First Experience Camping - Canada

[CanadianCoyote]

Just made it home after a 3 day trip around the Canadian Rockies. Not so overlanding but more of a Camping trip. Didn’t really get much into trails stayed within a half hour of the main highway.

I was tempted to get further into a trail but doing a single vehicle trip, it was just the wife and myself, I didn’t want to risk getting into a situation I couldn’t get myself out of. Do have a fairly capable pick up with good tires but do not have a winch. Kept everything to slight off road nothing crazy other than some pretty gnarly puddles on the road that did require to lock the 4x4.

Overall happy with the trip. Few things I learned:

- Need to plan food better, brought way too much food
- Used the chainsaw a lot more than I thought, clearing trees that had fallen on the trail and getting firewood. I burnt a lot more than I had
- Need to organize things better, found myself loading and unloading when things were needed
- Weather changes lots in the Rockies, had a nice sunny day end up in rain. We were prepared thankfully
- It would be nice to have a camp shower set up, nothing fancy but is something I would like to get

At the end both my wife and myself, and the dog, had a great trip and she really enjoyed it which means we will be doing more of it.

 

[K12]

It sounds like you achieved the goal, go out, have a good time and enjoy nature. Dont get caught up in the Is it or is it not overlanding. If you are moving over land you are "overlanding."

I do a lot of single vehicle and im pulling a heavy trailer with me. Dont go down anything you arent comfortable with, and always make sure you have some solo recovery gear (traction boards, decent jack, etc) when going down some of the harder trails if you do decide to take them. Great that the wife and dog were there to enjoy the time with you.

 

[CanadianCoyote]

Yeah it was one of those things I wasn’t sure the wife was gonna like, she isn’t much of an outdoors or adventurous person but I think we can change that!
I do have some recovery gear, think g of getting a farm jack as well since it can be used to pull vehicles when stuck. My next step will be a hitch mount winch, just spend some $$$ on a new tent but the winch will be next.

It seems the truck did a lot better and did tackle some challenging logging roads, nothing crazy but I will definitely stay in the comfortable limit

 

[El-Dracho]

Awesome. Great to see people going out into nature and having a good time. Enjoy!

 

[grubworm]

very cool!
I hear ya about taking too much stuff...the wife and I have been doing this quite a while and STILL always take too much food and clothes. we both over-do everything, so it goes with our nature and if having the extra gives us peace of mind, then no big deal...since we are over-prepared, we don't think about anything except enjoying the trip, so it works out for the better.

having a shower is nice. we started off tent camping and using a pan to heat water and do a sponge bath. worked ok, but then we graduated to a bug sprayer and a shower tent. worked pretty good except when it was really cold out or windy. we later found a portable hot water heater that works off the 1 pound propane tanks you can buy anywhere. use a 5 gallon Jerry can with a cheap 12v inline water pump and we had a nice hot shower without the hassle of heating water and transferring it to a bug sprayer and then trying to keep the bug sprayer pumped up while also trying to use it to rinse off soap. the heater works off of 2 "D" batteries, so it is very easy to use and move around.

my wife is very easy to please and was ok with the bug sprayer, but I know she would enjoy the trip better if I could at least improve her shower experience, so it was worth it just for her, but I really dig it, too. even if the day was rough, going to bed clean is a HUGE help. out of all of our gear, the hot water is great to have and a very nice mattress is also a must. we started with ground mats and a sleeping bag then then the blow up mattresses and then the cheap fold up mattress and now we have a nice full size memory foam mattress we take. sleeping clean and comfortable makes any trip a good trip...



the 12v inline pumps are easy to find and use and Amazon has them for $20 and up. can hook up an accessory end to it and use it in a cigarette lighter port or put alligator clamps on the end and hook right to a battery. several options for power

 

[CanadianCoyote]

Yeah I guess is not bad to have too much, all of the sudden my pick up had no space. I could ve been more efficient for sure, packing extra clothes in case of bad weather is never a bad idea.

I will definitely look into getting a water heater and a pump, taking a shower and feeling clean is for sure a game changer