Winter Camping

[pacific3000]

Hi, I really enjoy these forums. Lots of helpful info (especially from Vegasdesertfox).

I'm from LA and fairly new to camping. All my experience has been in the summer. But, I'm looking for new adventures, so I'm going out this winter. I will be camping mostly in Southern Arizona in the Coronado National Forest.

I have a few questions:

Firewood: If the campground doesn't offer it, do you rely on buying it in nearby towns or do you travel with it? I'm assuming that most of the wood around the camp will be wet, and I'm not yet skilled enough to light fires with damp wood.

Coleman Propane: Should I leave it out during the night or put it in the car?

Basecamp gear: I plan on hiking during the day. Is it okay to leave my gear out or does it need to be put in the car? Is theft an issue at campgrounds?

Tarp: My tent setup will be in this order: footprint, tent, plastic tarp (inside the tent). Is that a good setup? I thought about laying the tarp down first to protect the bottom of the tent, but I know water can pool in that setup.

Warmth: I have a Marmot 20' mummy bag, a giant wool blanket, and self-inflating pad. I was thinking about adding another bag to sleep on, but not sure if that will make a huge difference.

Thanks for any advice. Camping at Zion next week!

pacific3000

[renodesertfox]

Hi, I really enjoy these forums. Lots of helpful info (especially from Vegasdesertfox).

I'm from LA and fairly new to camping. All my experience has been in the summer. But, I'm looking for new adventures, so I'm going out this winter. I will be camping mostly in Southern Arizona in the Coronado National Forest.

I have a few questions:

Firewood: If the campground doesn't offer it, do you rely on buying it in nearby towns or do you travel with it? I'm assuming that most of the wood around the camp will be wet, and I'm not yet skilled enough to light fires with damp wood.

Coleman Propane: Should I leave it out during the night or put it in the car?

Basecamp gear: I plan on hiking during the day. Is it okay to leave my gear out or does it need to be put in the car? Is theft an issue at campgrounds?

Tarp: My tent setup will be in this order: footprint, tent, plastic tarp (inside the tent). Is that a good setup? I thought about laying the tarp down first to protect the bottom of the tent, but I know water can pool in that setup.

Warmth: I have a Marmot 20' mummy bag, a giant wool blanket, and self-inflating pad. I was thinking about adding another bag to sleep on, but not sure if that will make a huge difference.

Thanks for any advice. Camping at Zion next week!

pacific3000

Howdy pacific3000,
A warm welcome to you, thanks for joining in this everlasting campfire! Hope that your camping forays will be a cheerful and happy experience. It's always great to hear that someone else decided to extend their camping into the off-season. What a great inexpensive way to see the country and deserts aound this great land! You do have a lot on your plate so let's get started to see if we can answer some of your questions.

Firewood. Most organized campgrounds(cgs) offer wood for sale at usually $4 to $6 a bundle. The wood is usually some soft wood like pine and burns quite fast. Sometimes a bundle can last two camp fires, other times only one. Bringing in your own is a help but one has to consider the space required for packing it in. What we do is to purchase a package of "Fat Wood" runs between $5 to $10 a box. What "Fat Wood" is, small sticks all about 6" in length and as many as 300 sticks packed in a box. The wood has been soaked in kerosine and ignites very easily, a match will light one. I buy a box then instead of bringing the box, I fill up a large plastic bag of sticks and use them to help start the larger pieces of wood to burn. I also go to "Home Depot" and there is always a selection of culled lumber that is usually 2x4" x 4' for 50 cents each and purchase $6 worth of that wood. Thats 12, 2x4"x4'. Then I take them home and saw them into either 2' pieces or 1' pieces depending on how much space I think I will have to bring them. A person has to count, thinking how many campfires will one need for any given trip. The problem with wood bundles for me is that the bark isn't trimmed off and a fire can become a smoky mess with too much bark on the fire. If I use wood bundles, then I take a hachet and trim off the bark myself before putting it on the fire. We also purchase "pressed wood" but that can be expensive at $20 for six 14" logs. They are easy to light, but before we go I also cut those in half, so I get twice as many fires. I only use them to help get the fire started. As an example, our last camping trip we had a campfire everynight(3 nights) and a morning campfire every morning (4 mornings) so 3+4=7 fires. I like a campfire, and won't go camping to a spot if fires aren't permitted. So it's a good idea to not to assume anything and call ahead to the campground or park ranger, or BLM office to make sures fires are permitted in the campground. Some places, it's a stiff fine if one is caught having a fire when the law forbids it. The most I've heard is a $250 fine and in some locations spending a few days in jail is a common practice. So it is a good idea to check first. Pennywise is better than a pound of foolishness. The other problem with bundles is that some bundles only contain 4 to 6 pieces of wood. In the grand scheme that isn't very much. But what is good for me may not be what is good for you. That will only be found out when you are actually camping. Practice makes perfect. So each camping trip is only practice for the next one. Everytime a person camps, new things will be discovered, what was forgot will become, I got everthing now, but darn it, if I had one of them, it would be an easier camp! If you have the space bring some in of your own. Some cgs even give it away for free, but those places are rare.

Propane & Gear - One can leave it out at the campsite, just be sure to turn it off when you are done using it. Even though the stove is turned off, one needs to close the source also so nothing is wasted. If you are concerned, campers have a silent code of ethics that they follow. You leave another's campsite alone! Do Not Enter unless invivited or you annouce your presence when some one is in their campsite. One can look but never touch! That's the silent code! Yet theft can happen to anyone, so I always keep valuables under lock and key. When I'm camping usually taking two or three camera systems(I'm a retired industrial photographer) with me, un-loaded firearm, our money and wallets, everything is kept close at hand and always locked. Living in Las Vegas, or any large city where gangs run the night it is good practice to always lock your vehicles, if they are left out. So being out in the desert or in the woods, down-range, it's a good idea to keep stuff out-of-sight; out-of-mind to steal!

Tarp - It's really a personal decision. I place two tarps under our tent. If I heard that there might be rain, I'll trench the tent. It hardly rains in the desert, but keeping a weather eye out is always a good practice. There are some great books out there to help a person understand weather. It's always nice to read a book too during downtimes in the tent, if you can't sleep. I put down bathroom rugs in my tent and they help a great deal, keeping down the dust and warmth for the feet. As to the rugs, vinyl backed rugs are useless, and cotton rugs don't take up much space ina vehicle and if push ever come to shove, I've been known to use our car mats too. We also practice, no shoes in the tent. But that isn't for everyone, just us.

Warmth - Desert nights can be very cold! 20 to 30 degrees. Sounds though that you are prepared, but having an extra sleeping bag would come in great if you find a partner to sack with. Self-inflating pads is what I use when solo hunting or camping with a bunch of hunting friends and they are wonderful. Another thing is to lay your clothes out flat between your sleeping pad and bag. It is a nice bit of extra warmth and your clothes always look better when pressed. A pair of mid-weight long-handled underwear is a nice item to have also. LLBean carries a nice selection and they have free shipping. This weekend or next in Zion will be nice and cool in the mornings and evening. You asked a lot of questions so I hope this gives you a good start to your off-season camping experiences. Once again thanks for joining camping forums! It's a nice place to hang a hat, select a beverage and enjoy the forums. Dusty Trail........

[pacific3000]

each camping trip is only practice for the next one

Thank you for the excellent advice vegasdesertfox. It answered all of my questions.

Can't wait to get to out there... will post update after my trip to Zion.

[renodesertfox]

Howdy Vandy,
Hope your camping goes beyond Zion! Catch you on the flipside! And your camping chat is done here! And photos too are very helpful, to other campers. Dusty Trails....