you folks are really high maintenance with your camping. If it doesn't fit on the bicycle, it's not going camping with me, LOL.
Tent, sleeping bag or covering, camp sleeping pad, camp pillow, bushcraft stove, cook kit, fixed blade camp knife, folding saw, ferro rod, dehydrated food. That's all I take camping. Sometimes I take my carving knife to carve something.