by Gumby Montgomery
Any time of year is a good time to get outside and go camping, either alone or with friends, but to me, autumn is ideal camping weather. The bugs aren’t biting as much, and you can really appreciate a nice, warm campfire. I used to be a major “camping snob.” I thought tents, camping equipment, and park campsites were for sissies. I had to be alone in the deep wilderness, sleep in a debris hut, eat tubers and leaves, and I still felt guilty about the small backpack’s worth of stuff I carried.
After several years of maintaining this attitude, a few things began to dawn on me. One was that by holding myself to such high standards and pushing myself so hard, I was often hungry, uncomfortable, and not very happy. Hunger and discomfort are wonderful teachers, but if you’re not having fun, you probably won’t spend as much time being out there. Weekends are short - we want to enjoy ourselves! Build that debris hut, sleep in it…but if you get too cold, climb in to that tent you’ve set up nearby.
I also realized after I began volunteering with the Boy Scouts that I’d never learned basic camping skills! “The Boy Scout Handbook” is a terrific, info-packed resource, and I always keep one on my shelf now. Don’t overlook your backyard as a fun, quick campsite, either. You could spend a lifetime just studying the nature in your yard and not see all of it. Convenience is crucial. A camp-out in your backyard once a month will teach you more than camping once a year in the deepest wilderness, and I believe it teaches children better lessons, too. Nature isn’t “out there,” it’s right here all around us. We never left the woods. We just altered them.
Now, that being said, here are a few camping tips I’ve picked up along the way. I have never found expensive equipment to be superior enough to justify its price. No tent is waterproof! I pile up leaves for drainage, warmth, and comfort, being careful to remove any tent-piercing sticks, at a site I’ve chosen. (I still don’t like park campsites). I make sure it is free of insect nests, poisonous plants, dead, over-hanging limbs (a.k.a. Widow-makers) and out of flood plains. I use a tarp for a ground cloth on top of my leaf-pile, and I make sure to fold the edges so they don’t stick out from underneath the cheapest tent I can find to collect water. I tie another tarp over the tent on cold or potentially rainy nights.
If you get cold in your sleeping bag, try taking your clothes off and stuffing them in all around you. You’ll be surprised how much warmer this is. If you have to pee - go do it! Holding it only wastes more of your body’s heat. Wear a wool hat and socks while you’re naked in your bag. Sure, you’ll look like a doofus, but a warm doofus. Practice building a good, safe tipi fire in a firepit lined and bordered with rocks on clay with surrounding debris swept at least ten feet away from it. Try starting it with one match. Its not very hard once you get the hang of it, and oh so satisfying!
Lastly, don’t hesitate to push your skills, just as long as you’re not making yourself miserable. What can you do without? What can you build yourself - a shelter, a firepit reflector, a bow-drill fire set? Ever tried wild blackberries in your campfire pancakes? Skills are important and fun, but don’t skip the basics, and always make sure you’re being safe and enjoying yourself.
