Monday, August 27, 2007

Camping tips

Wear dark socks: flies seem to be attracted to white ones, and bite through them. I switched, and wasn't bothered again.
Carry a little bottle of hand washing liquid in your pocket: The personal bottle of Curelle was wonderful when exiting a pit toilet.
Use Castile liquid soap (we got ours from Trader Joe's): I b'lieve it's biodegradable, works well on hands (when you have water), and also on pots and silverware. Smear a little on the outside of pots, to keep soot from getting on them.
Get that little led magnifying glass I mentioned earlier: It was a Godsend during our tenting trip to Gallatin National Forest near Bozeman, MT, both to read maps by and to use as a flashlight when heading for the biffy in the middle of the night.
KOAs will allow you to take a shower, for a slight fee. My long, hot one in Bozeman cost $5, but the hosts, bless their hearts, also ran a steamer over our clothes when the dry cleaners weren't working on a Saturday.
A multi-tool is handy: I used a Leatherman tool I inherited from my brother to take a tiny light out of a Maglite, and to carve a new tentpole section out of a fallen pine branch.
Having a good hatchet helps: Mine has a nail-pounding back that drives tent stakes in easily, while the sharp edge made clipping that tentpole down to size a lot easier.
Put that bar of soap into an onion bag: You know the type of mesh bag that holds onions, or potatoes. I put soap into one and tie it shut. The plastic mesh doesn't soak up water or get dirty, and it's rough enough to use to scrub yourself down. Plus, when you hang it up to dry there's nothing to get smelly or sour.
If your digital camera memory gets full of great camping photos, you can make a photo CD at a Wal-Mart or Walgreens rather inexpensively ($2.50 at the Bozeman Wal-Mart), then delete all the photos in your memory to make room for more.
All in all, we had a great time, and I'm hooked on camping once again.