Primitive Camping?

Raqie

My friends and I are going camping for 2 nights at the end of March. The only grounds available at the state park where we will be staying are an 8.6 mile hike from the park entrance. Part of the path doesn't even allow bikes.

The site itself is supposed to have a water pump but the water must be treated or boiled before use. I've never done that before so it seems pretty sketchy to me. I assume we'd want to bring water with us.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what we should take and how we can haul it 8.6 miles? What kind of foods will help us pack light? Any camping tips?

mastman

iodine tablets or water pump filter will create perfectly drinkable water

Daenris

You may want to take a small amount of drinking water, and use pump water for any cooking/cleaning you do. But you don't want to take a lot of water in with you, because it's heavy and will take up space.

Dried foods will be lighter and take up less space. Trail mix, beef jerky, dried fruit, cereals (pre-packaged oatmeals are good and easy to prepare). Pack light things like that for snacks/breakfast, then you can potentially take some canned foods or something for dinners. Unless you're planning on carrying a cooler with you for the 8 mile hike, stay away from anything that needs to be kept cold.

Sarcastro

The water is probably just from a natural source - the boiling is just to ensure you wont catch a parasite or whathaveyou, its prolly good on its own, but better safe than heartwormed.

a pot, some meat (double ziplocked) some rice or instant potatoes (or real ones- but heavier) seasoning salt (covers most seasoning needs so youdont have to drag a lot of condiments and still get some tasty). GORP (good ole raisians and peanuts) or trail mix is good for light snacking on the way, bring twice as much as you think you'll want.

If you're a wussy, those three quarter inch self inflatable sleeping mats are pretty decent. And of course, clear your tent area of every rock you can find before you pin it down. Something the size of a marble will seem like a ten pound boulder between your shoulder blades in the middle of the night.

Oh and bring a blanket (fleece ones are light and cozy) even if you bring a sleeping bag. Cuz it will get a bit colder than you think, even if theres a fire.

BlochWave

I've never done that before so it seems pretty sketchy to me.

I bet you've done the related activity of cooking meat though! Heat kills living things, and as a general rule you want the things you consume to be dead and full of dead things(or uh, clean preferably)

mastman

Daenris wrote: »

You may want to take a small amount of drinking water, and use pump water for any cooking/cleaning you do. But you don't want to take a lot of water in with you, because it's heavy and will take up space.

no, take a lot of water. It's probably your most important resource if you something bad happens, also the most important resource if something bad doesn't happen. 3 litres per person is usually fine.

never know if creeks or the spring dries up on the date you go, you get super thirsty, stranded, etc.

Daenris

mastman wrote: »

Daenris wrote: »

You may want to take a small amount of drinking water, and use pump water for any cooking/cleaning you do. But you don't want to take a lot of water in with you, because it's heavy and will take up space.

no, take a lot of water. It's probably your most important resource if you something bad happens, also the most important resource if something bad doesn't happen. 3 litres per person is usually fine.

never know if creeks or the spring dries up on the date you go, you get super thirsty, stranded, etc.

3 litres for a 2 day trip would actually fall into my idea of "not much"

mastman

oh ok

LewieP's Mummy

Take a trowel, you'll need to dig a loo hole at some point.

Turgor

Check the fire regulations of the area you are camping in. Many places have no open fire rules, which means no campfire. You will need to plan for this by packing a small camp stove and appropriate gear to keep warm.

Kivutar

Yea, water's ridiculously heavy to carry around in large amounts.
3L is probably about what I carry in on any given trip, depending on where the rest of my weight is.
I'm torn, because carrying a lot in is absurd, I hate the taste of iodine, haven't bought a good filter, and boiling it all is both time & fuel consuming.
The best advice I could give is know the area, know what you need to worry about & what you don't.
Flora/fauna that you want to avoid is a pretty obvious one, i.e. do you need to bearbag, do you need to shake out all your clothing before putting it on because of scorpions & the like, etc.
Bring sufficient food, have a plan in case something goes wrong.
NOLS has some great materials for anyone interested in spending time out-of-doors, the Wilderness Guide is what I'd recommend looking at first.

And yes, bring plenty of warm clothing whether or not you think you'll need it. Staying warm, hydrated & fed will get you pretty far, all in all.

Trowizilla

Just in case, you want to bring the basics of an emergency kit: bandaids, antibiotic ointment, gauze. Make sure your flashlight has fresh batteries, too. Oh, and those reflective emergency blankets can be a godsend: they're light to carry, waterproof, and very very very good at keeping you warm, even if you just use them as an outer layer in a sleeping bag burrito.

Also, if you have space for it, you'll be incredibly thankful to have duct tape if it rains and your tent springs a leak. Warm, dry tent with rain beating on it = cozy, leaky cold tent in the rain = miserable.