How often do you dry-camp and other ponderings

[JimQPublic]

Sometimes a lot, sometimes not.  With SCCampers we generally have hookups.  On our own we generally dry camp.

In two trips this summer we spent 31 nights in the trailer.  3 were at RV parks, 6 visiting family, and 22 dry camping.  We did 7 or 8  nights in one spot twice (okay, with a 3 mile drive midweek).  No recharge except from the car for the short drive.  Two GC batteries were plenty.

Winter is tougher with lots of furnace use.  Our longest in one spot was 4 nights with day/night temps of about 35/20.  Just to be safe I hooked up the car and idled for 30 minutes after night 3.

[flyfisherman]

For the most part we stay at the NFS C/G's and most of those are without electric or water hook-ups; some exceptions but they seem to be rare. Also, do some pure out in the boonies camping in the NF and state forests, and here your totally alone for water and however and where-ever for the "facilities". And the Smoky National Park C/G's are without electric, too. Do stay at a state park now and again that has the water & electric, but that is the exception and not the rule. The only reason I stay someplace where there's no fishing is because I'm on the road traveling between point A and point B and need a place to lay my head for the night.

Before gas prices got to be where they are (and going), we use to travel some distances and meet up with other fly fisherman, and the longest I've stayed out in the boonies is about two weeks. That was Michigan's Huron National Forest and we have a neat little tucked away camping area within stone's throw of the Au Sable and we sort of headquater out of there and fish surrounding lakes and special places.



Fly

[ten-0-six]

We dry camp for 10 days every June and October in the Nicolet National Forest in N Wisconsin.
There are only vault toilets and hand water pumps.

We use a Honda EU 2000 whenever we want to charge  computer and house batteries.

may start extending stay to park max of 14 days
only costs $6 a night

[garym053]

Hi You-and-I,
We have a Starcraft PUP towing with a Jeep, but we don't go off road or logging roads with the camper! We stay in National Parks & State Parks 99% of the time.

Have fun, we're expecting a little snow tonight. Time to wax the cross country skis!!

[AlanTn]

We dry camp in spring & fall but its usually too hot to do so in the summer here in muggy Tn.  Longest we dry camped was 4 days last labor day weekend at a bluegrass fest. It still got to 100 degrees during the day. This was in our '68 Apache. No batteries, no propane, no onboard water. We used a grill, coleman stove, lanterns, tiki torches & those big old hand powered cardboard fans. Shower was a creek & the porta potties got pretty rank by the 3rd day. We're probably going back next year. LOL

[minerz]

That's all we do here in Idaho. I have an auto-tracking solar unit. (2) 130 watt solar panels with 2000E Blue sky, 3000 watt inverter and (6) batts. Auto stays right on the sun all day. I do carry a 3000 watt Honda for cloudy periods. Longest we stayed in the mountains was during hunting season this year from October 1 until November 20. Happy camping.

[aplqst1]

   

We drycamp (dw.dd) a couple of weeks each year, mostly at the
cape hatteras national seashore and the shenendoah NP.
coming from Ohio (go bucks) that gives us a nice midway stopover
and we get mountains and ocean in the same trip..

Running the heater in the mountains is hard on battery charge, but
once we get to hatteras, it's lights, bunk fans, small 12v dvd player
and we've always had plenty of charge.
 I installed a battery guage to monitor charge and usage. We've seen many
pop ups on the outer banks, but you must be prepared for almost constant
wind.

 :U

[east lake hunter]

During deer season, I dry camp just about every weekend.  Our deer camp is located in the Ouachita Mountains in Arkansas.  We have nothing at our camp.  Just a spot to park your camper.   My hunting buddy and I made our own campground within our deer camp this past summer.   We cleaned out a bunch of scrub brush and made us two nice spots to park our campers, complete with our own fire ring, christmas lights, bow practice range that includes it's own tree stand and parking area for our four wheelers.

The longest strech I have stayed this year is 3 1/2 days.   I plugged my PUP into my buddy's generator one night to charge up my battery.  I went forever on my first tank of propane (we have had a mild winter so far) and my battery will easily last the weekend.   Of course, I always bring a spare if my buddy's generator is not available.  

Had to bring the PUP home last weekend.  Got a recall notice from Flagstaff regarding the winch on my PUP.   Thought I better get it fixed before it broke.

[MotherNature]

Hi All!  Hope everyone's New Year had started with happiness & health!

The longest we've dry-camped is 5 days (Assateague National Seashore, porta potties/cold 'shore showers', no water/electric hookup).  We have an 06 Sea Pine.

I know the above would be considered 'dry' camping, but what about the following:  Lamoine SP (ME) was for 4 days, no hookups but really nice bathouse with HOT showers.  We also frequent Cape Henlopen SP (DE), they have water hookups (along with 'modern' bathouses) but no electric.  Would you call these partially dry?

We camp in the summertime so we don't need electric for the heater.  We use the electric lights at night to play board games, etc. or if we're rained in (we'd rather be gathered around the campfire)!  That ran the battery down at Lamoine so then we just used our fluorescent lantern.  Otherwise, we don't really have a need for anything electric (even though that changes TOTALLY when we go somewhere with full hookups!)

We wash the dishes at the local slop sink and what little water that gets used in the camper (brushing teeth, handwashing, etc. - we fill a jug for this rather than relying on filling the tank & using the (electric) pump) just goes into our dump station container.

Speaking of dry camping, has anyone ever seen/heard people getting reprimanded for doing things that are 'environmentally incorrect' (i.e. washing body or dishes and dumping water on site, etc.).  I'm NOT asking so that I can judge/lecture/report folks!  I'm just plain old curious.

[flyfisherman]

I know the above would be considered 'dry' camping, but what about the following:  Lamoine SP (ME) was for 4 days, no hookups but really nice bathouse with HOT showers.  We also frequent Cape Henlopen SP (DE), they have water hookups (along with 'modern' bathouses) but no electric.  Would you call these partially dry?

~ I suppose that would be a good name for it!(LOL)
To me, really dry camping is being out in the boonies with no facilities whatsoever. Well, there are a couple -three national forest small C/G's, three and maybe five sites, that do include a pit toilet, and I'd call these dry camping, too. Such places you do have to tote in your own water, however, since I'm into a lot of trout fishing and trout only live in good quality water, I do use water from the stream for dish washing and such. Bringing it to a boil before using makes it O.K. for my puposes.

 

Speaking of dry camping, has anyone ever seen/heard people getting reprimanded for doing things that are 'environmentally incorrect' (i.e. washing body or dishes and dumping water on site, etc.).  I'm NOT asking so that I can judge/lecture/report folks!  I'm just plain old curious.

~ Have stayed at a couple of Corps Of Engineers C/G's and they have signs not to dump your gray water but rather say to dump it into the waste station. And they did provide real nice dish washing stations for the tenters and popupers like me to do the dishes. So I used them when staying at those two places. Otherwise, it's the thirsty bushes campside that get my dish water, like in the national forest facilities. Should point out that these sites are large with lots of trees and brush. At these facilities we most generally wash the dishes outside but once in awhile we get run inside because of bad weather. In that case I will already have a 5/gal bucket with a lid right and a short discharge hose coming out of the camper in place and will take the bucket later and water what I think is the most deserving bush!




Fly

[fallsrider]

The longest I have ever dry camped was for 4 nights back in '97. I was invited by my uncle and 3 cousins to go on a surf fishing trip with them to Cape Lookout in NC. We took two 4wd trucks w/full truck bed campers over on that island and did nothing but fish, ride ATVs, and otherwise just hang out for 5 glorious days. It was probably the most relaxing trip I've ever taken.

You could take a hot shower over there, as the NPS has a shower house midway on the island (runs off propane, no electric). Taking a shower there was fun (I took 1 the whole trip). We had 2 ATVs to ride, so you had to ride 11 miles up the beach to get to the shower house. It's a blast to race 22 miles on the beach at WOT! Of course, your hair doesn't look like you've washed it after your return trip!

[cjpoppin]

We mostly use full hook ups but we will go dry camping and we love it.....The longest we have dry camped is two weeks we have one battery and no holding tanks on our pup so we have to fetch and carry water use battery lanterns inside most of the time.  Just have to think like a tent camper and you'll have no trouble with dry camping.

[BirdMan]

I only Dry camp also.  Mostly during the summer and during archery hunting season here in Colorado.  Ten days is as long as I have been out last fall.  I had to be very conservative with the battery as I only had one and no way to charge it on-site.  I don't have a generator or every plan to use one.

I am working to fix this with a portable 80W solar panel to charge my battery.  I already have the panel and am working on the rest (portable rack, power/extension cord, controller, ...)  We are fortunate here in CO that we get a LOT of sun.  When this battery dies, it's a good one-- 205 Reserve Min. @ 25A, I plan to go to two 6V golf cart batteries.  The golf cart batteries won't give me any more "published" minutes of reserve from what I can tell at this point, but they will take more abuse and they can handle being drawn down lower then a Marine battery.  The solar panel should provide me at least 32Ahrs of recharge in a normal CO day from my calculations.

The biggest challenge for me is water.  When up hunting we hike up to 10mi per day at very high elevation and rugged terrain and drink a lot of water.  Also for cooking, coffee, ...  I am in search of a high volume back country water filter that can filter 5gal quickly.  Lots of streams around where I normally hunt, but it is not safe to drink the water right from the streams or lakes.  Driving out from the back country to get water is pain.

Another thing I want to do soon is convert my inside lights to LED.  Another search to work on.

[flyfisherman]

I only Dry camp also.  
The biggest challenge for me is water.  When up hunting we hike up to 10mi per day at very high elevation and rugged terrain and drink a lot of water.  Also for cooking, coffee, ...  I am in search of a high volume back country water filter that can filter 5gal quickly.  Lots of streams around where I normally hunt, but it is not safe to drink the water right from the streams or lakes.  Driving out from the back country to get water is pain.

We do a lot of dry camping in places where there are no potable water sources, except the rivers and streams. There have been times in years past where we just drank from a lot those fast moving mountain streams but now they tell me there's a lot of
I picked up one of those large stainless kettles from the dollar store some time back, for something like five bucks. I do the boiling water routine ... all the water has to be is heated to a boil ... I let it boil for maybe a minute. Then shut off the stove and place the kettle in the shade with the lid on ... even put a block of fire wood on the lid to make sure nothing gets into it. By morning the water will be cool enough to drink, especially up in the mountains where it can get chilly at night. Drinking water problem solved for the time being.
Also, always take my coffee water right from the river or stream in the morning. Bring the water by itself to a boil, then add the insides with the coffee and let it then perk for maybe five minutes. If trout live in the water it's got to be pretty clean for openers as they just don't live in contaminated water. Besides, drinking coffee made from the very water your going to take trout from puts a good spin on things for the fishing department ... gets things off to a good start!




Fly

[DoubleD]

Last September, we dry camped 3 nights in the Beartooths, then 4 in Yellowstone, with a 3 hour drive in between.  I then wimped out and went to Wapiti CG outside of Cody for one night where I plugged in and then on to the Tetons for another 4 nights dry camping.  Many times we have boondocked for 4 nights in a row.  We have 2 Group 27's, and only run furnace and lights.  We don't have a generator.

It only took 81 nights over 2 plus years for DW to beoome convinced that we don't need to run the furnace all night long! Memorial Day Weekend on Saturday night we went to bed with the furnace set at its lowest setting, which keeps the PUP around 50 degrees.

I awoke at 2AM and realized that something I have feared and hasn't happened yet just happened. We ran out of propane! Don't get me wrong, I have run out before, but never in the middle of the night. I have dreaded this moment for over 2 years, but still, I begrudgingly offered to go out into the 20 something degree night to switch to the full bottle. I haven't been able to bring myself to spend the time and money to set up an auto switching setup. (read: I am cheap and lazy)

Lo and behold, DW says "No, don't go out and switch to the new bottle. Just wait till the morning." I was not about to argue with her. We went back to sleep and awoke to a beatuful morning, the camper warmed by the sun to a comfortable 50 something degrees. However, my obsession with temperatures paid off. I checked my trusty digital thermometer, and informed DW that the PUP had gotten down to 27 degrees! (It got to 24 degrees outside) She admitted that she didn't get cold, and that she realized that if she climbs into bed while the PUP is warm, she stays plenty warm all night long.

Now, I no longer have to worry about changing out propane bottles in the middle of the night; I don't have to purchase and install an auto switching setup; we have effectivley doubled (at minimum) the amount of nights we can boondock with our 2 batteries and 2 propane tanks.

Last year we boondocked 7 nights and still had plenty of propane and battery, so now we know we can go at least 2 full weeks. That is pretty darn nice as we plan our longer trips!

My wife is the sweetest thing in the world, but I have been trying to convince her that we don't need to run that darn furnace all night long. She now agrees.

To answer your other question, out of the 82 nights total in the past 2+ years, we have dry camped over half of those nights.

We bring 23+ gallons of water with us, and we use about 3-4 gallons per day, so we could easily go 7 days on our water supply.