What do I do? Dude I live in Ontario.

What might you do? No clue. Go to lower elevation?

---

How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

the square irons are great for making pies with slices of bread and pie filling. Apple pies and cherry pies are great. One the better things recall I from childhood camping. you can make twigs into marshmello stick, but metal ones are nicer for hot dogs. You can use wine bottle corks to cover the pointed ends. Smores is fun for kids. Have some activities you can do for good or bad weather. Keep activities fun so your kids will want to return.

if you need help with starting fires, be sure to have small dry kindling, and aged firewood. Picking up recently fallen branches may not burn well. bring some fire starter sticks in case you need some help.

headlamps for everyone makes it nice for getting around camp at night. the cheap ones at home depot are fine for couple car camping trips.

Rocks.

We just ramped up the camping standards. Took delivery of a new travel trailer a week ago. If I want to rough it we go backpacking. We have several trips planned this year, Virginia, Yellowstone, Finger Lakes, Upper Peninsula of Michigan. And my entire gigantic family takes an annual week long camping trip.

For regular camping there are a couple items that make it better.

Good place to sit all day. Gravity chair like this:
https://www.cabelas.com/product/BASS-PRO-SHOPS-ZERO-GRAVITY-LOUNGER-PROMO/2948144.uts?slotId=0


Two burner propane stove, cooking over the fire is fine but if you want to actually cook and be able to heat up water for dishes and washing up you need some reliable heat.
https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/p/camp-chef-ranger-ii-blind-stove-16ccfurngr2blndstcac/16ccfurngr2blndstcac


Table top grill, yeah charcoal is great, but when things get damp and wet people still want to eat
https://www.amazon.com/Smoke-Hollow-205-Stainless-tailgating/dp/B00ENJRK3E/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=tabletop+grill&qid=1549774555&s=gateway&sr=8-3


A non pop up style screen house. The instant up style are no good. Too heavy and you bend a support, this thing is trash.
https://www.amazon.com/Quest%C2%AE-Recreational-Screen-House-Canopy/dp/B00OTZZGJW/ref=zg_bs_10208057011_36?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=J84GBSHQK5YT8DAS1GHZ


Light source, I prefer LED lanterns. They last long enough on battery and you can take it into the tent without burning your house up.


And most important a good place to sleep, good air mattress if not the California king in my trailer.

---

I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

Forget everything you heard tonight. Its called Glamping which is short for glamorous camping. I'm happy in a pup tent, sleeping bag and air mattress but wife says that's the only way she'll do it now.

https://glampinghub.com/

This would be my hood. You can check out your area on the main site posted above.

https://glampinghub.com/...ncy=CAD&filters={%22categories%22:[],%22amenities%22:[],%22suitabilities%22:[],%22flags%22:[],%22genericCollection%22:%22AutoCollection-17%22}

We have a truck camper (Lance 825) and it is awesome. It'd be more awesome if I had more weekend off of work.

As for food prep ahead of time, agree on the previous poster who makes pulled pork.. then heat it and put it in a taco or on a bun. We also make a batch of breakfast tacos ahead of time and just have to heat those up. They travel remarkably well.
Usual peanut butter, lots of snacks, water, soda, beer, wine...

Love the idea of ring toss with glow sticks-- gonna try that.
We have a hammock to set up outside if we want.

Mostly we just love getting away from the city!

Need to get in a few short trips this year, then planning a National Parks trip in the fall for Big Bend, Guadalupe Mountains, and Carlsbad.

Use nalgenes as hot water bottles. Not so much for me but the wife and sometimes kiddo. Toss it in 20 min before bed and it makes that transition a lot better esp in the feet area. Really good when u don't have really warm bags or just get that shock from a slow change in cooler than bedroom temps.

Hotel.... this thread is discussing something I've never done and at this point don't anticipate. I did stay in a cabin once that only had SD TV.

I'll bite on your second post. Your argument for hotel alternative would be more persuasive had you experienced the OP activity. Maybe you have. Offer some personal experience of camping as a fate worse than death and your credibility is improved and your negative contribution in rebuttal or just your alternative suggestion is better accepted.

Personal horror stories of mud everywhere, leaking tents and everything wet unpleasantness, uncooked food, digging holes to bury your shit, cold hard ground sleeping and inability to stand erect at first light would help your advocacy case for hotels. Or maybe you have glamped and they did not have rocks for your whiskey drink and the cigars were not cuban.

You don't seem to be a close minded person. Try camping. You might just have a slightly positive experience.

What's the benefit of sleeping on the ground or in the cold/heat, with bugs, mud, and pooping in a hole. It's not like I don't like nature, but I can do a day hike (where I've been rained on, through mud, what turned out to be knee deep snow, assulted by bugs, up and down dunes etc.) go sit around a camp fire and then go to a nice cabin or hotel room after a decent meal. To camp comfortably look at all the shit you have to schlep. I don't mind humping 6 liters of water, food, emergency stuff, but why continue it at the end of the day?

In the east, you can't sleep above the tree line

Because where you want to go is more than a day's walk away.

I encourage everyone to go on a multi-day solo backpacking trip in a remote area. Somewhere (and/or some time) you can go where you don't see another person for a day or three. Hard to explain if you haven't done it.

BUT, you are confusing backpacking with camping. Don't want to sleep on the ground? Take an air mattress. Bugs? I haven't been on a trup with significant bugs since 1980. And that was just one night that I didn't notice but my fellow travelers got eaten up (apparently noseeums don't like my taste). Mud? I have never been on a trip that mud played a role. Get out of the wrestling pit. Poop in a hole? It may shock you but every campground comes with restrooms, you aren't a cat.

---

I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

Thank you for indulging and filling out your argument. Now what about if it wasn't all about you and your experience? Say it's family with kids and sharing the "not so fun fun"- character building experiences that didn't result in near death. Say it is about providing out of the ordinary, unplugged life experiences to provide for memories and stories that stick around longer than the participants. " I remember that trip dad, didn't you hurt your back lugging the cooler up the hill." And so the stories go and grow.....

My father went camping with me once. Predictably, he was one miserable fuck. But of the few precious memories left of my childhood and stories that I get to pass down to my grandchildren while sitting round the fire, dad sleeping in the station wagon at the campsite is one of the best.

You can always do Mt. Washington in the winter. :)

---

I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

The best camping chair for couples anywhere- https://www.amazon.com/...-Chair/dp/B015GXTD58
I was able to find it on sale somewhere for $50. There's a huge difference between the low and not-low variety. Get the low.

A hammock and straps are a must to keep the wife happy while I am out MTBing.

We have a bunch of REI stuff. Winners are the Kingdom 4 tent, Kingdom sleep system, and REI Screen house (invaluable in buggy areas). We have the garage attachment for the tent if it is especially rainy. Keeps all the drips out of the tent and provides an alternative seating location to the screen house. If we had kids, I would just double up on the Kingdom 4 tent. The Kingdom 8 is huge, but doesn't provide for more separation than a single nylon wall.

I will partially prepare meals at home and throw them in the cooler. Brazilian steak or chicken, hamburgers, and brats are staples for dinner. Lunch tends to be sandwiches (or clif bars while on the trail). Breakfasts are done on the dual burner stove (Camp Chef Everest). Pancakes, egg scrambles, etc.

A good cooler is a must. Good doesn't mean you have to buy a Yeti. There's great coolers by Rubbermaid and Coleman that work fine unless you're in bear country.

Solar showers are great for sites that don't have running water (most of the time for us.)

We're both teachers, so we spend much of the summer out and about. The above keeps the wife happy, and much of it has been picked up over the years in response to particular situations (mostly weather). All this, plus fuel, wood, biking stuff, clothes, and the dog fits in our Mazda CX-5. We've even made room for a passenger in the back seat.

It's great to get out and disconnect. People can scoff at car camping, but it allows us to get out and see/ ride places without hitting our budget. And it forces face time. We're much closer after summers camping.

I bring a hammock to sleep in. It’s more comfortable than my bed. And it’s super light and easy to pack. I could easily go camping and be plenty comfortable with only a backpack and my fishing rod.

---

How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

These are the only tents I’m interested in sleeping in.

https://anegadabeachclub.com/accommodation/

I toured the a few years ago when we were drinking at their beach bar and they are very cool.

Well yeah, because you guys all communists out there.

Out west (despite what you hear about them liburls in the cities) we still hold on to our pioneer spirit.

Up in the Sierra if you want to sleep out on 14,000 ft peak ain’t nobody gone to stop it.

---

Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

You didn't mention kids' ages.
Let them get wet and dirty.
On one trip, my son spent a couple hours walking up and down the stream by the campsite.

Wait is there actually some rule you can’t camp abover the timber line in the east?

You might be a western pioneer at 14,000 ft but you aren’t allowed to build a fire. Not that you would want to.

I've spent 4 days in a studio with no human contact. I'll pass thanks.

That goes back to the schlepping thing. Why not just go to a hotel or a cabin. I've literally done all of the pre-sleep camping activites at "rustic" hotels or places with cabins. What really is the difference?

Let's just assume the wife and I don't presently have a gaggle of kids that I can amuse by injuring myself.

If I have a kid and they want to camp I will. If they want to do nature stuff but prefer a bed even better. If they like beach vacations or traveling to Europe even better.

Is there an “above the timberline” in the east?

---

How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

No fires above 10k in most (not all) of Sierra.

A rule that is largely ignored.

---

Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb