Tips for a Successful Camping Trip

Camping is an excellent way to enjoy the beauty of the great outdoors, whether as a romantic weekend or a family vacation. Although some may consider camping easier than planning a traditional hotel vacation, much work goes into ensuring a successful outdoor excursion.

Research. Although wandering aimlessly in the woods can lead to exciting adventures, research of the area where you plan to camp will help you to prepare an outline of the activities you’d like to do. Find out where nearby lakes and hiking trails are located. Maybe there are natural wonders or fossil excavation sites nearby. Are fees or licenses necessary? If you become familiar with the area before you go, you can be sure not to miss any of the available sights and sounds.

Plan your menu. Nothing is worse than being out in the wilderness without a pan to cook all the food you brought. Or even worse – missing a key ingredient to a favorite dish. Before embarking on your camping trip, create a detailed menu of the meals you plan to prepare each day. Go through your cabinets and pull the ingredients you already have, and then make a shopping list of the items you need to pick up. Drill down your menu even further to include the utensils and cookware necessary to prepare each of the meals.

Prepare for the worst. When staying outdoors, Mother Nature has full influence on your activities and comfort. Even if the weather forecast doesn’t call for it, be sure to bring necessities such as a first aid kit, extra batteries, raincoats, a tarp and extra blankets. You may even want to bring extra dry firewood instead of buying at the campsite or finding your own in the woods. Damp wood will certainly put a damper on warmth and campfire fun.

Get creative. Camping doesn’t have to be limited to pitching a tent in a forest campsite. There are thousands of locations in National Parks across the country where you can set up camp virtually anywhere. Camp on a beach, in the desert or on a mountaintop. Find somewhere secluded where you can enjoy nature’s beauty without the distractions of other campers. Forget the tent and sleep out under the stars!

Careful planning and preparation are essential to a successful camping trip. If the work is done in advance, worries will disappear and you can truly relax and enjoy your outdoor vacation

       

How To Split Firewood

For anyone who lives in the countryside and has a wood burning fire or stove, knowing how to split firewood is an essential skill.

Whether you get the wood delivered or fell it yourself you need to know how to split it into a usable size.

Any task that involves a tool as dangerous as an axe should be approached with caution, but more importantly also with the knowledge of how to do the task safely and easily.



Follow this simple guide and you'll soon know how to split firewood and have a full woodshed ready for winter.

Step 1.

Select a level block or stand, such as a tree stump, on which to split the firewood.

It is extremely important that the stand be around knee height.

This ensures that there is something to absorb the blow of the axe as it passes through the firewood and that the down swing doesn't continue towards your legs.

Making sure you don't swing the axe towards your legs is the most important aspect of how to split firewood safely.

Also an added bonus is that having a block around this height will stop you bending over to far and exerting too much strain on the back muscles.

Splitting firewood is a physical task, but need not be an overly strenuous one.



Step 2.

Position your feet hip width apart and slightly staggered, one in front of the other.

This gives a good strong stance from which to swing the axe.

Make sure the area you are working in is even floored and has no trip hazards, such as previously split firewood lying around.

The last thing that you want to do with a tool as dangerous as an axe is trip over on top of it.

You may also wish to consider wearing safety goggles in case of flying wood splinters and gloves in case of blisters.

It's a fact that most injuries occurring while splitting firewood result from the user being careless with the axe, not from the act of splitting the wood itself.



Step 3.

Hold the axe, which should be the length of your arm, by the bottom of the handle with both hands.

Swing the axe above the head and then downwards, letting the weight of the axe do the work and the arms acting to guide rather than propel it.

Aim for nice even and easy strokes.

Splitting firewood is a repetitive task and the action needs to be fluid if you intend to spend much time doing it.



Step 4.

If cutting large rounds of wood then try and aim just outside the core of the wood for an easy split.

Aim to cut even sections for maximum burning time and ease of stacking.

Ensure you stack the split wood neatly, keeping the splitting area tidy and safe.

If you start feeling tired take a break, it's never a good idea to be swinging an axe if you're too tired to aim properly or if your grip is uncertain.

After following this simple guide you should be able to get out there and know how to split firewood safely and easily.

Go get some practice in.



Image By Ollie Crafoord

Know How to Build a Campfire for Cooking Campfire Recipes

When it’s your turn to be the camp cook, knowing how to build a campfire, and the right layout to use for your campfire recipes is critical.

Veteran campfire cooks will tell you that a fire built for cooking is more than a pile of flaming firewood.

If you are going to be doing more than just roasting hot dogs or marshmallows, you will need more than just an open flame fire.


Most campfire recipes call for using some cooking techniques that use the even heat of hot coals too.

When you are not restricted to a contained fire ring or other pre-made fire enclosure, and have flexibility in deciding how to build a campfire for cooking, the key-hole layout gives you the best of both kinds of camp cooking.

With just a little thought about how to build a campfire, picking the right campfire layout in the beginning will give you great cooking results later.



Since most campfire recipes will call for both open flame, and hot-coals cooking, a campfire layout that gives you both options will make the cook’s job a lot easier.

The key-hole campfire layout will do just that.

It is shaped just like the name implies.

There is a main circular fire area, usually about 3 feet across, and a smaller “nub” that will be the hot-coals cooking area, usually about 18 inches across.

Combined, these two areas form the “key-hole” layout and allow you to have direct flame heat, and a more controlled heat over the hot coals.



Because there will be a lot of activity around a cooking campfire, it is recommended that you have a border around the fire, either rocks, logs, or large pieces of firewood.

This will keep tumbling embers from rolling out of the fire, and stray boot toes from getting too close.

You can use a camping tripod to suspend your cooking pot over the open flames of the main campfire, and use the smaller hot coals area for cast iron Dutch oven or griddle and skillet cooking.

The larger circular area will be the main campfire and will be used to supply coals and embers to the hot-coals cooking area, so it is best to start with a good-sized flaming campfire.

Unlike trying to build a campfire just to sit around and enjoy, where you typically start with a small tee-pee of tinder and slowly add bigger pieces of firewood to build the fire to the size you want, with a cooking campfire you know you want a larger fire for both flames and hot coals.


So for a key-hole campfire layout start with a larger tee-pee of tinder and a lot of firewood to get a good “roaring” flame going, this will make the hot coals as the fire settles down and you are ready to start cooking that secret campfire recipe.

When the coals and hot embers are ready, rake them out of the main fire into the smaller hot-coals area.

It is important to spread these coals evenly in the smaller hot-coals cooking area to avoid having hot-spots under your camp griddle or cast iron skillet.

The amount of coals needed will depend on the cooking methods used for the campfire recipe you are making, particularly if you will be doing any cast iron Dutch oven cooking.

The bed of hot coals can be continually replenished from the main campfire as you cook.

The key-hole campfire layout is a good design for cooking because it gives you both open-flame and hot-coals heat sources, but it has an added benefit.

When all the camp cooking and clean-up is done, just toss some more wood into your main campfire circle and you will have the perfect campfire to sit around enjoying a good cup of coffee, as your camping buddies rave about how delicious that secret campfire recipe was.


Indoor Campfire Prop for Scouting Ceremonies

USA Top Hiking Trails

Besides camping, hiking is a great pastime for Americans but where to find the top USA hiking trails.

There are hundreds, possibly thousands, of excellent hiking tracks in the USA, but which are the top of the list?

This article dives in to show you five of the very top hiking trails in the US.

Please note that these are MY personal favorites.

Your hiking style may differ from mine but I can assure you that if its quality scenery and a great hike you're after, you won’t be disappointed with these locations.



Hiking Trail 1 - Breakneck Ridge Trail

This trail is located in Hudson Highlands State Park in NY. It is 9.6 miles at full length and starts at river level and ascends along a knobby ridge until you reach a beautiful lookout.

Hiking Trail 2 - Glacier Gorge

Located in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park, Glacier Gorge contains spectacular scenery including alpine lakes, cascading waterfalls and amazing wildflowers.

This is one of America's top hiking trails and a must see.



Hiking Trail 3 - Mount Whitney
Mount Whitney is located in California and involves the highest peak in the United States.

The views here are unparalleled!

Hiking Trail 4 - Appalachian Trail: The Pinnacle

The Pinnacle part of the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania boasts the best views of this entire hike.

You'll also have great views of Hawk Mountain, the Lehigh Valley, and Blue Rocks.

This particular hike involves some vigorous climbing followed by a gentle dirt road descent.

Hiking Trail 5 - Conundrum Hot Springs

The Conundrum Hot Springs are in Colorado and are a fantastic undeveloped wilderness location.

Depending on when you go hiking here, you may even be all alone.

You'll experience beautiful clean mountain air, waterfalls and bright flowers.

This is truly one of the most beautiful spots in the United States!



Photos Credit - Kimba