Dear fellow Firepuppers:
By the time you see this, I'm going to be far away from my keyboard. I'll be at a campground, which I will have spent much of the preceding day making habitable by picking up and burning the piles of horse dung which will be strewn all over the place. I will probably have already used my camp axe to chop up bits of fallen branches and the odd downed tree. And I will have used my trusty Max Burton stove to heat up enough hot water for oatmeal and morning coffee. I will either be smothered in a rain jacket (if it's raining) or in SPF 30 lotion (if it's not), and either way there's going to be a bit of bug spray under everything.
There will be music and honeysuckle (you can see a bigger picture of the honeysuckle here) and sweet flag and even blackberry blossoms, and I'm going to be having a grand old time. But I won't be able to tell you all about it until tomorrow!
So, what are your plans to get out and about this summer? Do you car camp? Bike camp? Hotel camp? Is 'roughing it' when you stay at a place without a swimming pool? Is 'luxury' when your campsite offers firepit rings? Go ahead, talk about it here, and anything else that's on your mind.
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zed?
Vacation = swimming.
good mornin’ dawgs
Got some tasty video up at:
http://woodyguthriesguitar.blogspot.com/
Michael Franti, Donovan & Buffy, Hundred Year Flood for starters…
More later, prob’ly…
have a fine day
Grandma Lucy Balrog said roughing it was having to use white toilet paper.
Is there a Single-Malt Scotch camp?
vacation= brain dead, downtime watching the river flow by as an analogy for life flowing by…
Balrog @ 4
I’ll be your bunkie! Got a bottle of Dalmore Cigar Malt for my birthday last week. Yummy!
I’d love to try bicycle camping (we’re in Colorado, fer crying out loud) but MrsCO won’t stay anywhere that doesn’t have room service. She insists on roughing it at the Hyatt.
I’m not doing any camping this summer, but my 80 year old dad and 29 year old son are off in a couple of weeks for a week long canoe/camping trip on the Arkansas Buffalo River. This is the 30th year anniversary for this TN Valley Canoe Club trip, and Dad has been the trip leader for most of those 30 years. I’m so proud.
Twisted Martini @ 6
hey Twisted, did your eyes go bad yet? (it’s been a week all ready)
PeteCO @ 7
The husband of one of my cousins says his youngest daughter is going to save the world as long as she can do it from the comfort of the Marriott…
Balrog @ 4
I used to camp in the Boy Scouts, and later Explorers. But it seems at age 47 that sleeping on the ground has lost some appeal.
I did a week long canoe trip down the Arkansas Buffalo River when I was a teenager with a group called the “Explorers”. It is a breathtaking river but not one for amateurs. I hope they have a great time.
No blindness yet Elliott, but I did get, how can I put this delicately, an infection for my birthday. Not fun, although it had the effect of keeping me under control for my birthday weekend. Same can;t be said for some of my brothers!
Darling PW — the scent of woodsmoke seeps from my flat screen. Thank you.
One minor correction– the lovely flower is Columbine, not honeysuckle. I’ll be transplanting some today, from my overgrown front hill to a woodsy spot under vine maples in the back.
Not as good as camping, but it’ll do. It’ll do.
You posted a picture of my favorite wildflower — columbine! Aquilegia canadensis.
It’s an ambiguous flower because the common name means “dove” but the Latin means “eagle.” The blossom looks like either a cluster of dove heads, or an eagle’s talon, depending on how you look at it. You could almost call it a Rorshach flower.
Totally OT, but:
Look, everyone. It’s finally raining on the fires in southeast Georgia. Tropical Storm Barry is drenching the area, thank Bast.
I would like to thank everyone here whose prayers have helped make this possible.
Twisted Martini @ 13
707!
Have not been camping since I moved to AZ. Sold the camp trailer. Spent most of my life camping, my father is a retired Wildlife Biologist for various state Fish & Game & the US Forest Service.
Been wet & dry camping. With real plumbing and Oregon has solar showers in their state parks! Camping with or without the skeeters, bitting flies and those camp neighbors who cannot leave civilization at home (battery operated TeeVee).
Have camped all states west of the Mississippi and farther east. As a kid, as a family we drove back east to visit the grandparents and camped along the way about every two years. My parents were great to include all those things along the way, historic places and monuments.
TRex @ 16
YaY Rain!
and a late Happy Birthday to you, TRex & Patrick!
before my bones, joints, and muscles started to betray me–30 or so years ago–i hiked and camped all over the Sangre de Christos and other northern New Mexico/southern Colo mts…not so much anymore, as walking much over a mile wears me out pretty quick…
these days, with sciatica and an additional 30 lbs not COUNTING the pack, i don’t bestir myself as much as formerly. but i recall it with pleasure…
.
Sorry if this has already been discussed (I’ve been away from the computer lately and haven’t caught up on the threads), but I sure hope Leahy & Waxman pursue this. A republican volunteer in the campaign of Riley for governor in AL has signed an affidavit saying Karl was involved in getting the DoJ to go after the former AL governor.
http://www.time.com/time/natio…..rss-nation
Sure hope Leahy & Waxman jump on this.
Yeah, we went to Carburation Day at the Speedway, and 1 of my brothers drank a whole bottle of Captain Morgan with Coke on an empty stomach. Not good, he was belligerent and obnoxious. They got separated from each other during the Kid Rock concert and he ended upo taking a cab home from the track, to the tune of about $75. Ouch!
Bonfires for me. Under the stars. Sparks flying up into the night sky. Friends faces lit red by the firelight as the moon creeps up over the treetops. Heaven.
wgg: tokin lib’rul @ 3
thanks tokin …
hip hop bodhisattva lays it down: it’s time to go home
wgg: tokin lib’rul @ 20
It’s beautiful down there. Last fall we stayed at a friends’ cabin about a half hour above Westcliff, in the Wet Mountains, about 9000′. The sun would rise and light up the tops of the Sangres, and set behind them. And stars! You can see stars down there! Everyone heads west up I70. South is relatively quiet.
Sorry to go all John Denver on everyone…
Twisted Martini @ 22
that’ll learn him (or not!)
PeteCO @ 25
no need to apologize … more CO firepups here too. love the sangres.
and re john denver, this isn’t really easy to do anymore. but in our politico/deadhead/shut-rocky-flats/group-house-on-the-hill days, we used to try to close out each day w/ a quick playing of “rocky mtn high” at 78 rpm … chipmunks do john denver. :-)
waking up with the dawn to find waves to surf down the street before work… commuting 60 miles in, working all day, commuting 60 miles home to find surfable waves still breaking, surf until it gets dark around 9pm. eat dinner, go to bed, wake up and repeat the next day.
then on the weekends, surfing with the dawn before the lifeguards and badge-checker nazis come to work at 9… doing fun things all day and then surfing again when the lifeguards and badge-checker nazis go home from work.
i love summer. (even if it means there’s really not all that much surf all the time here in the jerze)
JCro, where are you ‘down the shore? Going to LBI at the end of the month.
I guess this wouldn’t be the time to talk about how much I loathe camping. In this regard, I take after my mom and grandmother, who grew up really, really poor. My grandmother spent a year with her family basically living outside during the Depression.
There’s just something about trying to fall asleep without a roof of some kind over my head that gives me the twitches.
lee5 @ 27
Group house on the hill? Boulder, or Capitol Hill? MrsCO protested at Rocky Flats. She graduated CU Denver in 83.
TRex @ 30
I’m with you there! I like to get close to nature by opening the window at night by a beach or a lake!
What’s up TRex, and a belated Happy Birthday! The 28th right?
PeteCO — Boulder. Now we’re in the country north of boulder.
gotta run, cyall
As a pampered room service junkie, I’m usually roughing it when they only have call-in pizza delivery masquerading as room service. That said, though, I went campaing with my folks a lot as a kid and loved it. Have been thinking that, as The Peanut gets older, we need to find ways to help her connect with the natural world like my parents did for me. So much of life for kids these days keeps them inside — computer, teeevee, video games and the like. We’ve been talking about doing a National Parks tour when she gets a bit older…
My wife is big on camping, but I want no part of it. Sleeping in a camper is about my limit. I’m going to Single Malt Camp with Balrog!
Twisted Martini @ 29
I live in Bradley Beach, year round. Exit 100 off the Parkway, if you’re not familiar with the area.
What part of LBI do you go to?
Now you’re talkin’! I think a bright, airy beach house would be just about the best thing in the world.
Thing is, living on the beach is kind of a lousy idea. Always has been, really. Human beings just love to build their houses on the water. The trouble is, water almost never stays where it’s supposed to. Rivers flood, tides surge.
So, someone else’s bright, airy beach house would be the best thing in the world.
j.cro @ 37
My grandparents lived in Beach Haven, then Haven Beach, so I grew up there during the summer. Haven’t been back in years, we have been going to Block Island and Maine lately. But my folks are having their 50th anniversary party in Beach Haven, so we are going to check it out.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 35
CHS, my parents were both city folks, my mother’s idea of camping was going to a hotel. We moved to the beach when I was a wee lass… I didn’t go camping for the first time until I was in my first year of college and although I’d much prefer the kind of camping one does at Fisherman’s Memorial State Park in RI to camping at the lighthouse in NC, I still enjoy camping even though I’m a really late bloomer.
I live in Winter Park FL, am a computer programmer and haven’t been in woods for years :( Camp for me too plz!
Twisted Martini @ 39
Twisted… Beach Haven has changed a LOT… be prepared. If you check a little of the Google for stories on Beach Haven you’ll see what I mean. It’s actually kind of sad in a way. But LBI is still a great place, particularly in the off-season. Have a great time!!!
Having the whole summer off, I have been doing a lot of hiking and some fishing (will be doing a lot more once the spring runoff subsides). I plan on doing a fair bit of short backpacking trips in the national forests and wilderness areas around here and will probably do a car camping trip up to Glacier National Park. It is really rough living in the northern Rockies in the summer. ;-p
DrDick @ 43
I am bright green with envy.
Okay, time to go out and enjoy that summer weather… turning off the computer now.
Have a great day (week, summer) all!!!
cheers!
j.cro @ 44
The downside is no paycheck over the summer, but the university pays me well enough (barely) during the winter to live off savings over the summer.
My idea of the perfect camping trip would be car-camping on the so-called Scotch Whiskey Trail, Speyside, south out of Aberdeen…
with my very own Quaich…
slainte
Christy Hardin Smith @ 35
Two words of advice: Don’t wait. (or: Go now.)
But don’t expect her to enjoy everything that you do. We’ve been enjoying National Parks, CA state parks, and all kinds of regional parks with our five year old, and it is so delightful to see him get engaged with the variety of things in the parks.
Two of our favorite places to go for day trips are parks with mostly dirt trails. During the week, there are many fewer people around, and we often see deer and other tracks. He loves checking out the trail to see who else has been walking around — and often enough, we’ll spot the animal that made the tracks.
Yay! Camping.
Central/Northern California coast.
Oregon coast.
Cascades….
(and I haven’t even started to play in the Trinities).
Oh – and a few weeks of witchcamp!
maybe Ruckus camp….
Yay! camping….
wgg: tokin lib’rul @ 47
Nice!
DrDick @ 46
back when i was ‘employable,’ i used the University’s year-round plan…
i dint get big checks, but they came all year long…since i rarely taught summer sessions, this worked out very nicely…
.
The closest I get to camping is telling hubby we should camp sometime this summer. We never go, but that sentence coming out of my mouth is a summer tradition.
Now, hiking is great, in my opinion. You get to be outside, see nature, breathe some truly fresh air, and then at the end of the day, you can run home and take a shower and then go out for sushi.
That’s how it should be done, I think.
You know, I’ve heard way too many horror stories about my hippie friends going off into the woods to camp out overnight and take hallucinogens, of all things, acid or mushrooms. And that’s just stupid. If anything goes wrong (which it most likely will with a bunch of people all on drugs at once), you’re not just in the middle of nowhere, but everyone is too whacked to think and act quickly.
Sigh. Maybe it’s just an advanced form of natural selection.
I just bought a teeny tiny lightweight travel trailer last night to pull with my teeny tiny car… tent camped for many, many years, but now I get to get up off the ground, have heat and a place to make my coffee in the morning. The dogs are going to love it!
oh! and it has a teeny tiny tv in it too! can’t wait for my first trip!
wgg: tokin lib’rul @ 51
Unfortunately, as I am adjunct (full time), I do not qualify for the 12 month option. :(
OldCoastie @ 54
Hey OldCoastie! We’re neighbors (I’m in Irvine). Where do you camp?
Hey OldCoastie! We’re neighbors (I’m in Irvine). Where do you camp?
for close – O’Neill park, for summer – eastern Sierra!
TRex @ 53
But TRex, at night in the forest the trees have so much to say – and their faces are so lovely in the moonlight.
back in the ’80s, living in california, the last ex-mrs tokin and i would load up the vw camper, strap my surfboards on top, and just drive along hiway 1 til we found 1) waves/beach and 2) a campspot–which were more plentiful in the day…
surf, sleep with the sound of the ocean in your ears (and the odd sand flea), awaken, then surf some more…
rinse, repeat…
it dint get much better than that
TRex @ 53
Up here there is also the potential of sharing your camp with a hungry black bear or, if you are really lucky, a grizzly or mountain lion. I take a .41 magnum and bear spray when I go into the wilderness. I all for “becoming one with nature”, but there are limits (like being lunch).
OldCoastie @ 57
for close – O’Neill park, for summer – eastern Sierra!
Nice, when I make my traditional suggestion of camping this summer (that doesn’t result in camping) I’ll suggest O’Neill!
OldCoastie @ 57
for close – O’Neill park, for summer – eastern Sierra!
Have you ever tried San Clemente or Doheny? Friends of our used to camp at San Clemente all the time…before kids.
I personally side with TRex, except I get twitchy if I don’t have a proper toilet and shower that I don’t have to share with anyone not related to me.
DrDick @ 60
I’ve found camps full of giggling hippies tend to be quite safe, but then why would a bear want to eat a bunch of EarthFirst!ers?
We’d probably taste like tofu
(or mutant soy)
kirk murphy @ 63
Actually grizzlies are allergic to patchouli.
Excuse my ignorance, but what the hell does patchouli smell like?
my favorite beach for the kind o camping that went along with surfing was/is Estero Bay, just north of the Rock in Morro Bay.
big campground, with non-potable, (cold) fresh-water showers…if you were only gonna be there a coupla days, it was great…
Twisted Martini @ 65
I do not think that I can actually describe it, even though I almost drowned in it in the late 60s and early 70s and still catch a whiff from my students. It is instantly recognizable to the initiated.
DrDick @ 64
Ooo – good to know.
I’ll let the Buffalo Field Campaign folks know.
i dunno if it’s legende du mer, but it dows seem as though many of the folks who are attacked by sharks do not get eaten, only bitten…
like the sharks, expecting a nice seal, bite into a human and –ewwwwww–spit it out…
given the amount of toxins we bear in our blood-streams, i bet we taste like shit to a shark…
.
kirk murphy @ 68
The Buffalo Field Campaign folks can take care of themselves. Some of my friends are members and organizers.
TRex @ 53
You gotta stop hanging out with rookies. Always have a ’sitter’. I heard or been part of many wonderful ‘outings’ where nothing but great things happened. Love and Light for all involved. AND if they ‘tripped’ in public so ’someone in charge’ could look after them/us…we’d be arrested…what a country.
Twisted Martini @ 50
If you ever get the chance, do it. In 1992 two friends and I did a week long road trip around Scotland, hitting most of the larger towns and detouring up to Skye (where they actually speak Gaelic). The great thing about Scotland is that it’s a small (by US standards) area, so we only spent an hour or two in the car each day, leaving plenty of time to enjoy the local product. A very different world to the one this London boy was inhabiting at the time.
kirk murphy @ 68
I’m not sure that a grizzly in the midst of an allergic reaction is any healthier for a camper to deal with.
Me, I like grizzly bears to be happy, well-fed, and content if/when we cross paths. Nothing to worry about here . . . just passin’ through . . . don’t mind me . . .
wgg: tokin lib’rul @ 69
For sharks with the misfortune to chow down an entire vegan American, I wonder if our GMO content would injure the shark?
Some how I don’t think I’ll get this one past the human subjects committee.
wgg: tokin lib’rul @ 69
I’m not sure why, but great apes in general and humans in particular do not seem particularly attractive to predators generally. They only eat us when they are really hungry and desperate.
DrDick @ 70
Good on ‘ya (and them). I think we have some friends in common!
The BFC rawk – congrats on their victory yesterday!
(and yes – they can take care of themselves :)
kirk murphy @ 74
Blech, human subject committees…ick, ick, ick. At work, I’m drowning in IRBs. I think I’d opt for a shark bite.
PeteCO @ 72
the last ex-mrs tokin and i did do about a week in scotland one time…we were in england for a conference; after which, we took the train up to edinburgh, rented a car and more or less circumnavigated the country…
took a couple of ferry rides, out to Mull and Oban (for the hebridean malts to sample)…went to skye, too, where we witnessed a shepherd and his dogs moving a herd of sheep from one pasture, across one of those tiny macadam strips they call a hiway, way on the backside of the island…before they built the bridge…
i loved scotland…
Twisted Martini @ 65
Oh, please, don’t bring back the flashbacks.
Well, I think I’m going to turn off the computer and go outside to enjoy some more of this lovely day. Already made it to the farmer’s market and got lots of good, local, organic vegies. Too late for the heirloom tomatoes though. :-(
Are you saying you believe in natural selection? Based on what evidence?
hope you have/had a great time out in in the woods PW, and what a glorious night you’ll have under the full moon.
I once camped and hiked at every opportunity. I’ve walked some of the easy parts of the Appalachian Trail in WV, MD, PA. Spent 2 weeks by my self in the Smokies, gods, that was a delight and a challenge I’ll always cherish. Did some time in the Rockies, often doing the most foolish things, it’s a wonder I’ll still alive to shake my head at my youthful folly.
But now I’m older, with severe arthritis in back and bones and a back that’s missing 3 lower discs. Can’t sleep on the ground any more, let alone carry a pack. I miss those experiences so much. I can still car-camp for a day or two, if there’s folks who don’t mind hauling my heavy gear and setting up my tent and cot. They often do, because I make waffles in the woods in the morning as my thank you.
Next Saturday I will be having a new experience in the great outdoors. I’ll be on a canal barge on the Shannon-Erne waterways, with Godschildren and their parents aboard. They’ll go hiking up to the castle ruins and standing stones on the hills, I’ll stay on the barge, reading Yeats and Kavanagh, ready to brew a pot of tea and set out the scones upon their return.
Last year I got one of the girls interested in the birds we saw in the west of Ireland. This year, I’m bringing 2 pairs of binocs and a bird guide, we’ll spend some time learning more about the birds lives and habitat as we cruise the river and waterways at 4mph.
Here’s to a great summer of pleasure and new experiences for us all.
DrDick @ 75
My wife worked on the Chariot nuke waste removal project in 1993 (Cape Thompson AK, far western coast 130 miles above the Arctic Circle). They all had to have bear evasion training, ’cause they were onsite all summer in a remote camp. One of the lessons was that you slowly back away, gently dropping one small article of clothing at a time (e.g. a glove, cap, etc) so they will sniff the items and determine that you are not “food.” They were also instructed to — this would take major stones — lie in fetal position if you are cornered, hands clasped atop head/neck area, so that Winnie the Polar Poo can more completely sniff you out to confirm that you are indeed not chow.
Mercifully, she never had to test these skills.
‘m gonna go walk the dogs before it gets much warmer…
it’s already 70 deg;, on the way to around 90 by afternoon…
mebbe laters, gaters…
meanwhile, if yer gonna be inside, check out the tunes at Woody Guthrie’s Guitar: Plain Talk and Plain-Spoken Songs of Opposition, Protest & Resistance
Emma @ 21
I have a feeling they will. Or already have. Still wondering about Karl’s late nite visit to the Senate.
TRex, if you’re still here, there are bear-free campgrounds on the CA coast….
It’s fun, really ;)
Time for my market trip – have a good day, pups!
We’ve become a bit lazier over the years as far as camping. But we live on a small acreage with a tiny bit of timber. So we built a big fire ring with interesting rocks we found out in the fields just far enough away so we can’t see the house thru the trees. Either on our own or with friends we cook and kick back or party. Sunday morning breakfast cooked over an open fire and eaten at the picnic table is a delightful treat and refreshes us before the start of a work week. We enjoy watching the birds and critters (there are lots of bunnies, the occasional coyote, deer, groundhog, and once in a great while a fox) and sipping on something tasty. But when it’s time for bed we head for the house and our own bed. We’re lucky to have a bit of heaven in our own backyard and I couldn’t ask for a more relaxing “camping” experience. No packing up or setting up and no noisy neighbors. Just one big “aaah” as we mellow.
wgg: tokin lib’rul @ 69
I think the sharks expect something with more fat in it.
I’m a hiker and climber and backpacker. I live in the mtns of SW Colorado and have hiked and backpacked here, in the Grand Canyon, and in the red rock country of sothern Utah for years.
Today and tomorrow I’ll be doing two training hikes to get ready for my first high country backpack of the season into the San Juans next week (the backcountry is not quite open yet because of the snow so I’m sure I’ll be postholing.) You all should try it sometime….I mean, really get out and experience the outdoors.
Blue America thread up and ready for the reading.
Twisted Martini @ 65
Oh, you must go buy some to see. Kind of a woodsy smell. Put lots on, walk around a crowded mall, and watch all the people turn around to see who’s wearing it.
Twisted Martini @ 65
It smells like a warm and sweet dessert. It smells like touching soft crinkled cotton on a summer’s day. It smells like seeing a flowering red bush and running your hands through it. It smells like hearing the rustling of something wild and shy.
Yeah, another old hippie here, so I just happened to have some handy to sniff.
In my world the words ‘habitable’ and ‘campground’ do not co-exist. However, ‘habitable’ and ‘Eggs Benedict’ do quite nicely together.
Have a sunny, happy weekend and whatever you do, do it with sun screen.
Cheers.
My summer plans? I’m going to spend two weeks in Hawaii with my family and a couple of my daughter’s friends (one week on Kauai and the other on Oahu). Can’t ‘effin’ wait!!! The rest of the summer I’ll be working like a fiend to pay for the trip (sigh).
For any of you SF Bay Area folks, you have to try Costanoa, just south of Pescadero. It’s our favorite. You can stay in the lodge with spa facilities, or separate duplex style wood cabins or even these little tent cabins, which I call Martha Stewart goes camping :) check out the site costanoa.com to see pics. The beach is right there, if you hike to the east you end up in Big Basin. Just awesome. They have these “cmfort stations” with great inside and outsie showers, fireplaces, saunas. Really cool. And it just takes us 30 minutes to get there. Highly recommend for camping newbies.
leaving in a bit for Torreya State Park, NW Florida. 29′ class C RV – no more tents for this old guy but lots of hikes. I’ve been there @ 3 times a month since December. My other spot is Ochlockonee SP (o-clock-nee) for kayaking. Both parks are within 50 miles of Tallahassee – no doubt I will have the park mostly to myself this weekend
Garage Sale! Catching the late comers :D All the while polishing up my 1953 13ft travel trailer. Already got my four hours of “Saturday Folk” on the radio. Check it out, its local and now streaming Saturdays 6-10am at http://www.radioflagstaff.com/am600/am600.htm
My trailer needs some interior help, but she’s a doll and I can’t wait to get it out in the forest! Already missed one group camp this year…. great music time but I had some bug. Maybe going to camp in a week down Prescott way. Went last year, stepped on a bee or wasp or scorpion who’d holed up in my sandle in the dark. Numb foot points to scorpion :(
Tent camping is great especially since I got an air bed….. oh my what a great difference that makes. Best camp last year was on the banks of the St. Vrain river in Lyons, Co for RockyGrass. Every summer I miss my ‘78 vw camper van, why did I ever sell thaaaaat! So the airbed makes the difference. The little trailer is quite an adventure but perfect for dry camping.
Oooooo more garage sale-ers! Must go sell! :D
We camped when the kids were younger, but now that we’re in our mid-Forties we just don’t seem to be able to tolertae a night sleeping on the ground, even with fancy air-filled tent mattresses. Well, and my spouse’s need for a C-PAP machine is difficult to accomodate in the woods.
Last summer we spent five glorious weeks on a home exchange in Germany – this summer we are taking it easy, trying to recover financially from last summer. And the twins have driver’s training. So it will be a busy but quiet one this year, and hopefully next year we’ll be able to take another home exchange.
We go camping a couple of times a summer, usually on some riverbank with our kayaks and rafts tied securely to a tree. Among our usual coterie are astronomers and a hydrologist and it’s always fun learning about the stars and where the river’s going, where it’s been and what’s happened along the way. It’s also a blast watching our kids settle into the river life.
Every year I say I’m too old to sleep on the ground again and every year the call of the wild pulls me anyway.
Have great time, PW.
I drove to Oka Park this morning, 40 minutes from Montral. Walked in the woods, took some real nice picture with my new cam. Walking that forest, following that river is a religion for this individual.
I’m a lifelong camper. Got a really nice small tent for four, that will whitstand a few days of tripical storm… Not that we get those often over here. The new foam inflatable inch ans a half deep floor mats make for very comfortable sleeping. We sleep under a goose duvet comforter. cozier than a womb…
Cooking on a wood fire that you kept going through a long day of rain is a reward like few others, beer can chicken to swim for.
PW, enjoy the fresh air, howl at the mooon, count the stars… Thanks
San Juan Is in August with my daughter and grand-daughter in my 12 foot San Francisco Bay Pelican sailboat. Will camp at the many state of Washington and DNR island campgrounds. This will be my 5th boat camping trip up there. I did the first in 1977. Canada has the same type camping in the Straits of Georgia. The Barkely Sound area is also available for kayak and boat camping.
Old age and original sin have caught up with me so most of our camping is done with the pickup/camper with the horses. When younger we car camped up and down the west coast and in the Sierras. I recommend trying to get reservations in the Yosemite High Sierra Camps. You can do the whole 54 mile loop around the high country staying in tent cabins, with heat, hot showers, somebody else cooking and clean sheets in real beds. Try also to do the Tahoe Rim Trail Loop too. It is about 160 miles of great trails around the lake. We have done this in stages with the horses. Same can be done on foot if you have enough cars to stage at the next trail head.
We will camp, with the horses, at Jack Brook Horse Camp in the Pescadero County Park and in Henry Coe State Park where we are volunteers.
Our camping season lasts for a long time in the middle of California. We take a break during the rainy season which starts maybe in November and with luck start riding the horses in late February.
The sailing season overlaps the horseback riding season so we have lots of options. Memorial Day Weekend we camped and sailed in the Whiskeytown Sailing Club Regatta.
Thanks for cleaning up the horse poop. We try to educate horse people that others don’t have that same relationship to horse poop as we do.