Inexperienced Camper Seeks Advice

JCV said:
Thanks for the tips everyone.
I made a list of supplioes you had suggested that I don't currently have and will make sure to pick them up.

Looks like we're heading up to Tripoli Road 9/7
Should be fun!
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Stay warm, I was up in the Twin Mountain area this weekend and it got down to 43 degrees inside the tent.
 
I didn't read through, but bring 1.5-2x as much water as you think you'd possibly need if you are going rustic. Broken containers/leaks would ruin the trip if you don't have extra.

Duct tape, extra pair of shoes/boots, MRE's possibly (in case things go wrong IE no fire/rain). Lots of paracord to hang things like food/trash or wet stuff.
 
JCV said:
Do we not have a camping thread? If we do I couldn't find it, link me tehre and I'll delete my post :)

The girlfriend has been bugging me to go camping, I've never gone, she has when she was younger. She used to spend a lot of summer's on campgrounds with her family. To me this isn't camping, I don't want my first camping experience to be on a campground. I don't want to hear/see other people.

Since I'm so inexperienced, any advice would be appreciated.

I "THINK" I have most of what I would need. girlfriend, two pitbulls, tent, sleeping bags, weapons, food. Obviously flashlights/headlamps and toilet paper. I'm not listing everything out but if I'm missing something major let me know.

I'm also open to suggestions on where to go. I'm on the northshore and I'd like to keep it within a couple hours driving distance. So western MA, NH, So. Maine all works.

Really just looking for a 1 night stay to get away and hang out at first then I'll up the stays to maybe a few days.

Flame on.
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Camping is serous business (Super duper serious)

It's fun but what if something goes wrong? Usually people that come out injured/dead, are the ones who were unprepared. Do you know how to properly identify shelter (If it's under some trees, did you check to see if any dead limbs are going to fall?) Do you know how to make fire, from nearly scratch? (You can do it quickly and easily with a large, 10-13" knife and a small lightweight saw (also 10-13") or the traditional axe+splitting axe but that takes longer and is more tiring) Do you have a medical kit that's at least capable of stopping severe bleeding, and do you know how to use it? Is your equipment of good quality, or is it all walmart brands that's going to fail on you when it turns life or death?

I treat camping just like I treat my guns, VERY fun but also potentially life-threatening. It's easy to think of it as something really fun and relaxing (it is) but the real question is, are you prepared for when shit goes down? You can use google to get some good bearings, Nutnfancy had a number of good (and long) videos on camping/firemaking. He never gets into the full on survival, like hunting/trapping, but his vids are really good.
 
weekendracer said:
I didn't read through, but bring 1.5-2x as much water as you think you'd possibly need if you are going rustic. Broken containers/leaks would ruin the trip if you don't have extra.

Duct tape, extra pair of shoes/boots, MRE's possibly (in case things go wrong IE no fire/rain). Lots of paracord to hang things like food/trash or wet stuff.
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This. And if you worry about weight (Start counting OUNCES instead of pounds) you can easily carry more stuff in the same weight package. Also, I recommend going with someone experienced or starting off at a campground and learning (Especially if you use youtube and want to try things you've learned). There's camping and backpacking. Camping is usually more luxurious, when I think of campers I think of grills, guitars and all kinds of gimmicky outdoors tools. Backpacking is more prepared survival. They're both fun, don't get me wrong, especially since backpacking is much more difficult than camping
 
Master Shooter said:
Camping is serous business (Super duper serious)

It's fun but what if something goes wrong? Usually people that come out injured/dead, are the ones who were unprepared. Do you know how to properly identify shelter (If it's under some trees, did you check to see if any dead limbs are going to fall?) Do you know how to make fire, from nearly scratch? (You can do it quickly and easily with a large, 10-13" knife and a small lightweight saw (also 10-13") or the traditional axe+splitting axe but that takes longer and is more tiring) Do you have a medical kit that's at least capable of stopping severe bleeding, and do you know how to use it? Is your equipment of good quality, or is it all walmart brands that's going to fail on you when it turns life or death?

I treat camping just like I treat my guns, VERY fun but also potentially life-threatening. It's easy to think of it as something really fun and relaxing (it is) but the real question is, are you prepared for when shit goes down? You can use google to get some good bearings, Nutnfancy had a number of good (and long) videos on camping/firemaking. He never gets into the full on survival, like hunting/trapping, but his vids are really good.
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yep, particularly if you are alone. And when hiking, I always assume I will be out there at least overnight if not for 3 days and pack accordingly even on a 3 mile loop.
 
Of course some people just go camping without getting too serious. Most of all the crap people pack and market is just for luxury. As a teenager , it was fairly common to make a decision to go camping at midnight after we all got out of work.

" ride home , grab some food , drugs and beer and meet back here at 1am. "

I climbed ... Some white mountain ... with a light daypack , a bicycle water bottle for am coffee and 3 or 4 cold McDonalds cheeseburgers. Spent the night at the peak , and rolled on down about halfway where the stragglrs had quit the day before. They had a nice fire and Budweiser and prime rib going for breakfast.

Nowadays I have a base camp on my own land. No rangers to tell me hoe big my fire can be or tell me I can't bring my AK 47 and unleashed dogs.
 
I didn't read all 7 pages, but there are some great spots to camp along the metacomet-mondadnock trail or the robert frost trail in Amherst. I've done a lot of hiking/camping on those two trails.
 
Anyone know off the top of your head if there are any hunting restrictions in place that would prohibit me from carrying a handgun this weekend at Tripoli Road?
 
JCV said:
Anyone know off the top of your head if there are any hunting restrictions in place that would prohibit me from carrying a handgun this weekend at Tripoli Road?
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A week ago, we were driving aimlessly around and stumbled across Tripoli Rd. I never knew it was there. What is the deal with how you camp there? Is a national parks pass needed? Do I pick a vacant spot and squat?
 
Boghog1 said:
I would suggest a campground as a first timer, you can learn a lot from fellow campers, I do not mean you have to go to a Resort campground there are places you can go that offer camping on remote wilderness sites like Tripolee Rd or Franconia falls as well as places along the AT in MA VT and NH, I am sure there are places in MA I just try to avoid it if at all possible

Water Filtrations
Cooking
TP and Shovel
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Yea, start simple to get a feel for it. Just pick a site that is secluded or ask the park ranger what he/she can recommend for you. Some of my best trips were at campgrounds try it you might not be disappointed.
 
EMTDAD said:
me too.. I assume you put it over your mug with a filter and coffee.... I just use a French press.
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You can search on Youtube for "clever coffee dripper", but the videos I watched were ridiculously overthought.

I simply do the following:
- put a #4 filter in it
- put in 2 tablespoons of relatively fine ground coffee
- pour in boiling water
- let it sit for 3:30 to 4:00 minutes
- put brewer over mug. The weight will open a valve on the bottom and the coffee will flow into the mug.

The advantage over a french press is there are no grounds in your coffee and you can use a finder grind.

Clever Coffee Dripper
 
Why not just make coffee the regular way, no explanation needed?
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I suggest Jigger Johnson in NH, and Hermit Island in Maine as decent places.


Remember, this isn't the Amazon or Serengeti. You can always just load up the car and drive home if it rains or doesn't work out.
 
funny-comedian-quotes-about-camping.jpg


Just kidding, I'm jealous you guys will have tons of fun camping.
And like coyote said, you'll be able to save yourselves if the going gets tough.
Bring a camera, and extra food.. I always eat twice as much when im camping!
 
Camping was fun, Tripoli Road is awesome!
I'll definitely be going back but likely not until next year.
It started raining around 9 at night for about 12 hours, so the tarps proved to be the most useful item we had.
The dogs had a blast, our site was pretty secluded from anyone and set back from the road so I didn't have to worry about them too much.

Thanks for the tips everyone.
 
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JCV said:
Campiong was fun, Tripoli Road is awesome!
I'll definitely be going back but likely not until next year.
It started raining around 9 at night for about 12 hours, so the tarps proved to be the most useful item we had.
Thje dogs had a blast, our site was pretty secluded from anyone and set back from the road so I didn't have to worry about them too much.

Thanks for the tips everyone.
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[thumbsup]
 
JCV said:
Camping was fun, Tripoli Road is awesome!
I'll definitely be going back but likely not until next year.
It started raining around 9 at night for about 12 hours, so the tarps proved to be the most useful item we had.
The dogs had a blast, our site was pretty secluded from anyone and set back from the road so I didn't have to worry about them too much.

Thanks for the tips everyone.
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Awesome. Tarps FTW!
 
Twigg said:
How to shit in the woods.
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I love that book!!! I had it for years til it disappeared one day.

Great to hear the trip went well for ya.
If you want to hike in to a spot that's not too far of a hike you can try the Great Gulf Wilderness. It's got all sorts of opportunities for camping and hiking up to the presidentials Jefferson Washington Adams Madison etc... You can choose to camp at "Osgood tent site (tent platforms) or you can camp along the trail deeper in at one of the primitive camp sites (wilderness areas do not maintain sites per say) check out the AMC "White Mts" trail maps for more details or you can PM me..
 
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Anyone know if you're allowed to shoot/hunt at Tripoli Road?
I meant to ask the DCR guy who stopped to talk to me because at my site I found a .308 casing
 
there are camp sites literally all over the woods along that road. i wouldn't go there thinking i could get some target practice in. iirc, tripoli rd falls inside the white mountain national forest boundary, so i imagine all those rules would apply as well. and lastly, if you camp there on a 3 day weekend the woods are positively crawling with cops (ask us how we know......[rolleyes]). we stopped going there when it seemed like every third person (especially m@ssholes) were getting arrested for some bullshit reason or another.
 
lancecolonel said:
there are camp sites literally all over the woods along that road. i wouldn't go there thinking i could get some target practice in. iirc, tripoli rd falls inside the white mountain national forest boundary, so i imagine all those rules would apply as well.
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Yeah it's definitely not a place I would have thought to fire off a few rounds.
 
Say what? I thought the White Mountains were a perfect place to fire off a few rounds. 10,000,000 hunters can't be wrong. No?
 

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