Dale: NOT A THING "wrong" with a pop-up for fishing and partying. Not one thing. Give me one of them and a small genset for a little "120AC" and Id be happy as a clam.
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Gotta remember to bring the bikes along, too!
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2.../DSCF02422.jpg
I can recommend the Springbar tents with pride and 30 years of use!!! We have an "1980" model modular setup.
They don't even make most of mine now but don't hesitate to make or repair what is needed at little or no cost to me. The wife and I are looking at a new springbar in the near future. Our old one raised three kids, four dogs, and some of the best memories as my kids tell me frequently. Hunting camp is a 15' by 18' wall tent with a 55 gallon barrel stove for heat when there are more than two people. Just two and we use the 7' by 17' v nose cargo trailer, fully insulated, with a big buddy propane heater. I built two folding beds and a small folding shelf for cooking, it works great just a little small for anymore than two people, or anyone who is a little claustraphobic, my wife.
Hey Sully, I have a small generator and a cpap machine I can loan you! Some of my favorite holes are 9500', Fiddlers lake, South Pass country, Sinks canyon loop.
I do the annual Moose hunt Fishing trip to northern Ontario every year. The camp has mutated from fairly primitive to quite comfortable.
Dave Barry on camping
Generations of Barrys have been raccoon bait - Dave Barry - MiamiHerald.com
Quote:
When pitching your tent, remember the "old woodsman's" rule of thumb: You want to be upwind of your neighbor's generator exhaust, but able to see his satellite TV.
I have been camping since about 8 or 9 years old in the yard with a blanket thrown over a cloth line. Then came Boy Scouts and Explorers and right on as I got older. When we first got married we had a large aluminum frame tent and then a small pop up for several years. Then my wife got us in the Buck-skinner stuff and we spent about 20 years camping under canvas from a Lean-pee to wall tent to tee-pee to 10 by 14 big wall tent with a 18 foot walled fly. Inside that we had wall to wall carpet and a queen size take down bed and many comforts, but it took about 3 hours just to set up everything. That setup always seemed to be the gathering spot at most of the events we attended and we probably burned a small national forest in the fire pits under that fly. It wasn't unusual to have 25 or 30 people grouped around that campfire for several hours, just talking and laughing and sharing. Far too many of those great friends have passed on or have gotten too old to participate much any more so we have drifted away also. Again my wife talked me into purchasing our first actual travel trailer in 2000. On it's maiden voyage we discovered Bennett Springs in Missouri, and trout fishing and we have been making the 800 mile round trip 3 or 4 times per year ever since. We have since upgraded that first 26 foot camper to a 31 footer with slide-outs and all the comforts of home and don't have any intentions of looking back.
Camping, except for a few rare times while buck-skinning, means fishing to us. My wife enjoys fishing but not to the extent that I do and so now when we go to Bennett Springs I get up well before daylight so that I can walk the old dog and take care of other things, kiss her goodbye, and still get down to the stream well before the whistle blows. The old dog sleeps in the truck and the wife sleeps in comfort in the camper and I get to catch trout on a fly rod that I built on flies that I tied myself and life is so good that I don't have words for it.
As for the economics of this camping, there really isn't any, but it gives us a lot of flexibility, and comfort, and enjoyment and it hard for me to put a price on that. We put this last trailer on a ridiculously long loan term but it kept the payments low and I MIGHT get it paid for some time, but more likely Son will have to finish it off, but that is ok for us right now. One of these days we will be retired and would love to be a campground host at some place with trout fishing so we could have more time to enjoy these two wonderful things at once. For those of you who don't camp, especially if you have a family, get started as soon as possible. If you like tents by all means do that, but if you want a little more comfort or are just getting on in years trailers are a good way to go and usually won't break the monthly budgets with a payment. There is something really special about a camp fire and wood smoke and then crawling into a warm bed with soft fleece blankets and then watching a glorious sunrise. I guarantee that your kids will remember it their entire life, at least I know that I have!
What a wonderful thread! All of the opinions and different types of "camping" are such memory triggers for me. I started camping in the Boy Scouts by sleeping on the ground in an old military mummy bag stuffed with down during the summer in Louisiana with misquitos swarming after me and down quills sticking me. I tired seperately to hide by zipping it all the way up and scooting down iside for relief. The relief was only short lived because the bag must have been made for Alaskan winters. I had to come out for air and the misquitos came in for the kill. I didn't get much sleep but kids dont really sleep on these weekend outings anyway.
As I read on I remembered other trips and other camping methods I worked through. In my scuba diving phase my partner was 6' 5". Of course we were sleeping in the back of my '68 VW square back with the hatch open so he could stretch out.
I can't go through all my life's camping but one does change with time for different reasons. Recently I have purchase a 24 foot trailer (vintage 1999). Much larger than I would have chosen but the price was right and it made my wife, a non camper or Holiday Inn camper, happy. Now she can't wait to go places and has even taken up fly fishing!
So as said by many others above it matters not how you go but how much fun you get out of the experience!
Pic of my Springbar Modular setup, 1980 vintage.
This pic was take in 2006 at Granite Hot Springs campground, I think.
My kids say some of their best memories are at Granite Hot Springs camping in this setup.
This is hunting camp when by myself or one other person with me.
There is a window on the other side and ofcourse the roof vent.
Heat is a BigBuddy propane heater, coleman stove converted to propane.
Light is battery lantern.