Author Archives: Roy Scribner

Family Camping – Skip the Campground

Dispersed camping is a great way to avoid the potential pitfalls of campgrounds

Dispersed camping is a great way to avoid the potential pitfalls of campgrounds (photo courtesy of PDPhoto.Org)

One of the great joys of camping is getting away from it all and spending some quality time with your family. That’s hard to do, though, when the guy in the next campsite is running a generator all night, or having the equivalent of a frat party next door.

When you really want to ensure a peaceful and serene camping experience, dispersed camping is the way to go. The US Forest Service and BLM generally allow camping anywhere on undeveloped public lands, with a few provisions:

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Economic Fallout Coming to a Campground near You

A weak economy and high fuel prices is pressuring the budgets of many state and federal parks

A weak economy and high fuel prices is pressuring the budgets of many state and federal parks

Lost in the seemingly endless analysis of the daily stock market gyrations and an economy in, or soon to be in, recession is the lingering impact of high fuel costs on the nation’s state and federal parks.

Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park both saw slumps in the number of visitors this year. State parks are also under pressure. Although visitor numbers at most state parks has been strong, funding is under pressure due to a reduction in state tax revenues due to depressed real estate valuations.

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Camping – Take Plenty of Water

Having enough water is an important consideration for family camping

Having enough water is an important consideration for family camping

A topic that came up recently, among a few of us that tend to camp in places that don’t have conveniences like toilets and water, was the different ways we all carry enough water. I thought I’d share some of those ideas with you and hopefully see what some other people are doing, too.

One thing to keep in mind, if you are just starting out on this family camping adventure, is that you are going to need a lot of water. Kids get dirty (one of the reasons they love camping!), which leads to lots of washing, and everybody should be hydrating a bit more than usual – even in cold weather.

Another important consideration is the collection of dirty water. With a hat-tip to Adam Shake at Twilight Earth (a great resource on environmental issues – check it out!), you can’t just dump your dirty, soapy water in the woods. It needs to be collected in another water container for proper disposal in either a restroom facility or a site within the campground specifically for “gray water” disposal.

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Tom Mangan on Starting Your Own Blog

John Muir's letters, essays and books tell of his adventures in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains and are widely read today.

John Muir's letters, essays and books are still widely read today

Tom Mangan wrote a couple of good posts yesterday on his Bay Area Hiking Blog, Two-Heel Drive, about starting your own blog. Tom says that documenting your hiking experience and sharing it with the rest of the world is a great way to connect with other interested hikers.

Heck, if John Muir were alive to day, he would have a blog. How do I know? Because the only thing as voluminous as Muir’s backcountry travels was the volume of his writings documenting them.

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