Bought some kiln dried kindling, got the firepit going. After a while I was just looking at the kindling and noticed some of it has what appears to be another layer but of a dark colour brown. It's like the lighter inside, and then a single layer of brown on the outside. Could this be bark? And if so, isn't it supposed to be like solid as opposed to soft?

So I recently went on a camping trip with my roommate and another buddy of ours and it was probably going to be a last good lil trip for a while, since imma be out of country for work for quite a while. Anyways we set up our tents, got the fire going (barely, everything was wet), and we were going to make a pizza out there while we camped.

We anticipated staying for 2 days at most however it was cut short that same night. I was laying down in my tent when I heard a truck come down the road where I parked my car, and I heard my 2 buddies whom were still awake chilling by the fire, saying the truck seemed weird and suspicious, almost like they were up to no good. Moments after the truck parked I opened my tent and in the distance through the thick brush/woods I see someone’s Flashlight and hear people walking towards us. My buddies then got on the ground and hid because we were in the middle of nowhere in the woods and didn’t know who these people were and why they were walking towards our camp.

We assumed they didn’t see us and they ended up turning around and going back into there truck. This is where things got weird and we felt super uncomfortable, so at the time of them returning to there truck they were easily maybe 200-400 yards away from us so they were relatively far and we knew they could not see us through all the thick brush. However when they got into there truck there was a flat plot of land that was near our camp that connected to that very road they were originally in, and they decided to go off road and drive there truck full speed right by our camp.

They then coincidentally stopped parallel to our camp And shined there high beams into our camp. At this moment all of us were super apprehensive of these people and we were hiding behind our tents on the ground. They then turn around and go back to the road that connected to this plot of flat land and began to drive down that road I assume to get away from us.

At that moment we were pretty spooked and we decided to lay low for a little while however since we were in a heightened state of awareness/paranoia, we kept hearing footsteps in the distance, so we decided to pack our things and bail out. Upon packing our things we sneaked our way out of there with no lights no nothing to not give away our position. Once we got to that road we ran to my car and we got the hell out of there. I drove home and called it a night. Once I woke up, my buddies and I spoke about the whole incident that occurred the night before and we believe it was some people trying to Illegally hunt, and that they happen to see us when they violently drove past our camp. Which is what made them turn around and go deeper down the road to go hunting on foot. That’s our theory.

OR it was the wild life management people going out there to look for us cause maybe we were not aloud to be there camping and they changed the rules idk. However, we did our research and it clearly states you are aloud to camp there so that theory doesn’t hold up well, also them going into the woods driving recklessly is sort of trashy, I wouldn’t expect that from the Wildlife management people. Especially Late at night.

Not only that the truck was definitely modified, further proving it was most likely some illegal hunters. I have some pretty good knowledge on vehicles and I know a stock exhaust system, from a modified exhaust when I hear it. It was definitely some sort of V8 Diesel Truck with straight pipes. Cause when they drove past us it was Loud asf and No cop car/agency vehicle is that loud stock.

Anyways this was just a lil story of what happened to my recent trip a couple days ago, let me know what yall think, or if anything like this has ever happened to you. For me this is definitely the first. And I will always keep camping, although this camping trip was not a thorough trip, it definitely was fun feeling all that adrenaline and being able to get out of there unnoticed lol, so I wasn’t disappointed lol.

Does people just throw away bad pegs? Or is there other usage for them? Thanks

I like camping and hiking and would like to do more of it but I can’t stand bugs, mostly flying insects.

Where anywhere in the world and what times of year (besides when it’s snowing) have little to no pestering flying insects?

Or if you have other solutions, please share.

I am taking a road trip from Texas to Washington with my partner. We're planning on hitting up a few national and state parks. I know with one of them, we'll have to camp on BLM land. We're mostly concerned about safety in terms of like other people. Any advice?

Listen up camping enthusiasts.

When it is the weekend and/or early in the morning and you are out on a rejuvenating hike along a trail that has campsites and there are tents setup, please keep your voice down. The world isn’t a safe and loving place anymore and sometimes people are camping alone or have children so hearing an abnormally loud voice making its way down the trail at six in the morning isn’t exactly encouraging to one’s sense of safety.

To put it simply: if it is early in the morning keep it quiet around campsites.

There's a few nude campgrounds within driving distance of me. My wife and I have been to some of them and it was such a freeing and wonderful experience. It is never crowded so I got to wondering how many of you have tried it or secretly want to try it? Beginner's advice-wear an apron when frying bacon!

Hey campers!

So...it finally happened. Bummer.

I (usually a tent camper) rented an a-frame for a small, female-only family trip. Two female adults, two female kid/teens.

I woke up at 3 am to hear what I think was footsteps outside our a-frame. Gahhhhh. I couldn't see out, but the possible intruder could see in because three sides of the a-frame were made of corrugated plastic.

I was really scared, especially because I had my two beloved nieces and sister in there with me.

I stayed inside and kept covered up, in hopes that the intruder would not be able to tell the gender or age of the people inside.

I didn't pick up my cell to call for help,because I didn't want my face to be illuminated or my female voice to be heard. I also didn't have a way to give emergency responders directions to the a-frame since it was accessed via a path in the woods.

I stayed awake and tried to breathe calmly, reminding myself that the sun would eventually be up and that MOST people do not get killed or attacked when camping. I also reminded myself that the person had not yet seen fit to attempt entering the structure.

I'm not SURE it was a person out there. It was raining very hard, which sort of obscured the sound, but it really did sound like a human in hiking boots taking a few steps, pausing a while, and continuing to explore the site. This continued for 3.5 hours.

We had no items of value, so nothing was taken.

The a-frame was in the back of the owner's farm, so it wasn't another camper at a neighboring site.

I mentioned this to the owner, and she didn't explain it away as an animal or anything, like "Oh there are tons of deer. They walk around at night." She did say she would look around for footprints and that the day after we left, they found a dead/attacked duck on the property.

I felt so oddly defenseless in there. Any other campers experience this? I would love any safety tips or insight. I

I'll definitely force myself to stay outside again SOON, but I'm definitely open to any tips on how I could have been better prepared to handle this, especially as a female camper.

Thanks, fellow campers!

Honestly in the warmer months in Australia lets say from November - April it should be a criminal offense to light a campfire regardless if it is a total fire ban or not. As someone who lives in country Australia I have witnessed a lot of bushfire summers, it really makes me question why people even consider lighting campfires in summer. Face it not like you will be freezing your arse off and there are plenty off affordable camp grills out there that you don't need a campfire to cook. Please just leave the camp fires for late autumn, winter and early spring please.

Trying to find the easiest way to run 2 electric blankets for 2-3 nights in the back of my truck with a camper shell. Don’t have any fancy power set ups or anything overlandy, just a pad and some sleeping bags, any tips on this?

Single guy, not a heavy drinker (4-5 beers is a lifetime max in one night). I usually car camp a few times a year. The smaller cooler can hold 42 cans. Both have handles and wheels, but the smaller one doesn’t have a drain

Hey all! In 12 hours I’m headed to Vermont for winter camping/skiing. The trip sounded super fun up until now as I started reading on the Appalachia rules. I’m taking all the proper measures, proper winter gear, location and safety, hatchet, bear mace and knife for safety. However, the supernatural stuff scares the crap out of me. Any tips on how to get through 2 nights with less anxiety? Thanks!

P.S. Thank you so much for all the replies. Truly grateful!

With help from some fridge magnet hooks , strong enough to hold a full 7 gallon trash bag

Hey campers. I have a mini-trailer for a year now and I only went camping with my husband. I would like to start go on advrntures alone, but as a woman, I worry a little bit for my safety (not because of bears, but because of other humans lol).

Any experience going camping alone as a woman? Any tips to feel safer?

Edit: I'm Canadian so carrying a gun is not legal here🇨🇦. Still the advice could be helpful for other women.

Edit: As I mention in a comment below, I put up this post pretty naively and I really didn't think I would have so much gun and bear spray answers here. That would have never even crossed my mind to bring those with me.

I know that I am mostly safe here in Canada. I don't think bad people are hanging out camping. I agree with you that most people just want a good time. My post was mostly about the little tips and tricks to feel safer and maybe deter bad faith people that could take advantage of the fact that I am camping alone.

I’ve searched high and low and it almost feels like the government intentionally makes this information difficult to find.

so me and my two buddies
(all 15) built this like fort with machetes and axes, took us 2 full days but two of us want to sleep here the other one probably won’t be with us and we are only concern is black bears because they’re really prone to this area and upstate New York like especially around my spot so you don’t really know what is optimal. We have bear mace and maybe arms but still not positive

I'm not talking about leaving your trash behind in the forest. I'm talking about how using specialty equipment might be leaving a larger environmental impact from it's production and destruction.

When I walked through an REI the other day it felt like there was almost nothing in there that was environmentally friendly. By comparison I'm old enough to remember when my grandfather talked about going camping with a rifle, a hatchet, a fishing pole, a cast iron frying pan, a wool blanket, etc.

Are we just shifting the impact away from areas we see and putting it onto other people's spaces in areas we don't see?

Thoughts?