jtbeck
Kentucky
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Joined: 04/23/2008
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I've been a little retro all day myself. Had Tom Waits "Closing Time" on repeat while I'm working. That was back before he gargled Drain-o or whatever he did to himself.
Me (69), DW (69), DD (95), DS (00), DS (01) and 1 camping toy fox terrier (08)
95 Fleetwood Utah, 02 Ford Explorer Limited (V8)
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Mudfroglet
Calgary
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Joined: 07/05/2008
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Jellobiafra wrote:Hey, first post here. So hello everyone!
Anyway, my family of two adults, three boys (ages 6, 5, and 3) will be tent camping for the first time in October. We spent a week on the Blue Ridge Pkwy back in June, and decided to go back for fall leaf season. We'll be spending about 10 days between the Pkwy and Smoky Mountain National Park. All but 2 of those days will be spent tent camping.
We'll be staying at some of the official campgrounds right the parkway like Pisgah and Doughton Park.
Not wanting to squeeze into a little tent, we went out and spent some money on a large dome tent. Well, turns out this thing is freaking massive. We decided to put the thing up last night in our living room, just to get a handle on how tough it would be to assemble, but also to seal the seams. Well, as you'll see in the attached picture, the thing took up our whole living room almost, LOL!
So my immediate question, if anyone knows the answer, is whether or not the camp sites along the parkway can even handle a tent of this size. I've seen mention of "tent pads", and wonder what might happen if the tent itself is larger than the tent pad.
I've looked everyone on the net for an answer to this, and hoped that you guys might know.
We've also purchased cold weather sleeping bags, some sleeping pads, back packs (we have some wafterfall hikes planned), flashlights, a couple of heaters, starter logs for fires, and some other odds and ends. Would love any other advice you might have for a family on their first tent camping trip.
So the tent is 16 x 10. The picture is below. And just for fun, I'll include a pic from a waterfall we hiked to in June, called Rose River Falls in Virginia. That's my wife and our youngest in the picture. Hope you enjoy! And thanks in advance for your help!
A few things I won't camp without (tent or trailer), keeping in mind I'm not in the US, and here not all campgrounds provide toilet paper in the outhouses:
wet wipes or waterless soap (though with three kids you probably normally carry that anyway) , garbage bags, camp shovel, can opener, multitool, extra socks, toilet paper, a couple of face towels, basic first aid kit (of course), and a piece of advice - depending on the condensation in the air overnight keep your sleeping bags and mats a few inches away from the side of the tent. With the heater, what I've always seen done is to have it on for an hour or so before bed, then turn it off to take away any of the worry overnight. For starting fires I get the little sticks - as long as you have a few twigs you can start almost anything on fire. I imagine they'd be available there, they are all over the place here.
And have fun!
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pudellvr
NC/SC/VA
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Joined: 09/06/2008
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Just a heads up
Home Depot has battery operated fans for 3.95. They fold up nicely and put out a good bit of air.
Trish
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Jellobiafra
Cape Coral, FL
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Joined: 09/06/2008
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Sorry for not keeping up on this. Our wedding is Friday, and we're heading out Saturday morning around 5am for the Blue Ridge Mountains. I appreciate all the tips that were left for me. Some things were unfortunately out of my budget range for this time around, but we'll keep them in mind for next time.
Little update...had some trouble with the tent. As a reminder, we purchased the Coleman Tucana 16x10 8 person tent with the "keeps you dry" guarantee. Well...we put the tent up out front in the yard and waited for the nearly every day Florida rain shower. It leaked horribly. After all was said and done, we dumped about 30 bucks in seam sealer over 3 days, and purchased new tent pegs all the way around for both the tent and the rain fly. The last rain we had was pretty bad, with some wicked rain, and everything seemed to stand up nicely.
During take down, we noticed the rear rain fly pole had broken in half. Called Coleman, and they were willing to send a new one right away...except that the part was on backorder. They sent the closest thing they had, but it's not going to work. They offered to swap the tent out for a model that is definitely an upgrade, but there just isn't enough time left. I may take them up on the offer when we return. I'm going to buy something metal that can slide over the pole to the breaking point, and hope that duct tape will keep it all together. If a pole was going to break, that would be the one I'd want broken though. We'll see what happens.
We've got two Coleman Powercat heaters and zero degree sleeping bags all around, so we should be ok for night time temps. Bought some grill stuffs and are ready to build some cooking fires, although if we're backed into a corner due to wet wood or something, we also have a gas grill with us.
Anyway, I'll do my best to update everyone when we return and let you know how everything went.
Thanks again for all the help!
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tplife69
SoCal
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Joined: 11/09/2007
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Tent too big? Absolutely! Bought one and the thing broke when it was set up the first time! The problem is the body is too big for the pole size - the right pole size and you'll need a small trailer to tote the thing around with. And the best tent spots in most campgrounds are limited to 10X10 tent area or less. REI, Sierra Designs, Marmot, and North Face sell top-quality "6" man tents that are ideal for up to four people. Need more room? Buy a 4-man tent as your next "investment", or a 3-man. Keep the littlest one with you and put the other two or more kids in the other tent. This is what we do, and we take a spare tent when others want to tag along. You can buy top-quality tents like Sierra Designs that will last at least 20 years and are cheaper than anything less over the life of the tent. I buy mine new at 1/2 price of retail off Ebay - If I can do it, so can you...
My tents are used often but in top condition (QUALITY):
Sierra Designs Bedouin man, 2007 model THE 27-POCKET MANSION
Sierra Designs Base Camp 4-man, 1988 model OLD FAITHFUL (Now 4-kids)
Sierra Designs Electron 2-man, 2006 model MY HARLEY TENT
Eureka Tetragon 8, 3-man, 2003 model THE GUEST HOUSE
* This post was
edited 10/10/08 04:21pm by tplife69 *
People's Republik of Kalifornia
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TheGov
Hayden, Alabama
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Joined: 08/01/2008
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We bought a tent just a little bigger than yours it is 20x10. There is just 4 of us but man we love that thing. It is big enought for 2 twin air matters and 1 queen, plus a place to put the clothes. Stake the corners up in the three poles, then stake the other 8 stakes you are done. A total of about 10 mins. Hey but what ever size tent works for you or you like that is all that matters.
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