Monster size camping trips!

[Kingfisher]

One of my earliest was in Switzerland climbing to a glacier at 12k @ Metres which left the lake af the base of the hill looking lije a thimble. The porige and over night stay in the hut was cool. I finished that camping trip with a stern lecture and potential jail sentence for catching some really nice trout from a state owned trout farm slew......
A trip to Big Bend with a boat ride from the National Park Service on the Pecos River to look AG pictographs was pretty cool too! How about you? Where have you camped that your willing to admit to?

 

[fenceman]

A night spent on a little island on caddo lake. The wildlife on the lake comes alive at night. The noise is incredible.
I've never seen big bend. It's at the top of my , to do list.

 

[hurleyjd]

Better enjoy the national parks and forest while you can. The other side is wanting to sell all of the land off to folks like Ted Turner.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Seems to me that might be a better deal hurley.

 

[Kingfisher]

A night spent on a little island on caddo lake. The wildlife on the lake comes alive at night. The noise is incredible.
I've never seen big bend. It's at the top of my , to do list.

Did you know that (I think it's Don Henly) of the Eagles is the "Mayor of Caddo Lake?" I think it's his birthday today. I've never been to Caddo...Big Bend is a trip....

 

[Deepsouth]

I've spent a lot of fall nights in tents between 7 and 10 thousand feet from New Mexico to Montana.

 

[cowgirl8]

We keep this handy. Rains too much, we take off...to hot, we take off...too cold, we take off. Just went to Beavers Bend which is just an hour from us, trout fished a couple days. Rode the white rapids at Broken Bow on the way home. Ate at Greatful Head right before it caught fire the other night, glad we got our pizza first..lol... When it was too wet a couple months ago, we ran to Utah to see the arches. Husband is looking to go to Big Bend in the next week or so.

 

[cowgirl8]

Did you know that Walmart allows overnight campers. Its always good to ask the manager, the corporation leaves it up to the manager, but its allowed. When we are making tracks, we will park at a walmart overnight. We buy our food daily when we travel, so its a great place to be parked. Nice lighted parking lots, so walking to restroom is safe. The bathroom, usually, doesnt smell.....You can get a snack any time....redbox movie... Restock before you leave, and with us, we are early risers so open 24/7..win win.....

 

[Craig Miller]

We spent a week on Hunting Island S.C. in a tent. Thats a nice place. We have a camper now but we like the tent camping more than rv camping. That slide in camper might interest us though.

 

[cowgirl8]

One that small is hard to find unless you want to pay big bucks for a newer one. We use to just sleep in the bed of a truck with a topper. This is much better. We are not tied to any location. If we dont like a spot, we dont have to return to the campground to collect our stuff. We were way off on backroads one time, yes lost, and it was late so we just parked and stayed the night. This camper doesnt have a bathroom, but that hasnt been a problem for us. It has a gas fridge and a 30 gal water tank. We have a generator that sits between the kayaks when we think we'll need one. Its not so big its clumsy, some of these are so big..We dont sleep in the over cab part, we use that for storage..

 

[bball]

Tent camping up in Cloudcroft, NM during snow storm with 8 month pregnant wife. So adventurous once upon a time........or just young and foolish

 

[greybeard]

Tent camping up in Cloudcroft, NM during snow storm with 8 month pregnant wife. So adventurous once upon a time........or just young and foolish

Back in 2005, one of my friends from San Angelo asked me to go with him to Cloudcroft to do some work on his mother's house. A wonderful little town!! Worth the long trip from SA, but crossing the state line out of Texas into NM, that sudden drop down from 70 mph to 55 mph on a straight highway you could see forever on made no sense whatsoever.
We've done lots of tent camping in my life out on Colorado River lakes Ivie and Spence when they still had plenty of water in them, along Devil's River, and down at Ft Davis area, sometimes with just a light sleeping bag. I had good equipment, but I think I would have had great difficulty driving tent stakes into the asphalt parking lot at Walmart. I'm not much for "camping" in the back of a pickup truck.

 

[Bigfoot]

I'll spend 25 nights a year in this. It's as close to roughing it, as I ever want to get.

 

[greybeard]

I'll spend 25 nights a year in this. It's as close to roughing it, as I ever want to get.

Nice rig.
Revised history--1st world problems:
Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett pull into a Walmart parking lot..
Bump! Clank!-Bump! Bump! Bump!
What was that Dan'l?
I dunno Davy, but there's some bearded guy in long johns running along after us. We better keep moving--My Garmin Navigation says there's another Walmart about 20 miles down the road

5 miles later..
Daniel B: I gotta pull over Davy, truck's running hot and I hear a squeal from the right front tire. You get out and see if you can see what's wrong.

Davy climbs back up in the truck..

Well--didya find out what's wrong?

Yup Dan'l I found it. Something was covering the grill and no air gettin thru the radiator--looks like what's left of somebody's dam tent--we're good now tho, and I pulled this nice metal coffee pot out of the wheel well too, so we'll be good if there's no Starbucks nearby---you know how to use this thing?--I think it requires fire.

 

[cowgirl8]

Tent camping up in Cloudcroft, NM during snow storm with 8 month pregnant wife. So adventurous once upon a time........or just young and foolish

Back in 2005, one of my friends from San Angelo asked me to go with him to Cloudcroft to do some work on his mother's house. A wonderful little town!! Worth the long trip from SA, but crossing the state line out of Texas into NM, that sudden drop down from 70 mph to 55 mph on a straight highway you could see forever on made no sense whatsoever.
We've done lots of tent camping in my life out on Colorado River lakes Ivie and Spence when they still had plenty of water in them, along Devil's River, and down at Ft Davis area, sometimes with just a light sleeping bag. I had good equipment, but I think I would have had great difficulty driving tent stakes into the asphalt parking lot at Walmart. I'm not much for "camping" in the back of a pickup truck.

I dont think you can pitch a tent ;-) ....and campers have to stay ready to move, no setting them up.. First time we stayed at a walmart we were trying to make tracks home from Utah...Made it to Oklahoma panhandle before dark and i tried desperately to find a camp. No state camps anywhere there to halfway to OK City.. I found a private one, but read reviews and sounded creepy.....We needed to stop at walmart to return and get a redbox movie and while there i saw several RVs off at the edges. Joked to husband we could just jump in back and who would know. He stayed in truck while i ran in and did a search on staying at walmarts. Found they and Crackerbarrel also allow campers. He went into walmart and asked permission, it was 11:30 PM, we jumped in back watched our movie...Woke up at 4:30, made coffee, wanted to get an early start, ran in, turned in my redbox movie, got a couple apples and off we went. If we had gone to the private RV park, it was going to cost 30 bucks. It was cold and we did not need electric hookup, so it was just a place to park and sleep.......Saved 30 dollars and we were going to have to stop at walmart anyway...There are many times we are just making tracks and have to go out of the way to get to a state park, which sometimes is OK, sometimes its bad..I've decided that if we can stay at a walmart and not drive way out of the way or after dark and tired, its a pretty good deal...

 

[bbirder]

We keep this handy. Rains too much, we take off...to hot, we take off...too cold, we take off. Just went to Beavers Bend which is just an hour from us, trout fished a couple days. Rode the white rapids at Broken Bow on the way home. Ate at Greatful Head right before it caught fire the other night, glad we got our pizza first..lol... When it was too wet a couple months ago, we ran to Utah to see the arches. Husband is looking to go to Big Bend in the next week or so.

In the Summer of 1957, while staying with my grandparents in Naples,TX, we went up to Beavers Bend one weekend. I still remember swimming in that cold clear water, but now I'm dating myself.

 

[cowgirl8]

I only got in the water once, and not on purpose. It was actually refreshing once i was out.
We plan to run to the gulf later this summer to fish for Red Fish. Where we'll be fishing there will be alligators. Since we are just now learning to use kayaks and these are shorter than more stable ones, my husband came up with the idea of putting these swim noodles on the sides. They are more for stabilizing the kayaks for getting in big fish. But they also make it easier to get back in in deep water. I could get back in without them, but only if my husband was next to me holding the kayak from rolling over. I've learned to except that i'm not the most agile person, but not bad for 55 and just learning....Anywho, they worked great in the rapids, i even went over one area backwards..lol The time i was dumped was a area i judged wrong and went right when i should have gone left. But i got back on with only my ego bruised. Not sure if im the rapids kind of person, but i do like paddling around in them and fishing off them. WIthout the noodles, they were tippy. You can even stand in them if you have ok balance..

 

[bird dog]

If you ever get a chance to go to Big Bend, January and February are great months to go. Very few people and the climate is usually more hospitable.

 

[highgrit]

I use to spend 2 weeks camping and canoeing the Gunflint trail in northern MN. Did that for 5 years in my teens.

 

[cow pollinater]

Sequoia and Kings Canyon are pretty hard to beat. The forest service ground in Fresno county has a lot of really great country as well and you can hunt there. Here camping can be anything from a tent next to the truck to climbing the highest peak in the lower 48 on a week long excursion and anything in between.