Most tent accessories are optional. Four are not: stakes better than the ones in the bag, something under the floor, a light that hangs from the ceiling, and a repair kit small enough that you forget…
Camping and RV Guides for Beginners
Camping isn't difficult. It's just full of small things nobody mentions until you've already got one wrong. Where the water goes when it rains at two in the morning. Why the cold wakes you from underneath rather than around you. What a booking page doesn't tell you about the site you just paid for. This site is for the stage before you know what you don't know. Pick a topic above and we'll get you sorted, so the only thing you remember about your first trip is the good part.
Start with a file. Sharpen a camp hatchet with a mill bastard first, pushing into the edge until a burr forms along the back, then refine it with a sharpening puck and finish on a strop.…
Start with the block. Set the round on a knee-high one, look for the cracks already in the end grain, and swing so the tool meets the wood square rather than at an angle. Let the…
Stack firewood in a single row on a raised base, build both ends so they hold themselves up, and keep the pile under about four feet tall. Leave a gap between rows rather than gaps inside…
Store firewood outside on pallets or a rack, at least 30 feet from the house, somewhere sun and wind can reach it, with a cover over the top and nothing over the sides. Keep it four…
Season firewood by splitting it, stacking it off the ground where sun and wind reach it, covering only the top, and waiting. Softwood needs about six months. Most hardwoods want a year, and oak often takes…
The best types of firewood for a campfire are dense hardwoods: oak, hickory, beech, sugar maple, ash and black locust. They burn slow, throw steady heat, and collapse into a bed of coals you can cook…
Set up a campsite by splitting it into four zones before you unpack anything: sleep, kitchen, fire, and storage. Decide where each one lives while your hands are still empty. Do that, and camp flows. Skip…
Cook over coals, never over flames. Let the fire burn down for 45 to 60 minutes until you have a glowing bed covered in gray ash, then rake it level and set your grate about four…
To light a gas fire pit: open the propane tank valve slowly, wait about thirty seconds, then push and turn the control knob while holding a lighter or pressing the igniter at the burner. To turn…