Ultra Mega Outdoors/Camping Thread

[Blarg]

This is one of those tragedies just waiting to happen. One of those, "I forgot the kids weren't in the car", type of stories featuring a Florida man, that after hitting a pothole, sees the kids catapulted over the car.

 

[Homebrewer]

I don't get it.

What makes that better than two regular chairs?

Looks like a meth-head project.

[red321]

Because you can set them up and stick the noisy kids in them 30 yards away from everyone else

[nate]

My friends have taken outdoorsman classes before. They were operated in like Artesia/Pasadena foothills area. The way they described it to me it sounded awesome. One class was how to create shelter with bare minimum items that you would always have on you, another was how to eat off of the local San Gabriel land, etc. If you're interested in something like that I'll try to find the information for you.

 

I did one of those classes where you are just in a group of like 10 people and a wilderness guide in the woods up north near Mammoth.  I was 19 years old.  Can't think of what it was called now.

 

The guide was an asshole and just left us alone while he went off and got stoned every night.

[Blarg]

I can't blame him.

 

Uh, I mean, that was so wrong.

[Blarg]

I don't get it.

What makes that better than two regular chairs?

Looks like a meth-head project.

 

These are the same people using egg cartons to ignite Matchlight charcoal.

[TobiasFunke]

These are the same people using egg cartons to ignite Matchlight charcoal.

I think you're focused too hard on the matchlight part of the charcoal. If it was regular charcoal that would be a decent idea.

[arch stanton]

I think you're focused too hard on the matchlight part of the charcoal. If it was regular charcoal that would be a decent idea.

Until some genius uses the Styrofoam egg cartons.

[Blarg]

I think you're focused too hard on the matchlight part of the charcoal. If it was regular charcoal that would be a decent idea.

 

I think when someone posts a picture describing what to do maybe just the charcoal and not the bag it came from could do fine. These are the same knuckleheads that burned up their Doritos in a cardboard box because they didn't have any kindling . They also built a clumsy, hard to transport toilet out of a milk carton, a paint bucket, some busted up chair legs and twist ties and call it an emergency potty and thought a first aid kit can fit in a pill bottle. They also decided that taking time out of their day to segment straws to fill them from a tube of ointment and seal the ends made perfect sense. Instead of just carrying a 4oz prepackaged tube that they would carry out instead of littering the wilds with straws.

 

I am sure Nate will find all of these tips helpful.

[TobiasFunke]

Easy blarg, it's a friggin' Buzzfeed article for God's sake

[Blarg]

There is serious stuff in this thread, TobiasFunke. Serious. Haphazardly lighting your doritos on fire could burn down a national park.

Edited June 25, 2014 by Eric Notti

[TobiasFunke]

I'll call Jerry Brown to let him know your concerns. I have him on speed dial.

[AngelsLongBall]

I did one of those classes where you are just in a group of like 10 people and a wilderness guide in the woods up north near Mammoth. I was 19 years old. Can't think of what it was called now.

The guide was an asshole and just left us alone while he went off and got stoned every night.

It's called Boy Scouts. Bonus points if the asst scoutmaster says you have a pretty mouth

[nate]

It's called Boy Scouts. Bonus points if the asst scoutmaster says you have a pretty mouth

 

No it was called outward bound or homeward bound or something like that.  It was like a ten day survival class in the wilderness.

[Blarg]

If it was Homeward Bound you would have had a Labrador, a Pit Bull and a feral cat with you.

[nate]

It was Outward Bound.  Granted it was 12 years ago but it didn't seem this nice when I went.

 

http://outwardboundcalifornia.org/discover/programs/

[Homebrewer]

Local Outward Bound facility is down at the bottom of my road.

Fresh young talent down there sometimes...

 

Under Sierra Nevada...

 

"Every summer from our base camp here in Midpines, CA, just outside of Yosemite National Park"

I live in Midpines, pop 204..

Edited June 26, 2014 by Homebrewer

[nate]

When I went it was out near Mammoth in the summer.  I learned some survival stuff but mostly I just learned how boring it is sitting in the wilderness with nothing but a backpacking tent and a lantern.

[mp170.6]

Does anybody have any bear [or other wild animal] encounters to share?

 

When I was ten years old, I tagged along with some other families on a cub scout camping trip in the San Bernardino mountains.  One morning I wasn't feeling good, so everybody else went hiking while I stayed behind in one of the tents and slept. 

 

I awoke to a tearing noise of some sort, followed by ice cubes and ice water hitting the side of the tent.  What the heck?  All of the boys (me included) had been pranking each other by pretending to be a bear, so I thought this was payback for one of the pranks I orchestrated.  I quickly stood up and without looking outside, tossed a flashlight in the general direction of the sound, hoping to hit whichever kid threw the ice at me.  Then I stormed outside to come face to face with a real bear.  He was maybe 15 feet away and unfazed by the flashlight I had thrown, but quickly bolted once I started yelling and waving my arms. 

 

As for the tearing noise and ice hurled at my tent, somebody left a styrofoam ice chest in the area we prepared our meals.  The bear violently tore it in half, and in doing so, some of the ice and water was deflected in my direction.  haha

[red321]

A few years back I was photographing in Yosemite...

 

http://www.redinkphotography.com/2010/09/bear-vs-the-lowepro/

 

 

 

 

Wow, what a great closeup of the bear Sean…what is she doing? Well, let me tell you a little story of why I, forever more, will be a huge fan of Lowepro bags.

Last week I was shooting up on Washburn Point overlooking Half Dome the Mist Trail at sunrise. Boring morning, spent most of the time talking to another guy who was milling around but the camera was setup on the tripod, bag on the ground waiting to see if something exciting would happen as the sun rose.

 

 

And out of the blue two small bear cubs appear on the staircase above walking towards me. I grab my camera off my tripod, leaving the bag, as I see the mama bear start to descend the small staircase and make her way towards me. There’s nothing in the bag food wise so I don’t think twice about it. I’m backing away from the mama bear, who is now sniffing around my bag.

 

Yellow #47 (as we come to find out later) starts to become very interested in my bag, pulling at the bag trying to tear it open. This suddenly goes from being an interesting situation to a potentially disastrous situation. I have 3 lenses in the bag, including two Canon L series lenses and a telextender. 8 some odd batteries, 10 memory cards, a host of high end filters, and my travel journal which includes a personal history of the last year or so of my travel/photography life. The contents of this bag are worth quite a lot to me financially and personally.

 

I raise my arms and start yelling at yellow #47, hoping she’ll scamper off…I then set off the car alarm. That’s what they teach you, right? Make yourself big and make lots of noise. And it works…with the unfortunate caveat that she scampers off over the wall and down the hill dragging her new found treasure chest…my camera bag in mouth.

 

I’m sure I turned ashen white as I see a significant portion of my equipment make it’s way down the hill…I go from yelling at yellow #47 to begging her to stop. Which she does about 50 yards down the hill, and then proceeds to double her efforts to open the bag. I can only sit and watch in stunned silence as she continues to tear at the bag, claws and teeth busy at work she now has the front pocket open and I can see stuffing go flying. But lo and behold, after what seems like an eternity, but probably was no more than a minute or so, she gives up. She can’t break through the bag, saunters back up the hill with her bear cubs, and goes on her way searching for a morning meal.

 

I hop the fence and walk down the hill to find my bag beaten and battered…but the equipment inside…safe and sound.

 

To paint the picture…bear tearing at a lowepro bag, half dome in the early morning light in the background…unfortunately the photos are limited…maybe one or two usable ones with mama bear playing with the bag before she made the leap over the wall. I was setup for landscape mode in the early morning light…lo iso, mirror lock, etc. In a rush to get out of the way, and then watching my bag disappear when trying to reset my camera I ended up shutting it off and thinking the battery had died. Just grab another battery of course…which are all in the bag half way down the hill.

 

Maybe a lost opportunity, but I’ll be damned if I ever use another bag besides a lowepro for my important gear again.

Edited June 27, 2014 by red321

[Tank]

sean, that write-up may be worth sending to lowepro to let them know how much you appreciate their product. 

[red321]

Oh, I did Tank...received a free $400 bag as a replacement and they featured it on their blog. Damn shame I didn't capture the glory shot with half dome in the background...could have been a full page ad. Unfortunately I had everything configured for slow landscape shots and not hand held action shots...panicked...shut off the camera accidentally and though it meant the battery had died...and all the spare batteries were in the bag. That and when you see 10k worth of camera equipment disappear down the hillside...Cool under pressure am I. (sic)

Edited July 1, 2014 by red321

[Blarg]

Camping as a kid out in Yosemite some idiot decided to empty their entire pot of burnt baked beans into one of the trash cans in the camp ground. It took no time at all for a black bear to smell dinner and rolled though the campground. My brother and I jumped into a phone booth and closed the door (yeah, camping and there was a phone booth, really roughing it) as he just wanders on by completely ignoring us. I think my dad got a picture of this bear with the trash can tipped over and his whole head and shoulders inside it lapping up the beans. That was one happy bear and a whole lot of scared tent campers.

 

The ranger just laughed when people were screaming do something! He said he was, he was watching the bear eat dinner and after he was done he'd escort him out but not a minute sooner. Sure enough, the bear had licked the last off it's paws and the ranger walks up and tells the bear that's enough and get out of here and the bear complies as if he was a puppy being scolded a walks out with his head down.

 

In the wild I've run across bears at a reasonable distance and gave them all the room they wanted. Never once did I surprise one or get close enough to be a threat and hope I never do. My grandfather told the story of one of the local ranchers had went out hunting a grizzly that had come down and poached on his property. He thought he was tracking the bear while the Grizz was circling back behind him. He turned around to the Grizz taking a big swipe at his head tearing a hole in his skull cap. He woke up hours later covered in blood and stumbled back to his truck, drove to the hospital and told the doctor what happened then died.

 

Don't mess with bears.

[Hollyw00d]

but they look so cuddly

[mp170.6]

but they look so cuddly

 

Why do people give teddy bears to their infant children?  Why are we instilling in their little brains that a bear wants a hug?