Minimalist Camping...Yay or Nay?
I had a goal for our next tent trip. After many, many camping trips over the years, I have to say that the one thing that always gets to me is how freakin' long it takes to get ready for the trip. All the planning, organizing, packing, squeezing... which is fine, when we have 3 or more days that we need to prepare for. But, with this 20 day challenge that we have taken on, I knew we were going to need some practice cutting down on the load. I want us to be able to leave on a whim, without too much planning or hassle, and be able to go for just a night or two at a time.
Jeff was a little apprehensive about my plan. After all, he has spent years perfecting the packing of camping supplies into containers and boxes. They are well organized tubs that hold every, single, possible thing you could ever need; from twist ties to coffee creamer, games, frisbees, toilet paper, I'm not kidding. We are well prepared for every situation. All that stuff is fantastic, but with the dog crates in the FJ, and no boat to load up with extra stuff, we were also pressed on space.
We planned our supplies into four main categories; food, camping supplies, personal items, and dog necessities. The idea was to try to pack less than usual in each category.
Food
We kept it super simple...no raw meat, portioned out sizes, very little prep. Since we were leaving home after lunch we only needed an afternoon snack, dinner, and breakfast the next morning. We figured we'd stop for early dinner in Conconully on the way back home (which we did!). For snacks we packed salami and coppa, crackers, and a brie spread, pre-cut honeydew (it was so delicious) and strawberries. I pre-made turkey and ham sandwiches, coleslaw from the market deli, and chips for dinner. Breakfast the next day was a simple egg, turkey sausage (pre-cooked), onion, and mushroom scramble, served in tortillas with our new favorite hot sauce (Marie Sharps...from Belize). I also packed a small zip bag with a few tiny paper plates and napkins, 1 fork and 1 knife. The best part...hardly any cooler space. I used my darling cooler bag that Zoe and Max got me for Mother's Day (for food), and we packed a small, soft cooler for a few drinks. Here's what the final food pile looked like before putting it into one, small cooler with ice packs instead of ice (RED DUTCH OVEN NOT INCLUDED...it was just sitting on my stove when I took the picture).
Camping Supplies
Like I said, we have just about everything a camper could ever need. It was hard to do, but we narrowed our packing list to just the necessaries that we knew we would need or really, really want to have; stove with propane, 1 pan (not in picture), coffee pot and our coffee press, lantern, hammock (which we, unfortunately, didn't get to use), and a jug of water. Instead of packing these into our usual tub of stuff, we just wedged them into the FJ's cargo compartment bag in the back. Not shown...we packed two chairs, a pop-up table, and 4-5 pieces of wood for burning.
Personal Items
We fit everything else we would need into one sling style bag that tucked away in back. We brought lotion, sunscreen, bug spray, a bug candle (not needed...no mosquitoes, surprisingly), our Kindles, phone chargers (which plug into Jeff's portable battery that is in the car), binoculars, wipes, a cribbage board and cards, and a couple other necessary items. We pretty much went with the clothes on our backs and shoved a couple jackets in the back before we left (see more about the clothing later in post...Jeff was way more prepared than I was). We packed our new sheets to try out up in the tent and our pillows (can't live without them). The other thing that was thrown in at the last minute (and I'm so thankful it was)...a fold up, portable stadium blanket.
Dog Necessities
There's not too much skimping to do here. They need what they need. Since the pups can't sleep in the RTT with us, we knew we had to bring both crates, so they could sleep in the vehicle at night. We didn't know what to expect at the campground, as far as freedom goes...so their tethering anchors and leashes were a must. And then, of course, we brought them their food and portable water dish full of water.
 |
| All packed up (Newton in his crate and Lily are in front of all of this) |
Kerr Campground
For this one-nighter, we decided to revisit an area real close to home that we have only recently discovered, Kerr Campground, about 15 minutes out of Conconully. The weather forecast said 20% chance of rain (although I'm sure I saw the number 50% at some point, somewhere)...but that's OK. We needed to try out the camp set up in the rain sometime anyway. Along North Fork Salmon Creek Road, you'll run into several small campsites set under the trees and right on the creek. We passed Cottonwood Campground, Oriole Campground, and pulled into the next one, Kerr Campground.
We found the perfect little spot (#5), right on the water, and not very close to others, so the dogs could be off leashes most of the time. Here's the spot once we got set up, which didn't take long, and all our necessities out and on the table. And...yes, it looks like it might rain soon (forshadowing 💧).
 |
| Lily and Newton |
...and it was time for a snack.
...and a walk...
Everything was going great. The fur babes were having a fantastic time (they just love to be outside and be included), and the weather was holding up. We were exploring the creek, where we saw a log bridge calling Jeff's name. I hopped up on the log to take his picture, lost my balance, and WOOOPS!! Dropped my phone into the creek! Yikes! It was laying on the bottom of a fast moving creek, under about 2 feet of water. Although the phone is waterproof, I had to act fast. I just jumped right in, clothes and all. I retrieved the phone, and then Jeff snapped this picture of me. The first one was not very flattering. He asked me to smile for this one.
So, now I had no dry clothes, other than the one pair of shorts I was wearing before it cooled off. My shoes were soaked, but I did have a pair of sandals (never leave home without them). Luckily, Jeff hadn't followed my packing rules completely, and he had an extra pair of socks and undies, so that is what I wore (and my down jacket). My top was fine, but my bottom half was freezing.
Then came the rain. We had predicted it anyway, so we were fairly prepared, other than the fact that I was walking around in shorts and night was settling in with a rainstorm. We put up the awning off the other side of the car, plopped our two chairs under the cover, and played cribbage while we ate our precooked dinner. Easy-peasy. The rain fly on the top of the RTT hadn't been used yet, and it did a great job keeping us dry for the evening. The rain didn't last long, either, so Jeff made me a fire to warm my legs, and YES!!! so glad we packed that stadium blanket.
 |
| Jeff did a great job making fire without a hatchet to cut kindling. He just found wood pieces and small branches to use instead. I really think a hatchet should have been part of our minimalist list, but Max had borrowed ours to go camping with friends. Next time. |
The sun was breaking and breakfast was delicious. One thing I love about camping in public sites is that you always meet the most interesting people. And everyone is always happy. Who wouldn't be happy if they were camping? A nice couple from Lacey stopped to talk to us about all the birds they had spotted on their venture through Okanogan County. They had seen 117 species since they left home. Wow! We did some more walking around and exploring, and then packed up to head out for a long drive home. We wanted to keep heading out North Fork Salmon Creek Road (NF-38) with our destination being Tiffany Springs Campground, a place we'd never checked out before.
 |
| A little morning reading and warming time while my pants and boots dried off |
 |
| The view in our backyard |
Beautiful, Mountain Drive
This next section is heavy on pictures, which speak for themselves. What a gorgeous place. We climbed the road for a couple hours, stopping here and there to take in the views. The FJ Cruiser sure does handle those bumpy, rutted roads well. We passed several campsites and trailheads, taking pictures of all the signs so we can plan for another adventure later. The wildflowers were vibrant and abundant, so I picked a bouquet to bring home. I have a personal rule to never do this, unless there are thousands of flowers around, and there were.
We ran into very few other travelers, including a group of 4-wheelers that were behind us almost the whole way. Once we reached Tiffany Springs, we took a trail (maybe a mile, mile and a half out) to a nice little lake. The dogs loved being off leash and running around. The mosquitoes got me here a little bit, but it was worth the views. The area last burned 13 years ago in the Tripod Fire, so the trees were blackened, ominous, but beautiful at the same time. And things are slowly growing back into a lush forest once again.
 |
| Snack and a beverage at Tiffany Springs Campground |
 |
| Happy Dogs |
 |
| Tiffany Lake |
 |
| Do you see Jeff? |
We continued another couple of hours down the other side of the loop, and ended up in Conconully for an early dinner, as planned. There are only a couple restaurants in this hopping summer destination, but they are both fantastic places. We went to Red Rock Saloon for pizza, which we'd never had there before. Wow!!! Awesome pie!
Quick Recap of Day 4
Kerr Campground - We'll be back for sure! This was close to home (30-40 minutes tops), campsites are few but far between each other for privacy, and camping right on the creek is pretty much unbeatable. They have restrooms, garbage disposal, and the campsites were well taken care of. There's no water, so bring your own. We found lots of small wood pieces to use as fire starters. There were a couple other sites that could hold 2 or 3 families. The downside - no reservations, so it's taking a gamble if you want to plan a trip.
Tiffany Springs Campground - This would be a nice place to stay sometime, but it took a long time to get to, and once you are there, you'll want to stay for a couple days. The views were spectacular. Since it takes a sturdy, all terrain vehicle to get here, if you see anyone at all, they'll probably be on ATVs or bikes (we saw both). There was also a Eurovan and a pop-up camper/truck, so the road is doable in a tough rig.
Lessons Learned: Minimalist camping wasn't quite what I expected. We DID save on room, which was nice since we had the pups with us, but I don't think we saved any time in packing. In fact, it might have even taken longer because we found ourselves digging into Jeff's already well packed boxes just to find the few things we pulled out to bring with us. Carefully planning and portioning out food was fabulous. Where we usually have a humongous cooler which takes up tons of space, the carry cooler we brought was plenty. ALWAYS bring spare clothes. You never know what is going to happen. And lastly, know the weather report. Had we not known there was a chance of rain, we wouldn't have had the rain fly on and awning set up before it started. BONUS: I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the heated seats in the FJ.
OVERALL - Success and good times in 24 hours! Woohoo! I am ready to do it again! How about tonight?
No comments:
Post a Comment