The Off Topic Topic

[mongers]

Not surprisingly, I don't really get the appeal of camping. I totally get wanting to go out and see nature - but I don't really understand buying equipment and then living about for several days in more primitive conditions. 

Only real reason I could see for that is to see places that one can't really access/reach within a day of civilization.

Have you been camping?

Probably studio 54 and WoW.

[Grinning_Colossus]

The Georgian opposition just won the parliamentary election -- with either 51% or 63% depending on the political orientation of the pollster. No word on Saakashvili's reaction yet.

Calm, measured and rational ?

He appeared on TV to say that the opposition won the national vote but probably won't win enough of the majoritarian races in the regions to gain a parliamentary majority. Full results will be in by 3 am, but I intend to be asleep by then.

[CountDeMoney]

Have you been camping?

Probably studio 54 and WoW.

I lol'd.

[garbon]

Not surprisingly, I don't really get the appeal of camping. I totally get wanting to go out and see nature - but I don't really understand buying equipment and then living about for several days in more primitive conditions. 

Only real reason I could see for that is to see places that one can't really access/reach within a day of civilization.

Have you been camping? 

Only RV camping. As I mentioned earlier - my family went to do tent camping once but that ended in abject failure when everyone was bit up by mosquitoes.

That said, not really sure how your question speaks to my objection. Does one have to sleep on a floor/pee in the woods to figure out that they don't like sleeping on the floor/peeing in the woods?

[CountDeMoney]

My parents don't really use camping as a means to get back to nature and whatnot, as much as they use the fifth wheel as a base of operations, dropping it at a KOA or state park campground, and reconnoiter in force in the truck; like now, they're up in Alexandria Bay, and they'll do LRRP up and down the St Lawrence, infiltrate Canada and generally do some early season operational leaf-peeping.

[Malthus]

My dad was into hardcore wilderness camping and I got taken along for the ride. In a way it was awesome; however, in terms of comfort and safety it sucked. Overall I'm glad I did it, but I'm not really up for doing it on my own initative.

What he did, was hire a bushplane to fly us into remote wilderness lakes in Northern Quebec, and then we would canoe out - he'd plan his routes based on topographical maps. We had some ... interesting times, when the rivers shown on the maps were nothing but stone and log-filled creeks, when drunken French-Canadian pilots landed us on the wrong lake, or when he accidentally left half our food behind.

OTOH there is nothing quite like being on lakes no-one had visited perhaps in years, and the fishing was of course awesome.   

[MadImmortalMan]

My dad was into hardcore wilderness camping and I got taken along for the ride. In a way it was awesome; however, in terms of comfort and safety it sucked. Overall I'm glad I did it, but I'm not really up for doing it on my own initative.

What he did, was hire a bushplane to fly us into remote wilderness lakes in Northern Quebec, and then we would canoe out - he'd plan his routes based on topographical maps. We had some ... interesting times, when the rivers shown on the maps were nothing but stone and log-filled creeks, when drunken French-Canadian pilots landed us on the wrong lake, or when he accidentally left half our food behind.

OTOH there is nothing quite like being on lakes no-one had visited perhaps in years, and the fishing was of course awesome.

The idea of doing that sounds really awesome, but something tells me I would hate it in reality.

[Malthus]

The idea of doing that sounds really awesome, but something tells me I would hate it in reality.

I can quite clearly remember being about 14 and wading down a creek too shallow for the canoe. I only had one pair of boots and I was wearing them, along with my pants, around my neck to keep them dry; every fifty feet we had to lift the canoe over a log across the creek. We stopped for a break and to salt the leeches off, and the mosquitoes rose around us like a mist; in spite of constant application of 95% DEET (not legal anymore I think), so that I was melting every plastic thing I touched, I was covered in bites and scratched up by brambles. All we had left to eat was some peanut butter, so we had to clear the stream that day to get out - plus it was through a swamp so there was nowhere to camp.

Then, it started to rain.

I think that was the single worst day I can remember - it sorta put me off doing that again. That, and thinking WTF would we do if one of us broke a leg?

[ulmont]

in spite of constant application of 95% DEET (not legal anymore I think)

Looks like Canada gave up in 2002, but the US still lets it go:

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/cps-spc/pubs/pest/_decisions/rrd2002-01/index-eng.php
http://www.amazon.com/Repel-94108-98-1-Percent-Repellent-4-Ounce/dp/B004H89KFC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349126745&sr=8-1&keywords=repel+100

[Eddie Teach]

I can quite clearly remember being about 14 and wading down a creek too shallow for the canoe. I only had one pair of boots and I was wearing them, along with my pants, around my neck to keep them dry; every fifty feet we had to lift the canoe over a log across the creek. We stopped for a break and to salt the leeches off, and the mosquitoes rose around us like a mist; in spite of constant application of 95% DEET (not legal anymore I think), so that I was melting every plastic thing I touched, I was covered in bites and scratched up by brambles. All we had left to eat was some peanut butter, so we had to clear the stream that day to get out - plus it was through a swamp so there was nowhere to camp.

Then, it started to rain.

I think that was the single worst day I can remember - it sorta put me off doing that again. That, and thinking WTF would we do if one of us broke a leg?

Look at it this way: it's good practice if you ever get transported to a fantasy world and have to go trekking through the wilderness on a quest. 

[derspiess]

Only RV camping. As I mentioned earlier - my family went to do tent camping once but that ended in abject failure when everyone was bit up by mosquitoes.

That said, not really sure how your question speaks to my objection. Does one have to sleep on a floor/pee in the woods to figure out that they don't like sleeping on the floor/peeing in the woods?

Well I do think tent camping is one of those things where you should try the full experience before you make a decision.  I've seen a few people change their minds after they went on their first camping trip.

[garbon]

Only RV camping. As I mentioned earlier - my family went to do tent camping once but that ended in abject failure when everyone was bit up by mosquitoes.

That said, not really sure how your question speaks to my objection. Does one have to sleep on a floor/pee in the woods to figure out that they don't like sleeping on the floor/peeing in the woods?

Well I do think tent camping is one of those things where you should try the full experience before you make a decision.  I've seen a few people change their minds after they went on their first camping trip.

Well I have slept in a tent before - just not in the woods / I've slept in the woods before, just not in a tent.

Seriously though, I don't really see why it'd be the case that I'd secretly like spending money to deprive myself of modern conveniences. I think Malthus's story gets at why one might do it - but I can't really see myself wanting to do that - specifically because of the objectionable elements he called out.

[Tonitrus]

I've considered getting one of these for the FJ, for road trips/camping and the like...




Though the remote area of Grand Canyon I stopped at on my last road trip would have been a PITA with a trailer...even a 4x4 one.

[katmai]

Garbo needs one of these. GXV

[Ed Anger]

I want one.