Planning a Camping Trip in Jersey

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A user is preparing for a weekend camping trip near the Jersey shore, equipped with a 12 x 11 foot tent, sleeping bags, and a propane hotplate for cooking. They plan to camp at a site with amenities like toilets, hot showers, and an ice machine, avoiding campfire cooking due to its difficulty. The discussion includes various camping tips, emphasizing the importance of packing essential items, such as coffee, and avoiding bug-attracting fragrances. Suggestions for meals include easy-to-cook foods like ramen and soup, as well as comfort foods like baked beans. The conversation also touches on the humor of camping mishaps, the necessity of proper fire-starting techniques, and the importance of setting up the tent correctly to avoid water infiltration. Additionally, the topic of beer consumption among physicists and engineers is humorously explored, with participants sharing their experiences and preferences. Overall, the thread highlights practical advice for camping while maintaining a light-hearted tone.
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I got bought a 12 x 11 foot tent, some padding, sleeping bags, etc. for camping out. I live just an hour from the shore, but I got this idea to camp out closer by Friday and Saturday nights. This is Jersey, the bugs are not satisfied to merely outnumber the toilets. We will have toilets though and hot showers and of course lots of tables and chairs and an ice machine just in case. I'm not Paul Bunyan y'know. There are lots of camp grounds in the area to choose from so I'll be comparing prices, amenities, and distance from the shore for a while. This is not the first time I have been camping. However, this time I am not going to try to cook on the campfire as I find it too difficult. We are bringing a propane hotplate. Any advice will be welcome.
 
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1, Take beer
2, Don't light the stove inside the tent - even if it's raining
3, Although a skilled outdoorsman can light a fire by rubbing 2 Boy Scouts together it's easier if you remember the matches.
4, Stick to ramen or soup - pizza on a camping stove is tricky even for survivorman
5, Don't forget the beer.
 
mgb_phys said:
1, Take beer
...
5, Don't forget the beer.

Why do physicist love beer so much?
 
Focus said:
Why do physicist love beer so much?

Have you had beer?

My physics and math friends and I drink more beer than guys in frats. I've found the same to be true with most engineers...
 
I most certainly have had beer. It's ok, not that great really. I do drink sometimes, it really depends. I still think it is a physicist thing. I remember my friend telling me that in the physics department, lecturers walk in with a pint during happy hour. I don't know how true this is.
 
mgb_phys said:
4, Stick to ramen or soup - pizza on a camping stove is tricky even for survivorman.
I don't do survive. It will be Coquilles St. Jacques with Gallette de Crabe and Escargots Cassolette. Normally I would consider a 2005 Bourgogne Blanc, or 2004 Vin de Pays d'Oc. However, I will abide by your suggestion and have a June 2009 Rolling Rock. After all, we will be camping.
 
Ramen and soup can get pretty complicated while camping, I like things that don't need to be cooked, like PB&J or trailmix.
 
jimmysnyder said:
I got bought a 12 x 11 foot tent, some padding, sleeping bags, etc. for camping out. I live just an hour from the shore, but I got this idea to camp out closer by Friday and Saturday nights. This is Jersey, the bugs are not satisfied to merely outnumber the toilets. We will have toilets though and hot showers and of course lots of tables and chairs and an ice machine just in case. I'm not Paul Bunyan y'know. There are lots of camp grounds in the area to choose from so I'll be comparing prices, amenities, and distance from the shore for a while. This is not the first time I have been camping. However, this time I am not going to try to cook on the campfire as I find it too difficult. We are bringing a propane hotplate. Any advice will be welcome.

Oh camping lists. They are so much fun. I started camping back in 1987. Everything I needed, I had to haul in and out by bicycle. Now it takes a full car and a full boat to get me through 3 nights.

Anyways, I camp with a troop of people every summer and all of them pack completely differently.

Here's what I would suggest:
Imagine getting up in the morning, and walking through every thing you do for the first 30 minutes. The things you use in that half hour are probably the most indispensable.

I almost canceled a weekend camping trip once because I forgot the coffee. Fortunately, the neighbors on the yacht next door were friendly and shared some. Though I did have to politely sit through an hour of their discussion on digestion problems. Sharing neighbors are ok, but don't forget the coffee.

And try lying on your padding and sleeping bag for about 3 minutes in your living room. No one in our troop comes with less than a queen size coleman inflatable mattress.
 
And don't forget a QFT book.
 
  • #10
Do you have any experience with actual wood fires? It is very difficult to kindle a fire with poorly-dried wood and a couple of pieces of newspaper. This is why people show up at the ER every year with severe burns that they earned from dousing smoldering camp-fires with flammable liquids.

Do not wear clothing or fragrances that attract bugs. White is good (and helps reflect UV). Creams or other skin-treatments that are sweet-smelling or contain fats such as lanolin turn you into insect-bait. Not fun.

No matter how great your tent may appear to be, pitch it on a gentle slope and situate it on a tarp or ground-cloth large enough to accept its foot-print. You want to run off any precipitation as soon as possible. The longer it hangs around, the more certain that it will infiltrate your cloth house.

Take some comfort-foods. Whenever my wife and I camp out at remote fly-fishing ponds, we lug baked beans and biscuits that we made at home a day or so earlier. It's not hard to make great meals with a propane stove and a frying pan or two or a griddle when you have potatoes, bacon, eggs, etc. If you catch some trout, all the better. If the weekend is a washout (weather and fishing) at least you have some beans and biscuits to warm up. BTW, always smear real butter on your biscuits before you fry them. If you use margarine, you're a wimp. :biggrin:
 
  • #11
take a propane torch and a lot of matches so you can light fires and take a lot of meat I don’t know I just like meat , and maybe canned foods like chili or beans that can be easily heated on a propane burner. jerky is always good and lots of candy bars if cooking fails you can eat candy bars and jerky and bring lots of beer and soda and water. and bring a mirror to reflect light. beer has a lot of carbohydrates.
and a powerful magnifying glass to start a fire prolly just for fun.
 
  • #12
Pack all your clothes in water proof bags. Set your tent up at home first, and apply some seam sealer. I always have a small rug outside the door, no shoes in the tent.
 
  • #13
Please keep in mind that we'll be staying at a camp ground. That's a motel without walls. We will have electricity if we require it. We will have a car and be within a few miles of a convenince store if I sense any kind of emergency, and of a Bloomingdale's in case my wife does.
 
  • #14
OmCheeto said:
Here's what I would suggest:
Imagine getting up in the morning, and walking through every thing you do for the first 30 minutes. The things you use in that half hour are probably the most indispensable.

Wow, that's exactly the method I use :smile: Plus variations - now imagine it starts to rain after breakfast... No, stop - you live North-West? So imagine it STOPPED to rain.

And try lying on your padding and sleeping bag for about 3 minutes in your living room. No one in our troop comes with less than a queen size coleman inflatable mattress.

It changes with the age, few years ago I had no problems with sleeping mat, not sure now, as it happened we were not camping since 2002 or something like that. I plan to buy new tent this year.
 
  • #15
mgb_phys said:
3, Although a skilled outdoorsman can light a fire by rubbing 2 Boy Scouts together it's easier if you remember the matches.

Heh. I don't think they taught this quite that way in Ray Mears survival.
 
  • #16
misgfool said:
Heh. I don't think they taught this quite that way in Ray Mears survival.
I think that's the difference between them.
Bear Grhyls never starts a fire with anything less than an RPG.
Survivorman tries rubbing sticks together (or remembers the matches)
Ray Mears just gives the wood a long hard stare and it bursts into flames.
 
  • #17
mgb_phys said:
Ray Mears just gives the wood a long hard stare and it bursts into flames.
I think you confused him with Chuck Norris.
 
  • #18
Skin-so-soft is the miracle bug-repellent.
 
  • #19
DaveC426913 said:
Skin-so-soft is the miracle bug-repellent.
The army has changed it's mind, DEET is now back in favor for mossies http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2045813
Although it might have been the whole 'don't ask-don't tell' thing and the problem of having Avon ladies in the marines.

It does work very well on midges though, as does whisky - you can either dab the whisky on a bite, or just drink the stuff so you don't care about being bitten.
 

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