When Stephen Blaylock, of Tupelo, wanted to introduce his son and the boy’s buddies to camping, the experience that resulted touched upon the child that remains part of men of every age.
Cub Scout Pack 12, hosted by Tupelo’s First United Methodist Church, gathers boys between ages 6 and 11 for a survey introduction to Scouting and the outdoors. Once the boys are of an age to be regular Boy Scouts, their campouts are conducted regularly and in every conceivable weather. For Cub Scouts though, the introduction to outdoor overnighting is meant to be more gentle. Blaylock and the rest of Pack 12 recently enjoyed a mild-weather campout in a pasture not far from home, and the experience could not have turned out better. (To get involved with Scouting or to locate a pack or troop to join, call the Natchez Trace Council office at 662-842-2871).
The boys, who were supervised by a host of dads, were fed from an SEC tailgate-worthy cooking setup, had a campfire, did a hike in the woods, were taught interesting bits of woods lore and reveled in the novelty of a night spent surrounded by no walls at all. They laughed and joked, shined flashlights in each other’s faces and, at some point, dozed a bit in their tents. No one was permanently injured and the event ended with the same number of people with which it had begun — two criteria key to any successful excursion.
“We spent weeks planning this thing,” Blaylock said. “There were lots of conversations about it between the dads, and we enjoyed it just as much as the boys did. We ended up with a lot more gear than we needed, of course, but that was part of the fun.”
With boys mostly in their latter single-digit years, a smooth introduction to camping can be essential. Up to that point, each boy’s level of exposure to the outdoors is different. Car camping, the sort where a vehicle is used to haul all the gear and food to the campsite, makes comfortable the extension of that contact. It also facilitates a common ground for the boys and their dads that will be vital through the boys’ growing-up years soon to come.
“I would tell anyone that Scouting is a great way to spend time with your kids,” Blaylock said, adding that camping out is essential to the whole experience. “Plan it, enjoy it, and enjoy the planning of it. I know the other dads and I had as good a time as the boys. For the boys and for us, it’s something we’ll always remember.”
Early fall campouts can be timed to coincide with sunny, favorable weather while still avoiding the bugs and crowds that have been the usual experience all summer. As long as the winds are calm and precipitation is mostly avoided, camping in the cool or almost-cold can actually be among the most comfortable times in the woods all year. The mild weather routinely found through the next month or two should be ideal for a well-planned campout, and there are many options for the location of such.
If you don’t have a pasture handy, Mississippi’s state parks offer many perfect car camping locations. The state parks offer sites for off-the-grid tent camping but, for a Cub Scouting event, the best sites are usually motor home pads that supply electricity and running water. Such sites typically have plenty of space to set up tents, and having utilities available on site can be a big bonus since you’ll be car camping anyway. For any group larger than a small handful of boys, reserving two adjacent motor home pads is the way to go. That will allow for plenty of places for everyone to park and lots of room for the boys to spread out and set up tents while still remaining economical on the fees.
No matter what you choose, experience is generally the only teacher camping will respect. Once you’ve begun camping regularly, you’re sure to find you’ll take along very little gear, but specific gear that suits your particular wants. What that may be is up to you to determine. To that end, here are a few items to consider to make your next camping trip, or your first camping trip, fun and enjoyable:
Some assemblies required
- Buy a tent that’s large enough to let your crew sleep comfortably, but small enough for you to assemble alone. Once you’ve bought it, practice putting it up a time or two before you set out to do it for real with people standing around waiting for you and with night closing in.
- Modern tents are supplied with poles strung together with elastic shock cord, and it’s pretty simple to figure out which of the tent’s sleeves and clips are meant for which poles, provided one does so with ample daylight and no particular rush involved. One or two trial assemblies in the front yard or the living room are enough to get the hang of it. Do make sure all zippered doors and windows are closed before assembling. That will ensure they’ll not be stretched out of shape and un-closeable once the tent’s up.
- Get a sleeping bag that’s warm enough, an air mattress or sleeping pad that’s cushioned enough, and an actual pillow. You can kick off part of the sleeping bag when it’s too warm, but there’s not much you can do but put on extra clothes and shiver when it’s too cold. Take a moment’s pause to consider what you’ll be using for a pillow. Establishing your camping pillow is a quest worth a bit of attention. If you’re contemplating some expedient, like using a rolled up pair of spare pants as a pillow, try it in your bed at home first.
- Use a tarp on the ground underneath the tent. If you’re car camping and have plenty of space for hauling, bring an old door mat for the entrance, then always leave your shoes or boots just inside. The tent will be a lot more comfortable if you can walk around inside in socks or bare feet without stepping on who-knows-what.
- Do not bring any food into the tent. This includes candy bars still sealed in plastic. Just because you can’t smell it doesn’t mean other things can’t. The bear population of Northeast Mississippi and surrounding areas is basically zero, but the skunk, raccoon and armadillo populations are not. These nocturnal critters will seek out people food, especially in and around regular campsites. You don’t want them to find it next to your sleeping bag, especially if you’re in it. Bringing food into your tent is a really bad practice. It should not be done no matter where you’re camping.
Focus on the food
- Consider getting a Coleman stove or propane burner for cooking. Besides a pillow to sleep on, good-and-plenty food is the best way to make sure the camping trip is a success.
- When it comes to food preparation, the more you can knock out in your kitchen at home and pack into Ziploc bags or plastic containers and haul in ice chests, the better. Soups made at home and frozen will serve two needs, helping keep other food cool in the ice chest until you use them. Pre-mixed dry ingredients planned for any dish are a bonus. For easy scrambled eggs at breakfast, crack and whip all the eggs you’ll need in the comfort of your own kitchen, then haul them to camp in a plastic container with a secure lid. Bonus points if you can haul them in a juice jug of the sort that has a pouring spout that snaps open and closed.
- When it comes to clothing, dress in thin layers. The base layer, the one in contact with skin, should be of a wicking fabric, one that does not lose its insulating properties when it becomes damp. This is where wool shines and where cotton does not. New products like those from Smartwool are extremely comfortable and very light weight.
- Cotton should be avoided as a cold weather base layer because, as you’re active and warm up, even a small amount of sweat will saturate cotton clothing and cause it to lose its insulating properties.
- The outermost layer of any cold weather outfit must be the weatherproof layer. Rainsuits work nicely.
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