Test Trip
After setting up the car for camping and purchasing everything I thought I needed to sustain a longer camping trip, I decided I need to test drive my car camping setup. I took my brother along to get his thoughts and feedback.
We chose the small town of Ohiopyle, PA (population 38) south of Pittsburg in the heart of the Allegheny mountains. The area is filled with many outdoor activities and is situated close to two Frank Lloyd wright houses (Falling Water and Kentuck Knob). I highly recommend this area for outdoor fun.
I expected to learn a few things but I didn’t realize there were so many things that I had missed. I was focused on the following:
Setting up the tent, mattress and lighting.
Cooking meals, cleanup and food storage.
Being able to quickly find first-aid gear.
Clothing needs for different situations.
Cycling, hiking and photography.
Camp Site Selection
Choosing the right camp site is important. I chose a site (Scarlett Knob Campground) close to Ohiopyle because it had available tent sites. The campground has 250 sites but only three were occupied during the high season. I hadn’t checked any ratings.
Actually, the site seemed to have everything we thought we needed, potable (drinking) water, showers, electricity and flush toilets. The campground actually had all of these but the flush toilets were only at the entrance to the campground. The showers were filled with spiders, mosquitoes, moths and flies (I passed). The sites themselves were mostly built on rock. It wasn’t possible to pound a stake into the ground. I learned to use stones to hold down tent ropes.
Lesson Learned: Do more research on the actual sites. There are apps to help find sites; The Dyrt, WikiCamps, Hipcamp, FreeRoam, Tentrr, Bonndocking and RA Camping to name a few.
First-Aid
You hope you never need to use your first-aid kit. I certainly didn’t expect to use it on this trip.
My brother has had several incidents with copperhead snakes in Pennsylvania. Although he’s never been bit, he’s come close. So, while looking for firewood, near the campsite, he was beating the ground to scare off snakes and inadvertently came too close to a wasp. He was stung multiple times on his arm and side of his head.
Luckily, the first-aid kit was located where it should be in the car and we were able to quickly treat the stings with Benadryl (an antihystomine) and ice (for the swelling).
Lesson Learned: Always have first-aid available wherever you are. The first-aid kit should be easily accessible and well stocked. After reading many posts about first-aid kits, I realized I need to add an EpiPen and snake bite treatment. My brother certainly convinced me of the latter.
The Kitchen
I already wrote about the kitchen, see Kitchen to Crate. Within 20 minutes of setting up the camp, it became obvious that a large kitchen box or chuck box wasn’t conducive to car camping for one person. The kitchen needed to be more modular and less bulky.
Lesson Learned: I decided to use crates with dividers to organize cooking gear and food items. The dividers help keep things separated so I don’t need to dig through the box to get an item on the bottom.
Reduce
The word that kept coming to mind was “Reduce”. I didn’t need all those cloths and shoes. How can I reduce the three air pumps I had to one? What books, gear and supplies could I eliminate and not miss at all? I then had to be careful not to toss things that I might someday wish I had not.
Lesson Learned: Categorize what you need (Safety, shoes, shirts, pants, photography, tent, food prep, cooking, cleanup, storage, books, etc.). Look at each group and decide what you’re really going to need. Are there things you can eliminate and buy on the road if you need. Reduce everything to what you really need and make sure everything is functional.
The Cooler
Packing a cooler for an extended camping trip is a true art. I’ve certainly not mastered it. I brought far too much food and had trouble storing all the food I prepared.
I learned that paper and plastic wrapped foods absorb water. The egg carton crumbled in the water as did the butter. Cheese and other packaged goods somehow absorbed the water as well.
I have an RTIC 45 quart cooler (I saved close to 200 USD over the other brand). Filling a cooler with ice and then pushing packages into the ice isn’t the best use of these large coolers.
Lesson Learned: Buy a divider for the cooler. Put a small later of ice on the bottom to keep that area cool. Things that only need to be cool, go on one side (almond milk, juices, leftover soup, etc.) without much ice. The other side is packed with ice and sealed containers are in the ice. Above the ice, I bought a basket that i keep fruits and vegetables in.
I drain the water at the bottom when it gets more than 2 inches deep.
The Tent
I’m using The North Face Stormbreak 2 tent.
Setting up the tent is fairly straightforward and takes about 15 minutes. I have a Hest Sleep System mattress which is very comfortable and takes up about 2/3 of the tent. I also have to LED lights that I hang from the roof of the tent and provide more than enough light for reading at night.
In one corner of the tent, I keep the various stuff sack (tent, mattress, sleeping bag, and electronics). I keep these stacked in the order I breakdown the tent.
Lesson Learned: There were several things I learned while sleeping in the tent. I need a small table to organize the electronics beside the mattress. I also need some poles to be able to open the flaps and look out the tent.
Securing The Site
We had visitors at night; probably raccoons. They didn’t get much, but their paw prints were all over everything.
Lesson Learned: Put away all kitchen equipment. Again, this is made easier by using a modular method. Clean off the table so there is nothing critters will come after. I also make a point to keep my hands clean so that there is no scent of food when I enter the tent.