- 1). Find a place to camp for real. National and state parks still maintain campgrounds for purists. Maybe it's just your own backyard. Whatever your choice, you'll need toilet facilities unless you plan to dig your own latrine (caution: the likelihood of parks allowing you to dig a latrine these days is pretty slim) and lash a seat together out of saplings and twine. A source of water is nice, too, unless you plan on carrying your own in and hanging cans with punctured bottoms to use as a hand-washing and shower facility.
- 2). Construct your own tent. A large piece of canvas, about 7 by 12 feet, ought to do. Hem and punch grommets at each corner and halfway along each of all four sides. Tie strings in each grommet except for the two center ones along the long sides. With six stakes (carved from a 1 by 2 or purchased very inexpensively at a hardware or camping goods store) and four 5-foot poles (drive a stout nail into the top of each pole to fit the grommets), you have a simple tent that you can set up (using two of the poles) as a "pup" tent for sleeping or a sitting tent (lifting one side and using four poles). You'll need some laundry line rope to make "guy lines"--lines tied to the tops of the poles and drawn down to stakes--to stabilize the tent poles. Roll it around the poles and tie it up with the guy lines to transport.
- 3). Make a floor for your tent. A shower curtain liner will do nicely for this. This will keep your gear--and you--from getting damp from "the foggy, foggy dew" and keep any grass and soil-dwelling insects where they belong rather than in your sleeping bag. Buy two liners in case one is torn by rocks, sticks or a mistake by one of your fellow campers.
- 4). Devise a sleeping bag using a duvet (or sew two sheets) around a double-sized comforter. Fold it in half, and stitch or attach ties along the bottom. Attach ties up the open side of the bag. Use big shoelaces for the ties. Spray the outside with silicone waterproofing spray. Keep clothes in a pillow slip to use as a pillow. Roll your sleeping bag up, and tie it with a length of laundry line to keep critters out and to use as seating during the day.
- 5
Cast iron makes the best pans over a fire.
Scrounge garage sales or resale stores for old pots to cook in. Cast iron is best, but you can use heavy aluminum pots (no wood or plastic handles, please) with dish soap smeared on the outside to help with cleanup. All you really need is a deep saucepan or dutch oven and a big skillet. Use an old oven rack and four tin cans for the corners for a cook stand. Setting pans on rocks tends to be unstable. - 6
Assemble a "kit" out of odd utensils.
Take heavy-duty aluminum foil to build a "tent," or bury your dutch oven in coals in a hole if you need an oven. If you can't build open fires or don't want to build a fire ring, build your own cook stove by punching holes (for ventilation) around the side at the bottom of as big an institutional-sized tin can as you can get. Crumple some chicken wire in the bottom, and start your charcoal fire on top of that. Use a smaller can with a handle to slip in the stove, or cook on top with a pan just slightly larger than the top of your can.
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