Learning to Camp

2018-08-26
PA

Before I head off across the country I needed to learn how to camp. I will just be car camping so I don't need to worry about making everything ultralight and I can pack a lot more stuff than if I was hiking the Appalachian trail. So I went to Hickory Run State Park with my nephew and his wife and they very kindly taught me about camping, and they didn't even include a snipe hunt like we had at summer camp when I was a kid.

I quickly determined that camping boils to two things: eating and sleeping. The latter is pretty straightforward; you just make or buy the stuff to surround you and then you can sleep. The former requires a bit more constant attention in that you have to replenish the food supplies occasionally. Car camping makes that easy; I'll never be that far from a grocery store for more than a couple days.

Watching my niece handle the camp food was like watching an artist work; however, on the flip side, she brought a full palette of tools and equipment. Once I realized that there was no way that I would be up to her standards, I was able to figure out what I could actually do with less skill and equipment. I bought a Jetboil, which is a cool little stove that can boil water in a minute or two and thus my mornings will be oatmeal with craisins. I acquired some dehydrated meals (just add that boiling water) and a big jar of freeze-dried peas to ensure I have some vegetables. I also found that the canned chicken from the grocery store is a good addition to add some protein and the box pasta meals cook up just fine in the Jetboil.

Of course I went to the local jerky store and bought a fair amount of trail food to complement the protein and granola bars. I even found a few bags of dried chick peas for snacks, although sometimes I think eating them is harder than the cinnamon challenge. They may be just as hydrophylic.