Learned a couple of lessons over the weekend.

[fromkentucky]

So I was in Oregon w/ my girlfriend all of last week and we drove out to the coast for a night. I had a tent, sleeping bag hatchet, knife and ferro rod, among other items. In Portland, it had been 75-80°F and sunny all week. On the coast however, the high was around 60, and at night it dropped into the 40s. We were not prepared for this. Forgetting how torturous it was to sleep on cold, hard ground, I did not have a sleeping mat or air mattress. I realized that the Pacific Northwest is a very wet place, so I wanted to use an actual lighter to get the fire going, but planned to buy one once we got out there. There were no lighters at the only gas station within 40 miles, but they gave me a book of matches.

We drove around for a bit, got out onto the beach and got some beautiful shots of the sunset.

I called around looking for a cheap hotel room (there were none), then headed to the nearest campground. At this point it was 10PM and the temperature was dropping. We were dressed for the high 60s, not really for the 40s. I went to the office to buy a bundle of firewood, only to learn they had just sold the last two. Fortunately, I saw them stacked outside the bathroom, and offered to buy one of them off the guy when he came out. He said he needed them both, but gave me a few logs for free.

I asked my girlfriend to look around for sticks and twigs to use as kindling while I searched up in the trees for dead, dry limbs and leaves, since everything on the ground was soaked. I couldn't find much that was dry, but fortunately my girlfriend hoards receipts and business cards, so we had a nice tinder bundle there. I cut all the kindling down to size and built a log-cabin lay. I only had 5 matches left when we had finally burned enough strips of receipt paper and business cards to dry out the kindling and were quite relieved when it caught. The few pieces of firewood burned long enough for us to warm up and get the tent set up.

Unfortunately, the tent and single-person sleeping bag alone simply weren't enough in the damp, 48° night, so we moved to the car around 3AM.

In all, I was pretty disappointed that I was so unprepared, but I'm glad for the experience. An air mattress and a better sleeping bag are definitely in the works, and I will for sure bring a good fire starter next time.

[ChopperDoc]

I had a weekend camping trip like that where I underestimated the cold. I had just planned on laying on the ground in the Ranger Taco.

Was glad I had those big heavy duty garbage bags in my GHB. Stuffed them full of leaves, pine needles and such and slept much warmer off the ground.

Good write up and thanks for sharing a lesson that we all can learn from.

[DDgunslinger]

Fate favors the prepared, it's good to learn these lessons now and not when your life depends on them. Hope you had a good trip over all and learn some valuable lessons.

[fromkentucky]

I had a weekend camping trip like that where I underestimated the cold. I had just planned on laying on the ground in the Ranger Taco.

Was glad I had those big heavy duty garbage bags in my GHB. Stuffed them full of leaves, pine needles and such and slept much warmer off the ground.

That's a really good idea.

I was genuinely surprised by how wet everything was. I tried using dead, dry moss and leaves as tinder, but even they were still damp.

She was actually the one who remembered that receipt paper burns really well and I'm glad for it. I don't think we could have gotten it going otherwise. I see the value in fire starters now.

That part of the country is absolutely gorgeous. The rest of the trip was fantastic, although the majority of it was in Portland.

[ChopperDoc]

I always have a bunch of petroleum jelly soaked cotton balls in the GHB. The GHB is always in the car.

You can't prepare for everything, but after I read the story about the guy and his two young boys that died on a day trip trail hike because they got lost, the temp dropped and it rained on them all night, I decided that I had dang well better always be able to start a fire to help regulate body temp in an emergency.

[guncrank1]

Here is a old idea
Wrap some paper in little coiled bundles.
Soak the paper in candle wax.
Dry tender with a fuel source

A flint and striker and the coiled paper

[guncrank1]

Included the candle too

[fromkentucky]

Here is a old idea
Wrap some paper in little coiled bundles.
Soak the paper in candle wax.
Dry tender with a fuel source

A flint and striker and the coiled paper

I think I'm going to make a few fire starters this weekend. I like the Vaseline-Cotton Balls, but I think dried paraffin-soaked paper or cotton twine would be easier to keep and transport. We also flew out there, which presented its own challenges.

[ChopperDoc]

Here is a old idea
Wrap some paper in little coiled bundles.
Soak the paper in candle wax.
Dry tender with a fuel source

A flint and striker and the coiled paper

I think I'm going to make a few fire starters this weekend. I like the Vaseline-Cotton Balls, but I think dried paraffin-soaked paper or cotton twine would be easier to keep and transport. We also flew out there, which presented its own challenges.

Truth. I have no plan how to handle that situation. I am not sure what I can and can't carry in check baggage as far as the contents of my GHB.

I should look at that and maybe create a minimum buy list to pick up once I get where I am going.

[fromkentucky]

TSA is fine with edged implements as long as they're sheathed in the checked bag. We only had one checked bag and it was pretty big, so I wrapped up the tent stakes, stainless folding shovel, Mora knife and Fiskars hatchet in the sleeping bag and put them in the checked suitcase. You aren't supposed to take lighters, but I did it regularly when I was a smoker. Ferrocerium rods are fine. I don't know about matches, but lighters and matches are cheap so I would just buy them after you land.

[justang1997]

I use foil emergency blankets a lot when trying out minimal gear camping. I don't wrap up in them but I use them to reflect heat from the far side of the fire toward me. This allows you to get by with less wood to burn. Just think of all that waisted heat leaving the fire in 360 degrees.

[fromkentucky]

I use foil emergency blankets a lot when trying out minimal gear camping. I don't wrap up in them but I use them to reflect heat from the far side of the fire toward me. This allows you to get by with less wood to burn. Just think of all that waisted heat leaving the fire in 360 degrees.

You know, I have a bunch of those cheap Mylar blankets. I need to come up with a simple way to rig them up for stuff like that.

[justang1997]

What I do is cut 2 green sticks about 12 inches long and hammer, with a rock, 6 inches in to the ground spaced the width of the blanket apart. Then I get 2 approx 5 foot branches as thick as my finger and lash them to the stakes I hammered in with either duct tape or 550 cord. Then I attach the foil blanket to the branches with the tape or cordage.
A flattened roll of duct tape is about the same size as the blanket when folded.

[son of liberty]

Myself and 2 others 1 of witch is a member here but never posts, did several days in eastern KY with what we could carry in BDU pants pocket.........It SNOWED!

[ChopperDoc]

Myself and 2 others 1 of witch is a member here but never posts, did several days in eastern KY with what we could carry in BDU pants pocket.........It SNOWED!

yeah, that sucked ass I am sure.

[Frailer]

The primary ways your body loses heat are conduction, radiation, convection, and evaporation. A sleeping bag does a pretty good job of mitigating the last three, but since your body compresses the fill material below it, the sleeping bag doesn't do a very good job of preventing conductive heat loss into the ground. If the ground is wet...forget about it.

I learned years ago that you can get by with a much lighter weight bag by using a good sleeping mat.

[justang1997]

The primary ways your body loses heat are conduction, radiation, convection, and evaporation. A sleeping bag does a pretty good job of mitigating the last three, but since your body compresses the fill material below it, the sleeping bag doesn't do a very good job of preventing conductive heat loss into the ground. If the ground is wet...forget about it.

I learned years ago that you can get by with a much lighter weight bag by using a good sleeping mat.

I have seen and attempted making foam sleeping mats that allow the bag to loft below your body. You can cut out sections of the mat to allow "loft pockets" but keep enough mat to support your body. Idk if its worth the effort but it does lighten the mat some too as a side benefit.