Camping Styles - Location, Climate, and Campers!

Although the mountains of Southern New Mexico (Cloudcroft, if you must know) may be deceptively warm in the summer, I've seen it hail and snow during summer thunderstorms (yup... in July! --I have the pictures to prove it!). So it is wise to bring clothing to fit whatever weather conditions you may encounter. We used to have a joke in southern New Mexico--in which we'd say, "You don't like the weather here? Stick around another 5 minutes--it will change!"

My wife and I took a "minivacation" up to Yosemite National Park a few years ago... and to our dismay, we discovered that the hotels were booked solid (we didn't know that the hotels are booked usually at least 6 months to a year in advance!). We drove back to the pass heading into the park and discovered a campground that had cabins, campsites, and yurts.

The only thing this campground had available was a yurt cancellation--only good for one day. So since we had never stayed in a yurt before, we decided to give it a shot.

It was like sleeping in a tent... you could hear the breeze wafting through the pine trees outside. Occasionally, things would hit the outside of the canvass yurt covering. Mostly small pine cones and pine needles. Also, we heard animals scratching about under the platform of the yurt. It took a while to get used to these strange noises and eventually go to sleep.

However, some of the amenities of the yurt included a bathroom with a toilet and shower, a kitchen with a small stove, oven, refrigerator, and sink. We also had a regular bed, a wooden-plank floor (covered with a carpet), and regular lights (with switches)--maybe considered "roughing it" from the Ritzy Hotel crowd, but definitely a move up for those used to sleeping on the ground under the stars!

I've camped out many times in the tropics--mostly on the island of Guam. A few times we camped near a beach, other times we were in the high sword-grass-covered southern mountains of the island. Even on a small island like Guam, depending on where we camped we had to make certain adjustments to what we brought for gear and how we set up camp.

Don't Set Up Under Stuff That Can Fall!

Just as when in Montana, when you are in the tropics you must be careful where you set up your tent. In much the same manner that you would not set up a tent under a ponderosa pine (they have huge pine cones that can really do some serious bashing) or under a tamarack (they tend to drop their branches--also painful), you should not set up a tent under a coconut palm (coconuts DO fall! And they are heavy! They are dangerous!) or under a breadfruit tree (breadfruit are heavy as well).

Know What the Tides Are--And Don't Set Up On The Beach!

Also, you should be careful how close to the beach you set up your camp. When we were camping with some kids on Guam, the kids thought they could avoid the mosquitos by setting up their tents and sleeping bags in the steady breeze on the beach. Unfortunately, they set up their tents during low tide. When high tide came in about six hours later, the kids found their tent awash with waves. What a way to wake up, eh?

Camping Gear?

On Guam, we used makeshift camping gear (sometimes we had tents, sometimes we didn't). We used old shower curtains for tarps. We used old clothes lines to tie up our "tarps".

We also used mosquito coils, citronella candles, and the smoke from the campfire to keep the mosquitos from getting too obnoxious.

Again, whether you are camping in Montana, New Mexico, or Guam, you should be aware of the critters that will invite themselves to your campsite!

In most places in North and South America or in Africa or Europe or Asia, it would be wise to keep your foods stored in well-sealed containers (if possible in the trunk of your vehicle). If you don't have a car (or you are camping without the benefit of having a vehicle nearby), you will need to use other methods to keep critters away.

In New Mexico and Montana, we learned to hang food from between two trees such that the container was higher than about 10 feet above ground suspended between two trees. This kept critters such as bears away from the food. We also disposed of all food and container garbage by burning it first in the fire and then either burying the ash or washing and carrying out the metal/glass/plastic containers.

When we camped in New Mexico, we frequently found snakes--sometimes rattlesnakes. We just had to be careful when walking around camp.

When camping on Guam, we didn't have too many animals to worry about--although there was a chance for snakes (Boiga irregularis--brown tree snake) and monitor lizards. Again, to keep these critters from getting too interested in our food, we kept all food enclosed in well-sealed ice chests or other containers.

On Guam, we also had hermit crabs and coconut crabs wandering into our tents or poking at our sleeping bags in the middle of the night. Although these animals are not deadly, they can give an annoyingly painful nip with their claws.

In Montana and New Mexico, we commonly camped by lakes and rivers at which we were able to do some pole fishing. On the island of Guam, we might be able to get some fish either by net (walking along the reef-front or on the reef flat) or by spear (while snorkeling).

In any case, we would be able to put some fish in our ice chests for either dinner or breakfast.

Yeah, it might be sort of messy to clean the fish (aka gutting and perhaps de-scaling the fish), but frying them in a pan or grill over an open campfire, hibachi, or campstove makes a delectible meal!

Depending on where we caught the fish, we could be eating trout, perch, bass, or northern pike (Montana and New Mexico) or parrotfish, rabbit fish, squirrel fish, surgeon fish, makerel, or butterfly fish (on Guam).

We'd season them with lemon juice, salt and pepper, maybe some soy sauce... no matter... served with rice and fresh veggies (broccoli, carrots, celery) and fruit (bananas, papayas, mangos, apples) and washed down with a cup of hot coffee or tea. Excellent meal!

Thermos Storage for Eggs!

On Guam, a friend brought some thermos containers--and surprised us the next morning by pouring already de-shelled eggs into a frying pan over the fire and cooking up a great batch of scrambled eggs! He had already cooked up some bacon and sausages, so the pan was sufficiently greased to allow the eggs to cook well. To carry the eggs, he had pre-cooled the thermos by keeping ice water in it first for a few minutes--then pouring out the water and ice before breaking the eggs into the thermos.

Foil-Wrapped Dinners

One of the things I learned on campouts while a Boy Scout in New Mexico was to prepare foil-wrapped dinners. We'd cut a steak or piece of pot-roast into bite-sized pieces, then along with some cut potatoes, carrots, onions, and some seasoning, we'd wrap the whole mess in aluminum foil. We'd freeze the packages overnight, then put the packages in an insulated bag in our backpack for our hike into the desert. That night after we made camp and had a fire going, we'd just throw the foil packages onto the hot coals.... after a while, we'd poke some holes in the package to allow some steam to escape. After we could hear the sizzling of the package and could smell the aroma of the contents for about 10 to 15 minutes, we'd pull the package out of the fire with tongs and open the package to eat the contents. A very tasty meal, indeed.

Old Standbys... Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, Canned Food, Dried Food!

Of course, on most of my campouts, we had frozen packages of hot dogs, hamburgers (in Tupperware containers made for this purpose), canned vienna sausage, canned beans, canned pork-and-beans, canned spaghetti, canned ravioli, and the vacuum-packed camp food such as beef-stroganoff (just add water), peach cobbler (just add water), and other such goodies...

We also had loaves of bread, hot-dog buns, hamburger buns, and cannisters of peanut butter and jam, mustard, and ketchup.

Most of this stuff is only practical if you are doing car camping--in other words, driving to your campsite destination.

If you are backpacking, you would not take almost all of these things. You'd be left with only the dehydrated packages of food, some fishhooks, and packages of water (or maybe a water purification kit).

At a seminar for science teachers on Guam, we were treated to a campout hosted by U.S. Marine Jungle Warfare instructors (yeah, sort of interesting... I met my future wife there.... she's pretty handy with a machete!). The Marines showed us how to make shelters from rain slickers and from flat-sheet tarps. They also showed us how to effectively make fire by rubbing bamboo pieces in a certain way. And... they showed us how to cut a bamboo pole segment to make a rice cooker (which we used over the fire we started with the bamboo pieces).

At the campout, we were able to snorkel with dolphins (and also get some fish for breakfast) and we had the choice of sleeping in hammocks or in military-issue canvas pup tents or in modern nylon puptents.

Truly a great way to camp!

Conservation and respect for our environment is a good thing--when camping, consider how great the environment is... and respect what it provides for you!