Foo - 9+ days on a river bank

I have to (long story) spend nine or so days camping out on a big river.
I have to have my camera gear with me so I'm going to be staying in a park campground because locking a car is more secure than zipping up a tent.
It has been years an years since I went car camping.
If this were you what would you bring?

Depends a lot an what is available at the park. Aside from clothes and sleeping gear I'd be inclined ot take a dutch oven (seasoned) a grill, a cooler for enough beer and my copy of Roughing it Easy and Roughing it Easy 2.

And the right food. I like eating well when camping.

Oh and river means bugs, bug repelant

Parking is available at the campground. Other than that you are on your own.
I have a hibachi. It will be coming along.

Beer. Lots of Beer.
And a few good CD's.
And a fly rod.
And sunscreen.
Soap might be good too.

Got a bota bag, fly rod is still in the car from the last trip.
I'm buying one or two of those jumper boxes for back up laptop and camera power.
Haven't decided what I'm sleeping on yet.
Haven't found a tent yet either. Not going to take my 1 person ultra light tent I know.
Do have my Dr. Bronners ready to go.

Ohh. Can I come?

Bring a tarp and folding table
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/StupidlyBrave/Canooooz/JuniataJune2011/DSCN0434.jpg
Bring a saw
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/StupidlyBrave/Canooooz/JuniataJune2011/DSCN0421.jpg
Boats
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/StupidlyBrave/Canooooz/PineCreekMay2009/pineCreek2009006.jpg
Cheez-its and beer
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/StupidlyBrave/Canooooz/Juniata2009/DSCN0483.jpg
A big tent
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/StupidlyBrave/Canooooz/Juniata2009/DSCN0495.jpg
Pistachios
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/StupidlyBrave/Canooooz/PineCreekApril2011/DSCN0320.jpg
Maybe some extra beer
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/StupidlyBrave/Canooooz/canoeQuarterKeg.jpg
Bring a friend
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/StupidlyBrave/Canooooz/Juniata2007/100_3605.jpg
And don't forget the camera
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/StupidlyBrave/Canooooz/Juniata2007/100_3585.jpg

Litre of Sailor Jerry rum(beer is too heavy)so get the best bang per ounce.Guns and steel jacketed NATO ammo to plink at varmints or killer deer(fun the whole family can get into).
Toilet paper,those state parks use that crap that feels like wrapping paper or stuff your fingers poke through.Diet Cheezits?Camping is no time to deny natural pleasures.
Find out which river the girl in the bikini on the raft(above)is camping at.M-80's to fish in the river(brings them right to the surface).

Depends on how big your car is.

Stupidlybrave has it right, especially the more beer and more bug spray part. jsharr's chainsaw might come in handy too, just don't use that after using more beer. A camping towel (the shamwow for you informercial types), a thermarest (an amazingly comfortable camping mattress), and baby wipes would be good too.

Over the years, I've camped by people who brought too much with them. Your fellow campers would like it if you left the screaming kids, ghetto blaster (not everyone likes hearing loud music at 2:00 AM), television and generator at home if they're anything like the people I've camped with.

Jimi Hendrix still sounds good at 2am:(

Do you play a musical instrument? Bring that.

Don't forget your hunting trebuchet.

Now I wish I had rally fit the Miata rather than lowered it.
Bright skies, big trees, a ranger road, and a Miata towing a trebuchet. Life could be no better.

Don't forget your hunting trebuchet.

Campers nowadays tend to frown on boulders hurling through their campsite.
Can't were keep things tame with plinking varmints,Hendrix tunes and drunkeness?

Bring a road cycle also.

Campers nowadays tend to frown on boulders hurling through their campsite.
Can't were keep things tame with plinking varmints,Hendrix tunes and drunkeness?

Bring a road cycle also.

I would have thought the trebuchet was for the guy playing Hendrix at 2 am on his ghetto blaster.

I would have thought the trebuchet was for the guy playing Hendrix at 2 am on his ghetto blaster.

Potato cannon. Been there...

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/StupidlyBrave/Canooooz/Juniata2003/100_1577-3.jpg

Edit: EXIF data says this was only 1am

Potato cannon. Been there...

Got one of those.
Tennis ball cannon too.

Cheez-its and beer
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/StupidlyBrave/Canooooz/Juniata2009/DSCN0483.jpg

Yuengling! Spoken (written) like a true Eastern Pennsylvanian! :beer:

Yuengling! Spoken (written) like a true Eastern Pennsylvanian! :beer:

Thanks. Sometimes I show my Irish heritage as well
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/StupidlyBrave/Canooooz/Juniata2008/2323232327Ffp53454nu32395686WSNRCG32383956963nu0mrj.jpg

Like Keith99, I like eating well on canoe camping trips. These trips are how I decompress, so I eat, drink and fish a lot.

Here are some tips:
I bring two coolers: One is a softside and only contains food items that I don't need to keep cold. The other is a "five day" cooler. Mice and bears aren't a problem on river islands, so you might need to have another plan. The other cooler has one or more frozen Delmonico steaks, some frozen hot sausages and frozen breakfast sausages (turkey). and a few frozen water bottles (generally, I have a frozen gallon bottle). As these items thaw, I eat/drink them. For cooking water, I usually have a few nalgine bottles filled with tap water. I make no attempt to keep cooking water cold.

The early part of the trip is where I consume the perishable items. The latter part is dehydrated/freeze-dried stuff. I can usually get by with regular food for short trips.

Nearly all cooking except boiling water is done over a campfire. So I bring one of these gizmos for breakfast sausages and steaks:
http://www.campmor.com/wcsstore/Campmor//static/images/kitchen/80403.jpg.

Sometimes, I bring a pie iron and make Reubens/Pizzas and Egg Sandwiches. In the case of egg sandwiches, I fry up the eggs at home and put them in a zip=lock. If I am cooking eggs for breakfast, I usually just get a carton of the yolk-free eggs (much more convenient) and bring fresh sweet peppers and fresh onions.

If I am making baked potatoes in the fire, I wrap them in foil before I leave. Note that you can make corn-on-the-cob on a campfire easily as well.

bug repellant

I've been camping and backpacking for over 30 years. After starting backpacking I realized that it took a lot of special gear, and you didn't want to get a few miles down the trail and realize you had forgotten something, so I made up a packing list, eventually on my computer. Gradually I've added things to the list to make it fairly comprehensive for all kinds of travel that I do. Before a trip I will make a copy of the list and delete the things that I won't need for that trip. Then I print this list out and use it for packing. If you are serious about this kind of thing I could email you the list. Of course it is fairly personalized for me and the way I like to camp, what I like to eat, etc.

A propane stove comes in handy if you catch a fish!

Oh, yeah, absolutely a supercharger. Run it off the belt; leaf blowers don't belong in proper rally sport.
I'd have to kick it back a decade though. Mark II body with wire stone guards on the lamps, wire grill guard and yellow fog lamps mounted on either side.
And white red white stripes running the length of the car offset to the left.

bacon^9

Oh, I should add this will be in a bear sanctuary.
Eastern black bears, the less terrifying verity of bear.

Sling shot, large nut, string, rope, to pull my coolers into the trees added to the list.

If your days will be busy with hiking, boating, biking - whatever - and you want to have a few quick and hearty meals, grill some chicken breast before you go and keep it in ziplock bags in teh cooler. Take some of the flavored rice or rice/pasta mixes that only take 7 to 10 minutes to cook, and a large pot. Cut up the chicken and toss it in iwht the rice/pasta while it's cooking and you'll be eating in 15 minutes with almost no cleanup except wiping off the knife and cutting board/sheet.

And - if you have a dutch oven or other suitable pot - bring a small roast, some potatoes carrots onions - and slow cook it on the campfire all day. A box of bisquick is good to take - you can make biscuits, pancakes, even pizza dough.

The biggest benefit of car camping is eating well. As for bears, in the Adirondacks - in the DEC campsites that don't have food lockers - the guidance is to keep food in the car at night to keep the bears away. Black bears can climb well, and they are clever as hell. When we camp in Vermont - not all that far away from the Adirondacks, bears aren't really a problem.

Oh yeah...one more thing. Block ice, not cubed. Unless you want to buy ice every day.

If you're staying deep in the CNF, maybe a 30-30 for them thar bears.

mountain bike with good knobbies

You and jsharr could do some bear cardio (http://www.active.com/running/montogmery-tx/running-of-the-bears-2011), just in case.

Do not skimp on the ground pad. Small tent, ground bag, sleeping bag in compression sack (stuff clothes in compression sack to make a pillow). Convertible pants, good socks, bug spray, led flashlight and extra batteries, a good book. Single malt scotch. It is okay warm and a little of it goes farther than beer.

The Forest Service has issued a BEAR WARNING in the national forests for this summer. They're urging everyone to protect themselves by wearing bells and carrying pepper spray. Campers should be alert for signs of fresh bear activity, and they should be able to tell the difference between Black Bear dung and Grizzy Bear dung. Black Bear dung is rather small and round. Sometimes you can see fruit seeds and/or squirrel fur in it.

Grizzly Bear dung smells peppery and has bells in it!http://www.funnyhumor.com/viewcount.php?type=joke&id=2&s=

Rent an RV. :thumb:

Do you play a musical instrument? Bring that.

Got dueling banjos?



bug repellant

Bigfoot repellant.

Do you play a musical instrument? Bring that.

Bagpipes. It's just not camping without bagpipes.

Do you play a musical instrument? Bring that.


Bagpipes. It's just not camping without bagpipes.

Thank God for that.

The Forest Service has issued a BEAR WARNING in the national forests for this summer. They're urging everyone to protect themselves by wearing bells and carrying pepper spray. Campers should be alert for signs of fresh bear activity, and they should be able to tell the difference between Black Bear dung and Grizzy Bear dung. Black Bear dung is rather small and round. Sometimes you can see fruit seeds and/or squirrel fur in it.

Grizzly Bear dung smells peppery and has bells in it!http://www.funnyhumor.com/viewcount.php?type=joke&id=2&s=

Those black bears down south are pets dude like Yogi and BooBoo.You going to plug Yogi in the ass with a 30/30?
Now the Canuckers have some nasty brown bears and they prefer people over garbage.We do you think they are all massed at our border?They are unarmed and nervous.

This is exactly what I'd want to do, had I the funds/talent. Full roll cage, hardtop, carbon fiber hood with integrated rally light pod, slight suspension lift, meatier tires on white wheels, mudflaps, and top it all off with an obnoxious 80s-style rally paintjob (minus the sponsor logos, just the colors and stripes).

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/3162/mazdarx7groupbjpg300.jpg

Oh, and a supercharger, naturally.

mmmm. group B rotary. I've seen one of those in action. great sound. thank goodness for historic rallying.

Oh and for the camping. take a medium tent. a comfy air matress, and some wine or single malt. and your fishing rods.

Whos pickin a banjo here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tqxzWdKKu8

^^^
Yep, that's the river I'm going to.

^^^
Yep, that's the river I'm going to.

Chatuga?
Sweet.....there's some nice places around that river.

Those black bears down south are pets dude like Yogi and BooBoo.You going to plug Yogi in the ass with a 30/30?Now the Canuckers have some nasty brown bears and they prefer people over garbage.We do you think they are all massed at our border?They are unarmed and nervous.

No body steals my picanic basket. Nobody.

Chatuga?
Sweet.....there's some nice places around that river.

Burrel's Ford Campground to be exact. I think that may be the swinging banjo bridge.

Burrel's Ford Campground to be exact. I think that may be the swinging banjo bridge.
http://education.lohudblogs.com/files/2008/05/berrypigcrop.jpg

^^^
Yep, that's the river I'm going to.

The worst BMW motorcycle rally I ever went to was in West Virginia, and they spent a lot of time explaining that it wasn't going to be like Deliverance before people started signing up. It turns out hosting an event for thousands of bikers in a city during a huge storm wasn't a great idea, and I figured it wasn't going to go well after the beer tent blew down in the storm on the first night.

Yuengling! Spoken (written) like a true Eastern Pennsylvanian! :beer:


reduced fat cheez-its? wus