RT @campingblogger: RT @roughin_it: Great News for Michigan Campers. DNR to keep open 23 State Campgrounds prev. set to close http://t.c ... - 11 June 2011, 5:33 am - View »
Ed Stafford nominated for National Geographic Adventurer of the Year. All amazing stories. http://tinyurl.com/2w2yeh7 - 18 December 2010, 7:04 am - View »
I got into an argument with a girlfriend inside of a tent. That's a bad place for an argument, because then I tried to walk out and slammed the flap. How are you supposed to express your anger in this situation? Zipper it up really quick?
Thanks for stopping by. We created CEJCamping to help ourselves remember some of the great trips that we've taken over the last decade-and-a-half. In the course of talking about the gathering of knowledge, we realized that there is a lot we have to say. Take a minute to look around. Hopefully you'll find enough interesting things that you'll come back for more!
A recent, non-scientific survey found a high incidence of Gear Addiction Syndrome (GAS) among males. While incident rates were lower for females, for those afflicted, severity of symptoms were similar. While it probably won't make the next edition of the DSM, GAS can have significant, negative impacts for individuals. However, a review of related literature around the blog world indicates little attention has yet been paid to this serious condition. To date, diagnostic tools are few, and even more rare are evidence based treatment options. One article could never hope to provide a complete conceptualization, but it is hoped that this post can begin the conversation while simultaneously letting those who suffer from GAS know there are others like them out there.
This week Education Outdoors, Inc. (makers of the original CAMP Board Game) are introducing two new games at the 2010 New York International Toy Fair. Their current games include the CAMP Board Game, a Booster Pack of cards for CAMP, CAMP Travel Edition, and the CAMP Activity Book. In addition to this, S'mores will be available in May, 2010, with Snipe becoming available around the end of June, 2010. My family has played the CAMP Board game previously, and really enjoyed it, so I was curious to find out more about the new products they have designed. Fortunately, the folks over at Education Outdoors were kind enough to send us some of their products to review. Arriving just a day before our family headed out for a long weekend of skiing, we had plenty of time to give several of them a thorough test run. And if you keep reading, you'll have a chance to win a copy of S'mores for yourself!
Well, I suppose that Marc asked me to participate in authoring this last article in the Ten Essentials series because I'm "uniquely qualified" to discuss hydration, or more accurately, dehydration. In 2002 I experienced pretty significant dehydration while camping in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. Many of the details about that trip are here. It's not pretty, and we made a couple of very poor decisions that nearly cost us more than a "wasted trip." The thought of an airlift was not out of the question on that particular adventure.
What if I told you that for about $8, you could take just about any piece of camping equipment and make it water resistant, stain resistant, abrasion resistant, UV blocking, antibacterial, not have the equipment change appearance at all or alter the fabrics breathability in any way what so ever? What if I told you that you could do this by spraying glass on it? You might think I'm crazy, but the biggest technological break through to hit your camping gear could be coming to the U.S. soon.
Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing. Abraham Lincoln.
After a Super Bowl party with some friends, and discussion around family camping, my wife and I had a conversation around whether or not we had our kids enrolled in too many organized activities (e.g., basketball, soccer, baseball, etc.). This included wondering what types of activities best lead to building character in children. For example, would they be better off spending more time in unstructured play outside, or doing more camping as a family. Having team/organized activities each weekend makes it difficult to get away. They love the sports, but they also being outdoors and just being kids. Its something I'm still thinking about now.
CEJCamping is excited to roll out a new commenting system! The new system makes it easier to add a new comment, or include a nested reply to someone else's comment. You can even include a prior comment as a "quote" inside of your comment, making it easier for others to know exactly what you are responding to. The new system also allows you to include links, images, formatted font, and emoticons in your message. Even more exciting for users, it now allows you to include the url for your own blog so that others can follow it back to your page. We're really excited about this last feature, because its a great way to be part of and help grow the great community of outdoor bloggers!
You may have heard the saying, 'Leaves of three, let them be', and its one worth heeding. Poison Ivy, Poison Oak, and Poison Sumac are three plants that can quickly ruin any family camping outing. I figured we spend lots of time suggesting fun family camping activities, but it might be worth focusing on an activity to avoid as well! These three plants all contain Urushiol oil, the most common allergen in the United States (approximately half of the county is allergic to it) and there is no really good cure, other than time.Some people can have severe reactions to it that will last well beyond the camping trip, and even those of us who have more mild reactions will want to avoid it. The best defense is to understand how to identify them and how the Urushiol oil acts.
