early camping trips

[truckinbutch]

My buddies and I started going on extended camping trips at the age of 8 or 9 . 3-4 day deals
with the idea of living off the land in the summer .

>Camping gear was my Monkey Wards BSA approved aluminum nestled cook set with plates and forks . A BSA approved camping hatchet that I got used for $0.25 (still have it) .

>All of us had our "dollar Barlow" pocket knives . Mil surplus canteens or Clorox jugs of potable water . One or two WW2 e-tools (for diggin groundhogs and other needs). Cartons of Diamond 'Strike Anywhere' matches . Fishin line,hooks , and sinkers .
.>Coupla ragedleassed blankets each and maybe a scraggly hunk of green canvas tarp or remnants of black plastic from last year's hay rick to roof a shelter .

>Provisions were salt, pepper , flour , salt , bacon grease , and lard . Saltine crackers and peanut butter for emergency rats .

>If we had a single shot .22 rifle along we might have 15 or 20 bullets between us . Who got to shoot was who had ammo .

>Basic idea was to live off the land and rough it .
Got home a bit hungry a few times but I wouldn't trade those days for the world of fancy campers and motor homes .

 

[releventchair]

No raged leassed blanket for me,i had a proper fartsack! Nice on fresh hay in a barn. Did have a funny smelling piece of green waxed canvas,wore like iron and kept stuff dry. Metal bandaid box carried alot.probably no bandaids though. Bisquick on a stick and burnt stuff only good for a couple days. Don,t recall packing soap,but we got wet enough when it was warm out. Creek chubs when we could get them. .22 wasn,t a stevens model 15 was it?

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

softies wallowing in luxury. sheesh

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[spartacus53]

All my camping excluding the sleeping bag were official BSA goodies, and I still have most of them. I was lucky enough to have 2 backpacks, the day and the overnight models. That aluminum framed one was too costly for us.

Our longest trips were between 5-7 days and we weren't allowed to carry a firearm, but we did have a fishing line and hooks We took enough perishable for the first days, after that we did have a few canned goods, but lived off what we were able to fish, or trap. Made us feel like Jeremiah Johnson. The funniest part is that Jeremiah Johnson was based on someone that grew up in New Jersey I didn't learn that until a few months ago

If we felt like having a quickly cooked meal, we'd use the old #10 cans and a piece of paper for fuel..

Tramp, it may have not been roughing it to the tenth degree, but it was fun when you were young.. I'm with Butch, those were the days

 

[releventchair]

softies wallowing in luxury. sheesh

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[spartacus53]

I know releventchair, at 6, or was it 7 tramp wrestled his first bear, so we are soft by comparison

 

[releventchair]

Hey Spart, Johns(t)on covered alot of ground. Didn,t he get moved from veterans cemetery in hollywood back to part of former stompin grounds?

 

[releventchair]

Weaned on prickly pear,rock for pillow,gunny sack blanket. Ehh Jose?

 

[spartacus53]

I really don't remember where his final resting place is, but I was surprised to see the movie was based on someone from New Jersey. No wonder we have the magazine "Weird NJ"...

Which by the way is great to help in looking for out of the way spots

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

G'evening guys, Nah no bar, nor even a gorgeous gal, hmm, not even a gal. sigh. But seriously I was living in Grass Valley, the foothills of the sierras, and the streams were still loaded with fish,. Very easy to catch with your - frozen - hands, but resorted to # 24 hooks and flies for late Oct Golden trout at about 10,000 ft..

You could drink the water anywhere, even out a cow or deer hoof track in the meadows.

All meals were either under or over cooked, but eaten with gusto, coffee was too expensive for kids so resorted to teas from local plants.

Once even was in heaven, found some old sprouted onions ad a few potatoes at a former camp site of deer hunters.

wher-n -l were you guys to help?? and most important, to talk away those unexplained noises at night, which had to be Tiger or lion ? Never could explain how they had hidden their tracks so well that I couldn't find how close they had come to having me for dinner.

My favorte spot had a hot spring running into the stream, the ground was always warm. no blanket needed.

Last time that I was in there I had a Lahti 9mm pistol which quickly garnered a nice fat barran doe. Trout and venison for a couple of weeks.
Don Jose de La Mancha
"I exist to Live, not live to exist"

 

[rginn]

Clorox jugs for water. Yeah we done that, and I never thought nothin of it til you mentioned it. We rinsed them out real good, and besides that's what they put in the city water. That's kind of a cool country reference truckinbutch, but I bet a lot of folks don't get it, and we probably won't never hear about drinkin water from Clorox jugs in a country song.