Heavy vs Light Camping

[Owl62]

I'd like to hear about the amount of equipment your unit takes camping.

 

Our unit tends to go pretty light, but not backpacking light. We do little backpacking. Most of use don't use a backpack but a duffle bag - they are easier to pack into vehicles - we drive to many of our campouts.

 

Of course we have our personal gear (usually a duffle bag, sleeping bag and pad, and perhaps a camp stool or chair), our tents, perhaps a rain/dining fly, water jugs, and usually one chuckbox. Some also bring cots, hammocks, etc.

 

Our Venture Crew is about the same except they have no chuck box 9

(they use a large plastic tote for car camping).

 

I see some Boy Scout units pull into camp with a whole convoy of equipment ladden vehicles - some even have trailers rigged with shelves, racks etc. for gear. Some have camp tables and chairs, and various lashed together items such a a flag pole, campsite gate (some completely fence in their campsite), lanters, stoves, dutch ovens, water jugs, pioneer tools, large unit tents. I know of one unit who had an adult leader who was a plumber who brought and connected an electric water heater to the campsite shower (not a bad idea really - most everyone enjoys a hot shower). They get the same campsite every summer for camp and plumbed the shower so all they had to do was connect the water heater and plug it in! Some of this stuff take hours to unload and set up. And hours to take down, and load.

 

Now while I will admit that I often take a roll up cot, and often a hammock, I do not bring the whole house with me. I have been trying to scale down the size and weight of my gear and thankfully, technology has allowed me to do a lot of scaling down. I can pretty much get everything for a weekend in one small and one large dufflebag - of course food for meals, and bulk water is extra. (We mostly car camp).

 

Now I can get everything I need in/on a backpack - done it many times. But if the situation allows I do like to take a few creature comforts - I really enjoy a hammock for example- I even sleep in it some campouts if the weather is mild.

 

Seems to me that some of the really heavy camping kind of detracts from the idea of the thing.

 

Your thoughts...

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

[EagleWB]

I would say we have 3 different setups for camping.

1. We do a lot of backpacking camping so there is a minimalist list of things we take on these outings.

2. District events - We take Chuck boxes, free standing stoves, tables, water jugs and a large free standing dinning fly. Everyone has a backpack for personal gear that doesn't go in the tents.

3. Summer Camp - We take our free standing tarp and tables for our parents night, because our campsites don't have these.

[Proud Eagle]

My troop has over the years always had at least one equipment trailer. At one point, we had 3 differnt trailers that were the troop's, plus one that was the Scoutmaster's that was used from time to time.

 

Trailer number one was an old, rusty, horse trailer. It was huge. It was the surplus gear storage facility for many years. It has since been retired.

 

Trailer number two was one of those old (1960s, I think) camper trailers that has flat sides but a egg like profile when viewed from the side. This was the primary trailer for many years. The inside had been stripped down to just a few cabinets, and the rest was open space. This allowed the equipment needed to be loaded from trailer number one for each trip.

 

Trailer number three was purchased because trailers one and two were wearing out, and it was a hassle to have to reload every trip. The new trailer was outfitted with customized shelves by one of the parents. It can hold every piece of equipment the troop owns if need be. Generally we keep it loaded out for an average camping trip: troop tents, cooking gear, dining flys, lanterns, coolers, water coolers, paper products, some miscelaneous items, and room for personal gear. The trailer is now parked outside the garage of the charter organizations youth house, so it is very easy to load and unload items as is needed. We do sometimes take wood tools, fence posts for axe yard and campsite peremiter, two 18ft flag poles, plywood picnic tables, a metal fire ring, troop flags, extra tents, extra rope for fences, rope for pioneering projects, and on very rare occasions, pre-cut pioneering poles.

 

Personal gear is usually carried in a single duffel bag per peson, with sleeping bags and pads seperate, and a small "carry-on" bag to take in the vehicle. Some prefer backpacks, but those are not generally allowed in tents. All seasoned adults bring chairs. Some others also bring chairs. Also, a few adults will sometimes bring hammocks or cots.

 

I usually overpack (have to lug around all those books, binders, notepads, electric lantern, camp chair(s), full size pillow, a 4-D maglight, and of coarse my entire patch collection, that is in addition to what is actually needed for the trip).

 

Now for certain trips we decide not to take the trailer and lighten things up a bit. This is usually done to save gas.

 

On a few trips we will go for backpacking so everyone lightens up even more. Unfortunately, it is normally necessary to take the trailer for backpacking because of the extra room taken by packs. Though for Philmont in 2001 we fit 12 people and 12 packs inside our troop's (yes, technically our charger org's) 15 passenger van for the 3 hour drive to St. Louis to board Amtrak.

[Blaze66]

Our troop has two setups. First about 90% of what we do is backpacking so light weight is our first method. The only time we do any sort of car camping is at District or Council events. When we go to these, we have a giant chuck box on wheels. Basically it's a home made 8 x 10 trailer with fold out sides. One side for the scouts one side for the leaders. Each side is equiped with a set of cook ware, utinsels, stove, lantern, etc... Then in the center of the trailer we carry patrol tables and a large frame tarp. Each of the boys basically brings their own gear (same stuff they bring for backpacking) the only changes being the food they bring.

[CWKitchenStaffer]

My troop uses two different set ups. First off, at our own site, we sort of "car camp" (oh, we forgot this, will someone go to cumby's?) At our site, we bring a chuckbox (we call it a kitchen) a couple of coolers (depending on the intricacy of the meals) and a few axes, saws, etc. Of course, our site houses our shed, which has most of our outdoor gear. When we go to summer camp, we are fairly minimalist. The boys bring their personnal gear (obviously) and the troop brings one of those tarps with the metal frames. The camp kitchen staff (of which I am part) provides all meals, which are excellent (of course...lol) Our camp actually discourages the equipment laden trailers. Some troops still bring them, but they must be pulled by one of the two camp trucks. That can be time consuming since there are two trucks to get about 13 troops moved into their sites in a few hours. My troop does bring about a carload of small gear (axes, saws, first aid kit, KoolAid and crackers, etc) to camp, but we usually travel fairly light.

[txscoutdad]

Our troop has four types of camping set ups.

We go backpacking once a year with each patrol given a minimalist amout of gear for cooking and a troop supplied tent to be carried/shared by two or more boys. Dads bring their own gear with the adult cooking gear and food divided up.

 

Most monthly camping is car camping at various locations. The troop has full gear stored and carried in a Troop trailer with a locker for each patrol. Each patrol has a chuck box and identical amount of cooking gear and tents. We also have a trailer to carry all of the backpacks for the boys, they pack a backpack with at least the 10 essentials for all campouts. The adults have a trailer that has a field kitchen with propane stoves,tables,chuck box,and large frame tarp.

 

Summer camp is in council,in supplied tents,meals at the dining hall, bring what you want.

 

Winter camp is also in council, but with no mess hall, we bring the field kitchen and adults and boys all cook together. Everyone brings their own tents. This camp is done Jamboree style and you see a vast variation of the amount of equipment that troops haul in. One troop that camps next to us every year at this camp has full military field

mess tents with heaters,tables and chairs. They also bring in a LARGE smoker used by a big name barbeque resteraunt to cook on. Not saying this is bad,and I'm sure they don't camp like this all of the time, just that you can see from that much equipment down to small troops with small amouts of equipment.

[packsaddle]

Very similar to EagleWB. Over the years I have cultivated a love-hate relationship with trailers. Overall, the backpack is my favorite, most reliable transport. Goin' again this weekend. No tent. No pad. No extra weight. And lovin' every minute.

[willysjeep]

My troop has anywhere from two to four diferent strategies for camping. We usually have about 4 or 5 adults and anywhere from 5 to 15 scouts who regularly camp.

 

1) backpacking consists of all backpacks, mostly personal gear with some troop items like large cooking pots and water filters. There are allways enough scouts with tents so that everybody can buddy up and end up in a tent. We usually have passanger cars or vans to haul people and one truck at most to haul gear. Unless we have a meal planned for our starting campsite within reach of the cars we don't bring coolers or anything.Most of the hiking stoves we use are provided by troop members, but not troop owned. The troop only owns two burner coleman propane stoves.

 

2) Light car camping/canoeing. This equipment is again mostly personal gear but the troop may provide two burner stoves, dutch ovens, axes, saws, water jugs, complete cook kits, etc... Some extras get hauled with that might be too heavy for hiking, but we can still squeeze it all into one truck and a couple of vans.Backpacks are still often used, but not required.

 

3) Heavy car camping. Most district events are like this. You can unload gear from the car to the campsite for the most part. Almost anything goes. The troop provides dining fly tarps, chuck boxes, 2 burner propane stoves, propane lanterns, axes, dutch ovens, iron fire cranes. Each patrol gets a chuck box and all the fixings. We often have coolers along for fresh foods. A few adults have folding plastic picnic tables that they let patrols use. The troop really doesn't have any tents so all personal gear from the tent on down is provided and shared by individual scouts.

 

4) Summer Camp.

We bring our own chuck boxes with even though the summer camp provides chuck boxes too. We don't like to have to clean their dishes and we are more comfortable with our own. The summer camp has dining-fly type structures made of lumber and steel roofing so we leave our dining flys at home. The summer camp also proides wood burning sheep herder stoves, but we bring our propane stoves with too so we don't have to light a fire for every meal. Other than that, and the fact that everybody brings more junk than they probably should, it is very similar to our standard car camping.

 

We rarely if ever build a flag pole. If we are car caming we have flag holders to hold up our regular flag standards. Our summer camp has a flag pole in each site too. We have never had a shower, to my knowledge, in our camp site. We have also never had anything like communal tents or an equipment trailer. We do have a canoe trailer but it doesn't really hold any gear beyond paddles and PFD's. I have never seen anybody bring a cot or hammoc to anything but summer camp. We do often have scouts bring things like radios, but even during free time at summer camp or district events we have a headphones only policy. It's not too much of a problem. We have done pioneering projects, mostly small camp gadgets, and a few larger ones that were a part of a special camp-o-ree event. Mostly we see things like kitchen racks and tripods for water jugs.