A reader (who wishes to remain anonymous) asks; My son recently joined a Scout troop who, to my horror, burns almost all their trash in the campfire. Most leaders that do this either don’t think it’s a problem, or have just learned to be indifferent. As a cub leader we didn’t let the youth put anything other than paper in the campfire and taught them what Styrofoam or plastic can do to the environment or their bodies when burned at low temperatures....
Kevin Callan on bear bags from the Paddler’s Guide to Happy Camping Keeping your food safe from bears (and other critters) is an important element of any camping trip. Not only do you want to reduce the chance of having an unwanted close encounter with bear, raccoon or field mouse – but you also don’t want to loose your food. Your food is an important part of your trip. There’s a number of ways to store your food....
From As the Crow Flies I usually use the no wash method of cleaning up but sometimes I end up with a frying pan or dishes to wash. I never use soap because it takes a lot of water to rinse the soap off. Instead I use baking soda. One time I ran out of baking soda for awhile so I used wood ash instead–it worked. To make soap you need grease and lye....
Camping in the rain sounds awful – and it is if you aren’t prepared! Here’s ten tips for surviving rainy camping trips: 1. AVOID IT I have canceled or rescheduled weekend camping trips if heavy rain or horrendously bad weather is forecast. We aren’t Marines and the safety of the free world does not depend on our withstanding really awful weather. That being said camping in the rain can be great fun if you are prepared for it....
I have been saying for years that all that needs to be done for purifying water by boiling is to raise it to the boiling point and have received many skeptical looks in return. Here is a reasoned examination that explains exactly why this is true; The fact is, with a water temperature of 165 degrees F (74 C) it takes just half an hour for all disease causing organisms to be inactivated....
A tarp creates an dry island of refuge if it is properly rigged; if not it becomes a flapping, dripping, water-catching pain. Here’s an idea from Cliff Jacobsen’s book Camping’s Top Secrets on rigging two tarps to create a chimney to keep a fire going in the rain. Here’s a view showing how the tarps overlap for a foot or two by tying them together at the grommets. The back edge of the top is rigged up to the tree to create the opening that forms a chimney....
A nice setup for cooking at a long term camp the Chippewa Kitchen in this drawing is lashed out of eight foot poles about 1 1/2″ in diameter. Naturally you can scale the kitchen to available materials or conditions as you see fit. Note the pot drying rack and worktop. No sooner had I posted this halfway around the world Peter at Ropes and Poles posted this small camp table.
Campfire building can be an elusive skill. Books show us tidy pictures of tepees and log cabins, extol the merits of exotic fire starters and generally make the job unnecessarily complicated. This little film explains how to collect the three things needed to build a fire; tinder, kindling and fuel. Gathering the right kind of material in sufficient quantities assures quick, reliable campfire. Here’s a campfire building infographic that explains the method....