Camping

Developed Camping

Far and away, this is the most popular form of camping. Park your car, walk a few steps, and setup at a developed campsite with a flat spot for your tent, fire ring, picnic table, and electric outlet along with a bathroom, running water, trash receptacles, and camp store stocked with firewood nearby.

The advantage here is clear - more amenities, more comfort, more everything. Of course, the problem with developed camping is…more. Experienced developed campers have systems in place that make things easier and more efficient - leading to better experiences and more trips outdoors.

Rather than give a long list of tips, here’s how we do it:

Backpack. Each person has their own backpack that holds their sleeping bag, air mattress, clothes, water bottles, and other day hiking gear. A standard 30-liter backpack is usually sufficient to stow all of these items. (BTW, buy compact 3-season sleeping bags to save an enormous amount of space!)

Kitchen and pantry. We have a bin that holds our cooking supplies including a single propane burner, 12” skillet, utensils, seasonings, camp cutting board, hand towels, and more. This stays in the car except when cooking - a good practice in bear country.

Cooler. We take a smaller cooler to hold sodas, beer, ice, and any food items requiring refrigeration. Before heading out, we typically crack all our eggs and put them in a mason jar to make things easier.

Tent and chairs. We always have these on top of our other gear in the car because when we get to camp, we setup the tent, plant our chairs, and toss our backpacks in the chairs to start blowing up our air mattresses.

Firewood. This should always be purchased locally to avoid spreading unwanted pests that can devastate forests. Go grab some wood after setting up camp.

This system has proven to get us out the door quickly with near zero fuss and keep things organized by having each person responsible for packing/unpacking their own gear. When we run out of something, we just make a note to add it when we get home.

And, it would be a mistake to not make mention of neighbors. You’ll have plenty of them, so here are three tips for a better experience in your camping neighborhood:

Earplugs. Whether it’s the drunk party next door, wicked loud whip-poor-wills, or the constant opening and closing of vehicle doors, earplugs help.

Vehicle doors. Keep them open until you have completely packed or unpacked - especially at night or early morning.

Hammered time. If you plan to get hammered while you’re camping, get it done early. Drink early and bed down early so you don’t piss off everyone within that extra long earshot common at developed campgrounds.

Dispersed Camping

The other kind of camping that is popular - particularly in wilderness areas - is dispersed camping. Sometimes referred to as primitive camping, it’s not always completely primitive, as more popular areas typically have dedicated parking, trash receptacles, and sometimes a pit toilet.

Dispersed campsites are never far from roads and trailheads - almost always within a mile and often only a couple hundred yards. These campsites require a little walking, so going with a lighter weight setup is the way to go.

The reason many fall in love with dispersed camping is that it is…dispersed - meaning that unlike developed campgrounds, you’re not right on top of your neighbors with plenty of trees, vegetation, and privacy between you.

The problem, of course, is that overuse and abuse of these camping areas has really made a mess - particularly in Red River Gorge.

Through the pandemic, I witnessed some absurd use of designated dispersed campsites with everything from chopped down trees to still burning campfires to gigantic camp footprints to human feces piles to broken glass and weird trash, and so much more.

So, here’s how to do dispersed camping responsibly:

NEVER create a new campsite. Dispersed camping is appealing because of the amount of space between campsites, preserving the forest floor in between. Folks don’t hike to look at bare patches of ground and campfire remnants.

Minimize your camp footprint. As a rule, work to have your camp occupy the smallest footprint possible - smaller tents, smaller coolers, fewer bins/boxes, etc. The bigger the footprint, the more barren land you’ll leave behind. Tall tents are great, just try to minimize the square footage of on-ground impact.

Keep fires reasonably sized. Everyone loves a good fire, but a giant fire at a dispersed campsite without the benefit of a well built fire ring is a recipe for disaster. And if you have a fire, be sure to put it out before leaving it unattended. Stick your hand in there to make sure it’s cool to the touch.

Poop. Do your absolute best to NOT poop in the woods near dispersed camping areas and trails. Human feces is uniquely odorous and no one wants to clean up your poop. If you poop a lot, camp close to a crapper. Even with a cat hole, too many dispersed campers pooping in the woods adds up to a sewage site, not a campsite. If you have to poop at camp, pack it out.

Leave the ax/hatchet at home. Unless you’re in Alaska and doing some real bushcraft for actual survival, leave the ax and hatchet at home. Buy your firewood from a local resident or business and leave the live trees alone! Gather deadfall if it’s available, but for a good fire, buy some seasoned firewood locally - it’ll burn better and allow you to completely burnout a fire with only ashes left behind.

Pack it home. Plan to pack all of your trash home - especially when camping over weekends or in popular areas where trash receptacles overflow quickly. This also serves to protect black bears from being euthanized after becoming habituated to humans by picking through trash left outside of bear-proof containers.

Alright, now that we’ve covered how to be responsible, what’s the setup?

It’s basically the same as at developed campgrounds, but with lighter weight gear and larger backpacks. At camp, it’s the tent, sleeping pads, sleeping bags, headlamps, chairs, and a personal cooler. We cook at the car with the only exceptions of roasting marshmallows, hot dogs, or metts over the fire.

If we camp deeper in the woods, we’ll bring the Jetboil and dehydrated meals including Mountain House (beef stroganoff is the BEST!), ramen, etc. Just remember to hang your kitchen/toiletries and cook away from camp when in bear country.

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