How much stuff is too much? (photo by VancityAllie)
A big problem that a lot of new campers have, particularly those with children, is packing a week’s worth of stuff for a weekend trip. Packing too much gear and food is not a problem in itself, but it sure can ad to your level of stress on a Friday afternoon, as you scramble to get away in time to make the campsite before nightfall.
Part camping trailer, part toy hauler, the Freelance is versatile
The retro teardrop trailers have been all the rage, lately, but the Freelance, but True North Trailers, puts a new spin on the concept by focusing on interior room and cargo rack capability to haul all of your bicycles, or other toys. The Freelance is priced at $8,000 to $11,000, which is in line with many pop-up tent trailers.
Last month I wrote about the Engel® line of rugged ice chests and while I was scanning the outdoor news on Outdoorsfile.com this morning, I stumbled across Yeti® Coolers and their equally impressive line of roto-molded polyethylene ice chests.
Inside and out, blue tarps will protect your tent
The outdoor retail market thrives on convincing us that we need new gear to get the most out of our outdoor adventures. This is actually a good thing, since the industry keeps coming out with better gear, each and every year. It can also go a bit overboard, though, with superfluous gadgets and fluffery that is just a waste of your hard-earned money. One way to save money on camping gear is to look for similar products outside the industry that can serve the same purpose. The big blue tarp is one of those items.
One of the best family camping tents of the year was the Grand Manan series, from Eureka!® camping tents. These tents have a simple two-pole design that is easy to erect and provides a lot of usable interior space, for a dome style tent, due to the unique shape of the poles. This year, Eureka is adding the Tour to their Grand Manan lineup and they gave CampingBlogger an early look at the new model.