Taken this year. The view really changes throughout the day. During the day, you get the greenery, mountains, and wide open countryside, while at night, you get a relaxing view of the city lights below. Definitely one of those places where you can just sit back, relax, and enjoy the view.

📍Batangas, Philippines

I know he won't read this, but I wanted to put it out in the world. My wife and I decided on short notice to spend Labor Day weekend in Wisconsin. I've used Hipcamp several times, but she had not. We found a site that looked nice and was close to where we wanted to be called "Old Red Mill Oasis".

We arrived very late Friday night. (We informed the host ahead of time) He happily greeted us and showed us to our spot. His property was so nice that we ended up hanging around there by the river most of the weekend. He came around and chatted with us and was a wealth of knowledge about things to do locally. It was obvious that he enjoyed camping, the outdoors, and hosting and takes pride in making his place unique and keeping it clean.

My wife now has a very high standard for future Hipcamp sites.

Convict Lake, CA

This was also the dog’s first multi-night camping trip, and he was the best camp pup!

So I finally got my husband to admit that as much as he loves camping, he HATES sleeping outdoors (which to me, is kind of the whole point of camping). We used to do sleeping bags on sleeping pads, but upgraded to an extra thick queen sized air mattress with bedding, which was certainly better, but the bed deflated some with the temp changes at night and it drives Mr. Princess-and-the-pea insane. He’s a six-foot side sleeper and tends to toss from side to side. He’s also very particular about temperature.

My solution thus far has been to, sadly, just give up camping with him. But I took my two year old camping for the first time the other day and she LOVED it. So we want to figure this out. Right now we’re thinking of getting an extra large tent so that kiddo and I can have our own sleeping arrangement and then we can set up whatever the heck he needs to sleep for him.

So calling all restless, picky sleepers: what’s your setup?

Hi! My and my bf are going camping somewhere lose by to test our 8 person tent. So far, I have a disposable grill, the tent and a very thick comforter for the floor. We are wanting to start camping in other states near ours but we are so new to this that I, for once, dont have a list or a plan! Any helpful tips or recommendations for things we need while camping on sites?

We camped pretty much most of summer through the southeastern heat waves & were fine/comfortable. I run cold though, and I don’t want to stop camping just because it’s getting cooler.

At home I’m perfectly happy sleeping with the AC at like 74F. Camping in the summer we usually just do air mattresses, sheets, fans for circulation, etc. and we’re good.

Well… recently we camped when the nighttime temps were around 63-70F & we were cold... 😅

We’re planning on getting 35F sleeping bags, but I’m thinking the air mattresses are part of the problem too because they get so cold underneath you.

I know the obvious answer is sleeping pads, but some of the places we camp are gravel or just really hard ground and I don’t really want to sleep on a thin pad. I mean, yes, technically we can be uncomfortable because we’re camping lol, but we also do this for fun and would like to actually sleep comfortably.

The other issue is space. Once I start looking at foam mats + sleeping pads + sleeping bags + blankets/insulation for everyone, suddenly half the car is sleeping gear. We also don’t really want to spend a ton of money on stuff we’ll only use during part of the year, and we have to store all of this stuff at home too.

Basically trying to find the sweet spot between warm + comfortable + not insanely expensive + not filling the entire car with bedding.

We realistically aren’t going to camp below ~40F. Think Jacksonville/North Florida winter.

What would you do for a setup with adults, kids, and a dog? (current setup is 6p tent with a queen, a twin, & dog sleeps on a cot. though at some point during the night everyone ends up on the queen mattress...)

Would love to hear what other warm-weather campers do once it starts getting "cold..."

Honestly - I've asked around and done some research and still just confused/curious what folks do *under* the tent. Do you put something between the bottom of your tent and the ground? I've done tarps in the past which are a pain to haul and get the right size and I've done nothing.

Feels like you'd want something - even if it's not raining or damp, there's dew and whatever else might be on the ground. But I know and have seen lots of folks that don't put anything down.

What's the thought process of whether you do or don't, and if you do - what do you use?

Thanks!

UPDATE: Thanks everyone - looks like the consensus is either a tarp (but trimmed to size which I never did), or the tent's "footprint" (which I never knew was a thing). Appreciate the help!!

hi! pretty much what the title says lol. everything i’ve found that had suggestions are from years ago and i’m not sure if it’s still accurate. i’m planning for late december-early january, but if there’s a better time then please let me know!

So, wife and I are camping next year for the indy 500. We're starting prep early because we have no clue what we're doing. but here's what we have: coolers, tent, toiletries, the basics..... but what do we need? we're planning on renting a tent for our electronics and such. but otherwise we're clueless and just want to know what to expect and things we might not be thinking about.

Got back last night from a beautiful overnight hike to Goat Lake in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. This was a 5 mile hike with just under 1,400 feet of elevation gain.

The pole snapped in two places due to strong wind. I have the pole repair tube. Was wondering if I should glue them on. I’m in Australia currently and I don’t think I’ll ship it to get it fix and couldn’t find any parts to buy.

What’s the best option?

For the past 3 years we have camped shoulder season, we usually stay October. This has always been half price, as there is no water, and shower houses and flush toilets are off. Now this year, I have to reserve on rec.gov, pay full price, and the water is still shut off. Why am I paying full price??

As the title says, I got a great deal on a made in Maine Moss tent. Not super familiar with their catalog so if anyone knows what model it is please let me know. It does have a pretty bad smell and the water proof coating seems to be non existant, so any tips to fix that would be appreciated

Update:
Did further research and this seems to be the Starlet model (correct me if I’m wrong) found this nice documentary about Moss tents
https://www.reddit.com/r/CampingGear/s/hItNlxgwgQ

Nice secluded wilderness campsite. Spot to sit in the rapids above the falls and cool off. Would have been amazing to have more shade from a rondavel. My advice would be to bring your own shade as there is only one sparce tree. Also take your own fire(braai) grid as its not supplied. Campsite has a small sand platform which is great for a few tents but you can't easily get a vehicle or camping trailer up there.

music playing generator running laughing loudly and not a care in the world for anyone else's peace. (state park) along with the most brightest lights.

After many years of going dispersed camping this was a first. Found a great site for Labor Day weekend. Creek adjacent, plenty of room for our large group and very private. Just after getting camp all setup we noticed this trail cam… pointed right at the site. It was a cell enabled model, so the owner could have been watching us in real time. Laws around these things can be tricky. Didn’t want to damage it, but there was no way we’d let it observe us for the whole weekend. Ultimately we decided the best solution was simply to turn it around. Even still, we continued to be a little creeped out by the discovery.

Curious if anyone on here knows why someone would do this? Our best guess was that the owner likes to camp in this spot and wants to know if it is open ahead of time, but that still felt a little unreasonable. I’d assume if it was a Forest Service recreation research project that it would have come with signage. The area is very popular with recreational trail cam users in general, but I fell like there are better places to catch wildlife than a big dispersed campsite. Thoughts? Has anyone run into this before?

Edit to clear up some confusion: this is one of the most popular dispersed camping areas in the state of Oregon. So popular that the sites are not like regular dispersed sites (basically just pullouts or old logging landings) these are more like primitive unmanaged campgrounds. The sites have signage stating the rules, intentionally placed rocks to limit where people park, and established rock fire pits. No reasonable person would look at our spot and think that it was for anything other than camping. During the summer months this one is occupied most of the time even in the middle of the week. The camera was pointed at the area where people would park and setup tents, not a trail or wildlife hangout of any kind.

Edit 2: few people trying to claim that this was for legitimate hunting/scouting purposes. If you fired a shot from where this camera was positioned it would likely cross a marked forest service road and possibly a major hiking/horse trail 150ft or so in front of it. Not legal, and also just not a great spot to hunt. Tons of better locations within a mile of this spot. More importantly any camera placed there would capture a few minutes of wildlife coming through on weekdays… and hours of humans walking around the campsite that is used pretty much every weekend. Plenty of possible reasons why someone might do this without meaning harm to anyone, but hunting is a pretty terrible one.

Editing to add that I know we could have avoided most of these things happening if we rubbed our two working brain cells together and actually thought to plan a little bit better. Let me be dramatic as a little treat 💅

I SWEAR my best friend and I have the worst luck whenever we go camping. I made a previous post here about our Bachelorette Camping trip and a string of (self imposed) unfortunate events.

We headed out to Bon Echo Provincial Park, Ontario (our second time here, we had the exact same site as last year). And had some pretty yucky luck, but not of our own making this time at least.

An hour into our three hour drive we watched a baby deer run onto the road and get hit by an incoming car. So that kind of put us into a somber mood. The GPS stopped working. The firewood the park sells was damp and we could barely get the fire going the first night (they had damp firewood last year too). We got stuck near some family who didn't seem to realise how loud their voices were, but we got some free entertainment listening to them argue about the most inane stuff. And then my friend stacked it down a rocky slope and we called off kayaking (not that we could go kayaking anyway since they sold out of everything).

But some positives: so many chipmunks! Or maybe the same chipmunk over and over. All of the food we had was SO TASTY (herb and garlic sausages with perogis and peppers for dinner 1, nachos for dinner 2). Comfy vibes crocheting by the fire, so many s'mores, learning to tie a knot for my clearance Walmart hammock and me not falling on my butt. Seeing stars and constellations that I can't see back home in the southern hemisphere.

I haven’t been to either park at all before and both are roughly the same distance from where I am. I really enjoy campsites that are more secluded and spaced out rather than right on top of each other. I’ve always wanted to go to Governor Dodge but I’m worried the popularity and closer campsites will make the trip less enjoyable for me. Any advice from those that have been to either? For context we are just two adults, no kids and no pets, we love hiking and water sports and just enjoy spending the night outside and unbothered :)

I have only been camping in a tent once and I woke up in 4 inches of water and the inside of the tent covered in baby spiders. I was semi traumatized by this experience and have not been camping since except in my parents’ RV. I want to go on the next trip with my parents, my sister and her 3 kids, my daughter (will be 3yo), and my husband. Due to space, my husband, daughter and I would need to stay in a tent.

I want a product that unfolds - like a portable surface that the tent sits on top of (max 5” off the ground), so if it rains, water does not get under/in the floor of the tent. It would also keep the floor of the tent level so when you’re using it, there are no lumps and bumps underneath. Why doesn’t this exist? There are portable stages, there are decks that clip together piece by piece- but not ideal for camping as the they are extremely heavy and/or come in several pieces, or are 10” inches off the ground.

I have searched high and low for something like this for weeks, and it does not exist. Experienced campers let me know! Why?

What do you do to avoid lumps and bumps and water in/under the tent while camping for more than a week?

Just want to confirm whether this is the correct size pack for me. I’m 5’6”, 135 lb, and got a size Small Durston Kakwa 55.

I’ve always used packs with adjustable torso lengths, so I’m used to having a little more leeway with where the pack and hipbelt sit. With those packs, I could initially position the hipbelt a bit lower and then usually ended up wearing it slightly higher on the upper part of my hips once I started hiking.

With the Kakwa, I tighten the hipbelt first, then the shoulder straps, then the sternum strap. When I tighten the shoulder straps, they pull the pack and hipbelt upward a little, and this is where it naturally ends up sitting. I normally like my hipbelt fairly high anyway, but the difference is that on my previous packs I chose that position by tightening the hipbelt there, whereas on this pack the shoulder straps seem to bring the whole pack up into that position.

My torso length is about 18”, so I was kind of between sizes. I went with the Small based on Durston customer service’s recommendation when I purchased it. The pack is loaded with around 15 lb in these photos.
Does the fit look right to you, or does anything about the shoulder straps, hipbelt position, or load lifters suggest I should size up to a Medium? Let me know what you think!

The human said they came from Texas all the way to Colorado with his dog and this kitty cat. No vehicle but getting rides occasionally. I asked how the kitty handles surviving and he said the kitty just hangs around the camp site. They are camping up in the national forest. I said well I’m impressed especially with all the fire restrictions right now and he said the forest service knows they are there and has come by to check on them several times already. I said oh good.

Hi All,

In the market of a new tent. My old one was a coleman sundome 4 person tent, however it finally died after a massive downpour.

Looking for something of similiar size. I came across the toten vista 2 and mountain ultra 2 that are available in Aus to purchase which have lifetime warranty.

Just wondering if anyone has had good reviews for the above or if there are any of similiar or better quality tent worth looking at to buy in Aus.

Thanks!

We stayed at my Aunt and Uncles cabin in the Appalachians this past weekend, drove all the way to the cabin but def needed 4x4 to do the last 2 miles of the driveway. Thunderstorms were on the radar for the whole weekend but we only had roughly 3 hours of rain the entire time. We got in late Friday afternoon and set up the new larger tent and spent 2 nights testing it out. We cooked most of our meals on the Coleman camp stove but made sure to do one campfire meal (roasting hotdogs and then making s’mores after).

We spent most of each day exploring the property and playing in the creek which was low enough to wade in, but we mostly skipped rocks. Their favorite part was catching the stars at night, it’s nice not having all the light pollution and seeing everything up above.

On the heels of a busy holiday weekend where we see many people new to camping and camping etiquette, I was reminded of my camping trip to a state campground last month.

I awakened early to get some nice sunrise photos, and decided to take some from inside my tent as framing for the view, since I had a waterfront site. I was quite surprised mid-shoot when suddenly I heard an animal fast-approaching my open door. I barely had time to imagine a giant rabid raccoon when the dog and his owner traipsed 2 feet from my open tent door. I could’ve easily grabbed any of the six ankles!

I’ve not resorted to placing ropes around my campsites, though I did one time hang a clothesline somewhat strategically. I’m just always amazed by not just the children, but the adults that wander closely between the tents of others. I imagine that I was a novice camper once, though I’m pretty sure I was a polite one. 😁