Philadelphia Nesties
tracyd21
member
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
camping necessities?
I am going white water rafting next Saturday in the Poconos with my college girlfriends and we are considering camping there overnight. The campground has showers/toilets and a retail store on site. Each tent site has a fire ring too. What kind of supplies would you bring, besides the obvious food and sleeping bags/pillows? Cooking equipment? Do you bring your own firewood typically? I am willing to buy some stuff, but if we can bring it from home that would be good too. I have never camped before and don't know how often I will in the future, so I don't want to invest a ton of money in equipment that will collect dust in my garage. Also, if you have easy camping meals to suggest, I'd appreciate it!
TIA
Re: camping necessities?
I would visit your local REI. They can rent you camping items (like a camping stove). I would check with the campsite as to what their rules and regs are.
They may be prohibiting outside firewood from being brought in. There was a "quarantine" a few days ago due to the Walnut Twig Beetle infesting a few black walnut trees in Bucks County. It sounds like a joke, but just google it.
I'm no help on the meals, but a search came up with this:
http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,camping_meals,FF.html
Ok, so this is going to be long but should be pretty comprehensive.
Food: Cooking over fire is such a pain in the ass. It takes a long time to get it going and the food cooks unevenly. Bring either a portable charcoal grill or a tabletop propane grill. When you plan your meal, think of every ingredient you'll need including cooking utensils. Easy meals, to be honest, are items that don't need to be cooked OR refrigerated/coolered. PBJ sandwiches, chips, bagels for the morning, stuff for s'mores are easy. You're going to need plates, plasticware, napkins, trash bags.
If you want to cook food, good camping food can be hot dogs or hamburgers, but think of everything you'll need for these: buns, meat, cheese, condiments, and a way to keep them cold. Very cold. You DON'T want to get food poisoning. If you cook something in a pan, bring dish soap and a sponge. Lots of snacks are also a necessity. I love bringing cheese and crackers (plus a knife to cut) and a big bag of goldfish crackers.
Sleeping/grooming: Tent, sheets/blankets, pillows. For shower, shower flip flops, bag to carry toiletries, towel. Plastic bag for wet items.
Campfire: I'd suggest bringing your own wood. You can prob buy it at the retail store BUT it's often fresh cut and can be wet. If you can get wood ahead of time and ensure it stays dry it will make for a much easier building and maintaining a fire. You're also going to want to bring a cheap folding chair to sit around the campfire.
Very important add on's: Flashlights. Fresh batteries. Bug spray. A floppy hat to keep out ticks. Booze. Long lighter to light campfire.
Check out your water situation ahead of time. Where do you have access to clean drinking water? Do you have to bring it?
Optional: Radio for some tunes, citronella candle for the table when you're eating, a plastic tablecloth.
Finally, make sure that you put all food away at the end of the night. Lock it in a car. The smell can lure bears and other undesirables.
Have fun! Camping is awesome!
If you are camping up in the Pocono's, just about every gas station has kiln dried wood. Just double check with the campground that you can bring in outside wood.
LD: booze was WAY WAY WAY far down on your list, it should be second.
Ehm, it was under the VERY IMPORTANT ADD On's. Along with flashlights and batteries.
Not a joke with the beetles. There's another type of bug that has been destroying trees and they place these purple boxes out to catch them, so most places won't let you bring ANY outside wood in. (Asian Longhorned Beetle)
Also, watch out for how to do your dishes... some places won't let you dump your dishwater in the trees/shrubs.
Keep it simple-we always overpack with food. Burgers, dogs, salad, sandwich stuff-easy to do. If you get the mtn pie makers-I will do taco meat ahead of time, freeze the meat-it will thaw during travel-and make taco mtn pies-add a salad... easy! Breakfasts-cereal-sometimes pancakes, bacon.
GL-have fun!
I think the PP pretty much covered it all.
I use an Off clip on. I usually put it around my legs since the bugs want to bite me while i'm sitting at the table.
Check your campground as some sites do not allow alcohol.
Bring starter sticks for the fires as it may be difficult to start the fire w/ just the wood
Extra blankets because some nights can get cold.
Have fun. I love camping