Going camping first time in decades

I'm going camping this weekend for the first time in literally decades. I realize that's not much notice, but I didn't know until this weekend that I was going to overnight it rather than drive home at night.

It's an organized event at a San Diego County park, and well over 2000 people will be there, along with merchants, food vendors, water supplies, etc. It's a short drive to "civilization", and another 30 minutes or so to my home.

I was planning to drive home to sleep, but this weekend I was offered the use of a tent. Although I won't even see it before I get there, the owner will be in the immediate area and I don't anticipate major problems with it. Worst case, I can fall back on the "drive home for the night" plan.

I have a sleeping bag, and I'm going to pick up a cheap tarp for its utility. (I don't know what kind of floor the tent has, but I assume it has one.) Should I pick up some kind of ground pad, too? I haven't slept on the ground in decades. What do you all recommend that's cheap and easily available?

One of these should do the trick if your car camping.

http://www.rei.com/product/778150

If you want a good night's sleep then you're definitely going to need something under you. (do you know what the likely night temps are and what your sleeping bag is rated for?)

REI rents gear, too.

If this is the one and only night, or two, you expect to be camping in the next decade then I wouldn't spend much on a pad. I'd first ask friends and family if anyone has any kind of a Thermarest pad, Aerobed, egg crate foam or even the cheapest air mattress -- that you can borrow.

Alternatively: Wal-Mart or some other cheap box or surplus store for a super cheap air mattress (you have duct tape in the car?).

If it were me and we're talking about just one weekend, then I'd take an extra sleeping bag to put under or a bed spread - something bulky.

More important in a group camp: E A R P L U G S.

Here are several options at REI. You could take a long thin foam pad and fold it over to cushion the most sensitive parts (for instance, my feet don't need a pad):

http://www.rei.com/outlet/search?cat=8001&cat=8001&cat=22000001&cat=22000021&cat=29340995&hist=cat%2C22000001%3ACamping+%26+Hiking%5Ecat%2C22000021%3ASleeping+Bags%5Ecat%2C29340995%3ASleeping+Pads

If you want to invest (and get a great deal) on a super comfortable and durable car camping mattress then LL Bean as the Thermarest DreamTime on sale (and free shipping on purchases over $75. I can attest to the comfort of the DreamTime, it's what I sleep on in my teardrop trailer):

http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/67070?parentCategory=505122&feat=505122-tn&cat4=500305

Good luck!

+1 on earplugs!

(I'll even use them in backcountry when it's windy and the tent is rattling)

I think there's some leftover egg crate at work. I'll see if it's earmarked for anything, otherwise I'll pick up something cheap for this one trip.

Hadn't thought of earplugs, that's an excellent idea! There's supposed to be an 11pm sound curfew in the area I'll be in, but I hadn't thought of tent rattles, etc., and I don't know how well the curfew is enforced.

Thanks!

Overdo the ground pad; stack two if you can borrow or find them.

I see a lot of people using air mattresses for car camping in the summer. In less than optimal summer temperature, an air mattress will conduct heat away from your body and to the surrounding air. If you or someone in your family wants an air mattress then put a groundsheet ON TOP of the air mattress to insulate yourself from the cold air mattress.


No matter the quality of your sleeping bag, the weight of your body will compress the part under you. This is why a ground sheet is so important for a good nights sleep.


For a pillow I just stuff the sleeping bag's stuff sack, a T-shirt or something similar full of whatever fluffy clothes or other items that happen to be nearby.


Take notice of where the sun will rise to roast you in your tent. If you can't position your tent so it is in the shade in the earliest morning hours then consider a tarp or something similar to give some minimum cover.

The lady lending me the tent called last night to throw in a self-inflating air mattress. ("But bring some d-cells, I don't know if they're still good." "No problem, batteries I got!")

Would a surplus store wool blanket (that I already have) make a good "ground cover" over an air mattress?

I would use something less 'scratchy' like a cheap acrylic blanket. If it's hot, just use an old sheet.

Depends on how thick it is when compressed under your body. Insulation value is proportional to how thick it is, i.e. "dead air" space (as opposed to an air mattress, where the air circulates, moving energy from a hot spot (under your body) to a cold spot (around the edges)). In not too cold summer temperatures I would speculate that a robust, heavy-duty wool blanket would do the job quite nicely. It will also depend on how warm your sleeping bag is: To a certain extent, you can tolerate some heat loss in one spot if you're otherwise warm and snug.


The one and only time I've been sleeping on an air mattress the last 25 years (car camping "the American way" with our American friends, all our own shiny gear back home in Europe) my wife and I used the rubber/synthetic wool carpet from our rental car (toyota raw-4). That was somewhere around 1/4 inch thick. Don't know how cold it was, it may have been as low as the 50's during the coldest night.

If this is a really new experience for you, you will probably be better rested if you simply drive home. Sleeping outdoors, even on a fairly decent air mattress, is an acquired taste.

On the other hand, you did say San Diego, right? Not exactly extreme conditions..... It can be different and a lot of fun.

Forecast is mid 70s day, high 40s night, and the sleeping bag can handle that just fine. I know the ground is a heat sink from reading here, and that's the only concern I have.

I've camped before, many years ago, and even spent a week at a Yosemite walk-in in college, and am looking forward to trying sleeping outdoors again.

I've even been to this event before, just never overnighted it, and it's supposed to be an even better experience in the evenings.


Plan B is sleeping in my car if I can't get to sleep in the tent for some reason. I've done that before (voluntarily), and, while it's a bit cramped, it's acceptable.

Plan C is driving home. I can't imagine Plan B not being enough, but there's always that. I've made the drive in the dark before.


The event is the annual May War of the local chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism. I'll let you all know how it goes, and post some pictures if anyone's interested. It may not be as "outdoorsy" as Blast or Aloha's trips, but it should be fun!

A lot of it depends on the type of person you are. When I was younger, I could sleep literally on a pile of rocks with no padding and still get a good nights sleep. Nowadays, I feel like I'm roughing it without a thermarest.

If it's a park, I assume it's going to be grass surface? Just throw a blanket down under your sleeping bag and you'll be fine. Or if you can get that eggcrate foam that'll work great. It's San Diego in May, not Alaska in the wintertime, so you don't have to worry about insulation as you would in colder climates, and even less so if you have a tent. The sleeping pad will be more for comfort than insualtion. If you do have some cold spots during the night, you can always throw some extra clothes under your sleeping bag for a little more padding.

Don't forget to bring a pillow. Most people aren't used to sleeping without it. A rolled up jacket or clothes in a stuffsack is better than nothing, but a regular pillow is a lot more comfortable.

P.S. Enjoy!

I've had a couple of the Thermarest similar to what you linked for years and they are great! Highly recommend them.

Since I live in an earthquake prone area, I consider good camping equipment essential not only to my survival but to my comfort in an emergency situation. If you invest in quality equipment and take care of it you will have it for years. I would never want to be caught in one of those blue tarp cities as seen in Haiti!

Camping equipment really serves a dual purpose of great recreation and very nice to have things in a emergency or survival situation.

We use an air mattress. We just strated camping last year because our friends go & my wife wanted to try it. I figured she'd never go but she did.
One of the conditions was an air mattress last year I think we had about 9" this year we went to a 22"(measures about 20"). It does make it easier getting up off the ground. We only car camp. If I where to do something with my brother and it was just me we wouldn't be taking the air amttress to big to lug around in a pack.
It did get a little cool when we've been camping at night just put a hat on or if you can't find it pull the blanket over your head(that's what was cold)
If it where really cold the air circulating would be an issue.

an air mattress is worth it. Big one.

A sleeping pad such as a Zotefoams Evazote (they have a few different styles/ other models) under the mattress is very effective in stopping the cold ground from sucking away your body heat. We use this method whenever we overnight hike in cooler and cold weather well down below zero.

Good, whatever works. But please be informed that you are ignoring one source of heat loss: From the air mattress to the free air. Evidently this heat transport was not effective enough to prove a problem for you on your trip.

It was a problem for me, both on my previous "America style" car camping trip and before that sleeping in a friends living room with an open window. The cool draft from the window zapped the heat right out of my air mattress. A thick wool blanket under me, tucked under the lining (sheet) worked well for insulating me from the rather cool air mattress. Of course, closing the window was not considered an option - I like a breeze of cool air when I'm sleeping.

That's why I recommend sleeping pads on top of the air mattress, not the other way around.

Heat loss is a good thing when it's hot out.

During hot muggy nights in this area, I'd like to levitate -- with no sleeping bag.

Final Report:

Item one on my "Things I Forgot" list: My camera.

The tent was labeled a 5-person, but they'd have to be awfully friendly. But there was plenty of room for the full-size air mattress (about 8" high) and all my stuff, and it was tall enough to stand up in, which made clothes changing much easier.

I learned that too many layers is just as bad as not enough. Flannel PJ pants and a t-shirt inside a sleeping bag and a wool blanket over all was way too much in the first part of the night, but very welcome in the wee hours. The temps got down to 42, and I learned that I can sleep with the bag all the way over my head.

I also learned that plastic zippers get almost as cold as metal ones, and I should sleep as far away from the zipper as is comfortable. I woke up at one point with my elbow against the zipper, and it felt like someone had driven a railroad spike into it!

I could tell that the air mattress was cool, but it wasn't a major problem. I'll pick up a something to put between it and the bag if I do this again.

I had fun, and I actually slept pretty well. Until the crows woke up, that is.

Thank you all for your help!

Glad you had a good time.

I'm glad to hear it, except for those noisy crows...