I used GPS the entire way, running off of a custom map of pins we had created for the trip.

I’m continually amazed at how much easier and less stressful it is to drive in unfamiliar areas using GPS than before—especially navigating crowded city centers, areas with only one-way roads, and spaghetti freeway intersections.

There’s nothing like avoiding an hour-long backup by getting a notice of it early enough that you can take a far better alternative. And it’s nice to know about road hazards and speed traps in advance, too. And getting a heads up as to which lane to be in for your turn is quite handy. And it’s especially great when it recalculates a new route if you miss your turn. Or remind you what the speed limit is on that rural highway that doesn’t seem to have a sign.

GPS can be an absolutely amazing tool for roadtrips.

Unfortunately, as GPS moves you through the streets of an unknown city with ease, it does so in a dis-orienting way. You don’t get the same sense of the geography when you’re simply following an arrow on the map. That’s especially true when that map remains, nearly always, intently zoomed into just the block or two you’re currently traversing—never pausing to lift its head up and look further afield.

As a result, you rarely get to orient yourself to the shape or layout of a city in the same way you naturally would if looking at a paper map. It’s hard to know which way is north, or what you’re bypassing by taking this particular route.

When someone asks me where I visited in a city—was that brewery on the east side of town, or the southwest? I might struggle because I’m not sure; I just followed the turns the GPS told me to, got in the correct lanes when it said to, and followed the blue line on the map. I don’t really know where I went.

I routinely drive through many small towns on my trips. Too often I find that I’m routed around historic downtowns or otherwise interesting neighborhoods—sometimes without even realizing it—simply for efficiency’s sake. I’ll be directed to turn right three blocks before the historic old courthouse to miss the only stoplight in town, cutting a corner off to save a minute or two, but also missing the only thing I’d find interesting about the place. This ruthless efficiency is great for your daily commute. But it’s less than ideal when the point is exploring along your route.

That relentless optimization is the biggest downside for me. There’s simply no way to prioritize a scenic or interesting route—just the most efficient one. So I’m routinely forced to add otherwise meaningless waypoints along the route I want to take, just to ensure that it will be offered as a choice to select.

And since these apps often “find a faster route” and automatically override your current route unless you opt out in time, these waypoints become critical for taking the slightly longer but far more enjoyable route.

Like I said, GPS can be an absolutely terrible tool for roadtrips.

The post Why GPS sucks for roadtrips, and why I’ll still never drive without it appeared first on rscottjones.

To make this process a bit easier, last year we put together a dedicated tent charging kit. While it might feel a bit redundant—I have copies of these same items in the car—having a separate kit makes it much easier to manage.

We just grab the whole kit and leave it in the tent all weekend, so we never have to worry about what charging cords or battery packs we need, and where they exactly are at the moment.

I figured it might be useful to review what’s in it, in case you’d like to make your own.

Our charging needs:

Items to charge every single night:

• iPhones (2)
• Apple Watches (2)
• Headlamps (2)

Items that don’t need to be charged every night:

• Tent lantern
• Desk fan
• Kindle Paperwhite (2)
• AirPods

Kit contents:

• TomToc storage pouch
• Battery pack¹ (2)
• Apple Watch chargers (2)
• USB-C to Lightning cables (2 of the standard 3ft cables)
• USB-A to micro USB (4 short cables)

How we operate

We each get our own charger, which lives on “our side” of the tent.

I wear my Apple Watch at night, but Jen doesn’t. So she uses a small usb-c-to-a adaptor and keeps it plugged in all night. I wear mine at night, so I quickly charge mine using the fast usb-c charger for 15-20 mins before going to bed, before swapping mine phone cable into that sub-c charger slot. We each use a usb-a to fully recharge our respective headlamps, and that leaves 1-2 usb-a slots open for charging the occasional items. We don’t really use the wireless charger (since it’s easy to bump the phone off at night), but certainly could if we need the extra charging ports.

If we’re on a longer road trip, then we’ll bring the kit into a hotel room when we have one to recharge the battery packs.

It’s nothing fancy, but as always, it’s useful to have a ready-to-go kit and a system for how you do common things.

1. It’s a knock-off battery pack from Amazon that’s 30800mAh with one PD usb-c port, 2 usb-a ports, and a 15W MagSafe wireless charger. It comfortably lasts a three-day weekend. ︎

The post Our charging kit for inside the tent appeared first on rscottjones.

Luckily, I had just upgraded our camping water system, so at least we have a place to wash our hands after, you know, peeing in the backyard (though sometimes, it’s the alternative: “Hey babe, I’m going to the bar…I have to use the bathroom”).

A simple water faucet system

My solution is a simple usb-powered water faucet that conveniently fits on top of a common Reliance Aqua-tainer. Toss in a collapsing sink, and you have a pretty handy system for camping—or using during major water leaks.

In short, you’ll swap out the standard manual spigot and substitute in a hollow pvc piece that screws in place to hold a faucet while allowing for the water tube to be inserted into the water jug. The faucet pump is powered by an internal battery pack that you can recharge with a simple micro-usb cable.

While the default spigot is a sufficient solution, this faucet setup offers several advantages. 

First, because you’re pumping water out of the top instead of relying on gravity while it’s on its side, you can use it on a table top—which makes doing chores like dishes much easier. No more hunching over to use the water, and with a portable sink, you can also avoid a muddy mess on the ground.

Second, you can simply press a button and get a preprogrammed amount of water dispensed, meaning it shuts itself off when you’re done washing your hands. It doesn’t seem like much, but it’s hard to go back to the manual valve after using this for awhile.

Third is better cleanliness. While the manual spigot is handy in that it cleverly converts from lid to spigot, its design leaves the main tube open to the world during transport/storage, which means that there’s nearly always some nasty crap in the tube when you go to set up. While the faucet doesn’t maintain a water-tight seal when not in use—as the manual spigot generally does—it does block dirt from getting into the water jug. We simply keep the faucet, water tube, and connector in a ziplok bag with our gear. We still use the manual spigot during home storage and transport.

Want a readymade solution instead? Here is a reasonably priced and very similar all-in-one product on Amazon that seems to use the exact same pump.

What you need

1. USB faucet ($14.72 on Amazon)
2. PVC 3/4″ x 1/2″ reducing male adaptor ($1.76 at Home Depot)
3. Aqua-tainer ($33/7 gal or $40/4 gal on Amazon)
4. Collapsing bucket ($20 for 2-pack on Amazon)

Some alternatives

We prefer using the smaller 4-gallon aqua-tainer (it’s easier to carry and we rarely need seven gallons between refilling) but this works with either size. We use the collapsing buckets as the sink (the two pack makes it easier to wash dishes), but you could also upgrade to collapsing sinks that have drain holes too.

There are a number of faucet options out there. This one has two buttons: on/off, and 600ml (which dispenses water until the limit is reached, which is perfect for hearty handwashing), a nice style, and an angled spout that shoots the water out at a bit of an angle, giving you more room for a sink. The base fits well over the pvc adaptor listed above, which still allows it to swivel depending on your needs. I’ve also added a slice of a thin pool noodle, which helps cut down on some minor wobbling when you press the on/off button. I use it about half the time.

Note that different faucets have different bases—which are often not shown in photos on Amazon—so you may have to alter this plan if you choose a different one. And keep in mind that some faucets have their water intake hose on the backside of the faucet base instead of the bottom, so they wouldn’t work with this setup.

Assembly

Putting this together is dead simple. Just unscrew the standard spigot, screw in the pvc piece listed above (mine only screws in a few turns, which is more than sufficient), insert the water tube into the jug, and set the faucet on top. Boom, you’re done.

Here’s what it looks like, with the addition of the pool noodle slice mentioned above.

And there you go! A simple and cheap solution. We’ll likely be using a similar set up in the minivan camper we’re hoping to build.

Here’s a prebuilt solution I ran across.

The post How to build a cheap water faucet and sink for camping appeared first on rscottjones.

A few takeaways:

• A life of travel often requires sacrificing on spending in other parts of your life.
• Splitting costs is a great way to save on expensive travel costs. It might even be worth sleeping in a bunkbed in the living room or having your friend walk thru your bedroom to use the bathroom.
• Planning ahead, such as packing food to cook at an expensive destination known for expensive meals, is a great way to stretch your travel budget.
• Travel is rarely as sexy as what you see on social media. You rarely see the cheap meals, the long days, or the boring downtime spent waiting.

Here’s the direct link to the video embedded above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N81jhM8OZ-U

The post A quick word on sacrifices made for travel appeared first on rscottjones.

And as a trip we hadn’t exactly budgeted for, I’d also need to keep expenses to a minimum. So that meant two things: I’d have to be very efficient in my travel days, and I’d basically need to use my vehicle like an RV.

I have done a number of fly-and-camp trips before, but for this trip, I wouldn’t be camping as much as living in my vehicle. Being able to sleep in Sam the Subie instead of having to set up a tent would give me the most flexibility in where I stayed each night. That was an important cost-saver, as it allowed me to avoid hotels and campground fees and either disperse camp on public lands, stay in a friend’s driveway, or even catch some sleep in a rest area or parking lot. And since I wasn’t sure how the weather would turn out, it’d also ensure that I had a warm place to sleep for the night—one where I could avoid the unrelenting wind I encountered the entire trip.

The video below will show you the main items I brought and where I kept them in the vehicle. Since I was driving my own vehicle, I could bring a few optional items I normally wouldn’t bring on a fly-and-camp trip—most notably, a large foam mattress topper and a full-sized cooler. I also brought a hefty amount of food and snacks, as evidenced by the huge black tote bin.

The setup I used here worked great on my trip. While the video explains quite a bit, I’ll go into more detail below on some additional topics.

What to bring and where to put it

When I’m traveling on a road trip like this, I prefer to keep my setup as simple and organized as possible throughout the trip. That means thinking about where everything goes before I hit the road, making sure that the things I’ll need to access—either while I’m traveling or when I’m in bed—are easily accessible. That’s why I try to keep everything in a container. So food and snacks go into one bin, and the cooking stuff goes into another. That makes it much easier to stay organized. The main exception to this is my clothes. I prefer to have clothes stored in batches so that it’s easier to pick out what I need without having to struggle to extract an entire duffel bag.

Keeping it simple and organized also means bringing a bit less and fewer “maybe I’ll need this” sort of items.. The fewer items you bring, the fewer things you’ll have to manage during your trip. In this case, I brought two things that I definitely didn’t end up needing: my backpacking chair and my multi-use camping bucket. Both items were small and didn’t clutter things up, so I tossed them in even though I wasn’t sure if I’d use them. And, like just about every time, I was right. Because I didn’t spend any time at an actual campsite, I never made a campfire—and therefore, I never needed the chair. When I ate, I simply sat in the backseat or at a picnic table. And I assumed that the bucket would come in handy for things like washing up and doing dishes. I really didn’t need to do much of those tasks either, given the more frequent showers I snagged and how few dishes I dirtied.

Food and cooking

In order to save money, I planned on snacking for breakfast and lunch, and then cooking a simple dinner like soup, chili, or a grilled cheese sandwich. I also assumed that I’d occasionally get some cheap fast food, especially if I was tired and still had a long drive before bed. And I also hoped that I’d try a handful of breweries along the way when time permitted.

As it turned out, I spent quite a bit more time hanging out with friends during the trip than I had anticipated, including joining them for some home-cooked meals. And since I managed to add in a number of additional destinations, I would often arrive to my intended campsite pretty late, opting to snack instead of cook in what were often some rather fierce winds.

In the end, I managed to stay within budget, even though I cooked far less than I originally intended. And I also managed to sneak in stops at nine craft breweries, too.

The not-cooking strategy

But just because my plan this trip was to cook doesn’t mean yours has to be. While one of the biggest benefits of camping is saving money on hotels and eating out, that doesn’t mean that you have to cook every time you camp on a road trip. In fact, sometimes you camp just so that you can afford that fun night out on the town, as I did when I brewery-hopped around Boise halfway through my trip. And you can still save a lot of money by sleeping in your car while eating most of your meals out. Indeed, that reduces quite a bit of the gear you need to bring—though I still recommend bringing a cooler for cold beverages and plenty of snacks for the road.

Finding places to camp

Aside from one night at a friend’s house, I didn’t preplan where I’d sleep each night. But because most of my primary destinations were BLM Conservation Lands areas, I knew that I’d have quite a few dispersed camping opportunities. I also knew that there were a number of developed campgrounds around that would likely have space if I needed them. And because I was sleeping in my car, I could also get some shut-eye at a rest area, truck stop, or even a Wal-Mart parking lot if I absolutely needed to.

The first night I ended up stopping at a rest area right along the Pony Express Trail in northern Nevada to use the restroom. Since I kinda wanted to check out the trail the next morning and was already tired, I decided that I might as well sleep there. But boy, for being such a remote place, it sure was a busy rest area—and given the layout of the parking lot, it was hard to block out all of the rest area lights and approaching headlights.

After about an hour, I decided to find another spot. I hopped on Google Maps, turned on satellite view, and took a look around the area. It took just a handful of seconds to find a better spot about a quarter mile away, and probably about 90 seconds to drive there. It’s a whole lot easier to move your campsite to a better location when you don’t have to pack up a tent. Once I relocated, I slept great under the dark and quiet sky. When you’re traveling in the West, there’s often a good campsite not too far away—especially during the shoulder season.

There are a number of apps and websites you can use to locate possible places to camp. When looking for dispersed camping sites, I usually start by scouring a state atlas or gazetteer, then when I’ve narrowed down my target area, I switch to Google Maps satellite view and zoom in to identify specific sites that might work. In addition, I also regularly consult FreeCampsites.net, Campendium, Boondocking.org, and the iOverlander app for sites that others have already identified. When I’m looking for developed campgrounds, I check recreation.gov, Reserve America, or just google “campgrounds in my area,” though those search results tend to include RV parks. Allstays is a highly rated app you might also want to check out.

Driving versus sleeping mode

While most of my stuff stays in the same spot throughout my trip, I do move a few items when I shift to sleep mode. When I’m driving, I like having the passenger seat free for things like maps, a snack I’ve pulled out of my food bin, or any other items I might need quick access to. But when I get to my destination for the night, I move any items that had occupied the rear seat (usually my food bin and my computer backpack) up to the passenger seat. This gives me a completely empty rear seat right next to my bed.

An empty rear seat

Having this rear seat available is great. Once I get the car set up for the night, this tends to be where I spend my time before I lay down to sleep. I can easily change clothes, watch a movie on my tablet, put on my shoes, snack or eat dinner, work on my laptop, scour maps while I revise the next day’s itinerary, and so forth—all while escaping the elements and not drawing any attention to the vehicle. Importantly, it’s also the easiest way to get in and out of bed, something you’ll want to consider if your vehicle doesn’t have an easy way to open the rear gate from the interior. I just climb up onto the bed and swing my legs around. When I’m sleeping, the seat conveniently converts into a handy bedside table where I place my glasses, headlamp, and phone for quick retrieval in the middle of the night.

Parking for the night

When I park for the night, the first thing I do is decide on how I want to position the vehicle. The primary considerations here are blocking any annoying lights, and pointing into the wind. If there’s any annoying light, I try to point the car towards it so that the sunshade I put in my front window blocks it from shining into the rest of the car. If it’s windy, I often position the car into the wind, which cuts down on the vehicle shaking or the windows whistling.

Once I have the vehicle pointed the right direction, I put on the emergency brake to limit any rocking when I’m moving around in the vehicle. I transfer the items from the rear seat to the front seat and get my bed ready.

I then put on the mesh window coverings, always covering both of the rear windows. These are the perfect solution to keeping annoying bugs out, but they also help shield bright lights and even light rain. If it’s hot out or I’m worried about it raining, I’ll add them to the front windows too. I then roll down the windows to the desired level. If it’s cold out, that might just be an inch or two for both of the rear windows. If it’s hot and I want a lot more airflow, then I’ll roll all four windows all the way down. This is something you can play around with, but you’ll want to keep at least one window cracked during the night.

I usually keep the car keys easily accessible on my center console and lock the doors when I’m ready for bed. I like to keep the drivers seat completely clear so I can quickly hop in and move the car quickly if I need to. When I’m camping in my own car, I always bring a full size pillow and also a cheap fleece blanket to cover my face in the night if the breeze is cold or to block out any unexpected light, like a bright moon moving across the night sky.

The entire process of shifting from driving to sleeping mode takes less than two minutes—much quicker than setting up a tent. When I wake up in the morning, I get dressed and shift it back before hitting the road again.

Toilets and showers

Probably the most popular question I get about these types of road trips is how and/or where I use the restroom and shower. For the most part, the answer is pretty easy. Except in some pretty remote areas, there’s nearly always a restroom available somewhere—whether at a rest area, gas station, fast food restaurant, or even a campground or wilderness trailhead. In the event that’s not the case, I have a trowel and toilet paper. If you want something a bit more convenient, there are a number of other options, including luggable loo and other portable toilets, female urination devices, and so forth—though none of these really works inside the vehicle.

As for showers, I knew that I’d be staying with a friend about halfway through the trip, so I was guaranteed at least one shower. Beyond that, I knew I could either pop into a truck stop or developed campground and pay for one, so I came prepared with my normal public shower kit (sandals, quick dry towels, shampoo/body soap, and a plastic bag to keep my stuff dry). But in a pinch, I could also rig up something shower-like on top of my car if it was warm enough out, or make sure to get to the hot springs on my itinerary, or just make due with a “backpackers shower,” also known as a wet wipes bath. I could have brought my camp shower, but it just didn’t seem like I’d need it. There are a lot of other showering solutions available out there, but I’ll wait to tackle those in a future post.

In the end, I got a bit lucky on the trip and ended up having access to a shower at each place where I visited an online friend. And because we ended up having a meal together, I also ended up cooking far less than I had expected. It’s great when things like this happen—but on trips like these, I always try to be self-contained as possible.

Sleeping in a rental car

Not taking your own vehicle on a road trip? Don’t worry, you can pull off much of this in a rental car, too. Because not all vehicles have seats that fold flat, however, you’ll have to manage to snag a vehicle that does. I’ve had the best luck with full size SUVs and minivans with stow-and-go seating. Either way, don’t drive off the lot until you have one that will work for you.

Here’s a video of what I brought when I camped in a rental car a few years back. The video quality isn’t great, but it’s still useful in understanding what items I brought with me.

You should also check out my extensive post on travel camping, which outlines which camping items I bring when I “fly-and-camp.”

Some other tips

• You don’t need a mattress set up as stupidly comfy as mine. Most of the time I sleep in my vehicle, I just use a simple backpacking sleeping pad.
• Not all Wal-Marts allow overnight parking. Here’s a listing of recent reports.
• Passing by a national park unit on your trip? Remember that many of the visitor center restrooms stay open all night.
• I use a pool noodle slice to cover up the hook that the rear seat attaches to. Trust me, this is preferable to bashing your hip against it when you shift in your sleep.

• Headlamps fit great on the back of headrests.
• If you don’t want to wake up at sunrise, consider where the sun will be rising. I use the Peak Finder app to determine this, but you can also just make an educated guess. Same with a full moon, which can seem incredibly bright when you’re trying to sleep.
• Have a membership to a national gym chain? Well, that’s a great place to grab a shower while traveling.
• Too hot? Too cold? You can always turn on the vehicle for awhile to cool off or warm up.
• I like bringing a small pack towel in with me when I stop at public restrooms so I can dry off after rinsing my face when there are just hand dryers available.
• Not a great sleeper? Bring some ear plugs to help drown out weird noises. You can also bring a sleep mask to help shield bright lights from other campsites, vehicles, or lampposts.
• If you want to add some additional privacy or black-out those weirdly shaped rear windows, try using some reflectix and trim it to fit. If you’re planning on stealth camping, spray mount some black fabric to one or both of the sides. These also work great for insulting the vehicle and you can store them flat under your mattress when not in use.
• These headrest hooks are quite handy. I use these frequently throughout the day when I’m on the road, and later at night, I hang a water bottle from one attached to the drivers headrest so I can easily find it when I’m in bed.
• Don’t forget these important tips on making ice last longer in your cooler.

The post How I camp in my car during road trips appeared first on rscottjones.

There are dozens of ways to keep track of your hikes, from relying on your gps track history to simply writing it down in a trusty notebook. Each method has its own benefits and downsides.

I used to keep track of my hikes by writing the date and the names of my hiking companions at the bottom of the page in whichever hiking guidebook I was using. It worked well enough back in the 1990s, when guidebooks and magazines were the primary sources of trail information. But now that trail databases have migrated to the internet, that old system is only occasionally applicable. I’ve also run out of room on the pages of my favorite local trails that I hike frequently, or upgraded to newer editions and abandoned my old notes.

I now keep track of my hikes by creating a simple Google Form that I’ve bookmarked on my phone. It’s free, easy to set up, and you can customize it to track whatever information you want. Best of all, it’s always right there in your pocket when you need it, and the data is easy to use and store well into the future.

Why keep track of your hikes

If you’re just a casual just-once-in-a-blue-moon hiker, then it probably doesn’t matter if you track your hikes or not. But if you hike more regularly than that, I’d recommend you start doing it. This is especially true if you have a personal hiking goal like the #52HikeChallenge. It’s a quick little habit to start that you might really appreciate having access to later.

In addition to keeping track of your personal goals, a hiking log can make it easier to figure out which trails you’ve already hiked and with whom, including any special or noteworthy details that you won’t find in guidebooks or online trail descriptions. I particularly like keeping notes on memorable things that happened during the hike, such as stumbling across some pottery sherds, or an interesting animal encounter, or what day the wildflowers started to bloom that year. Since you customize exactly what you keep track of it, you can also include whatever tidbits you don’t want to forget.

Hiking logs also serve as a helpful historical record of your hiking accomplishments. They can be used to calculate and analyze statistics such as how many miles you’ve hiked this year, how many times your pooch joined you on the trail, or how much faster you hike that local quad-burning trail now that you’ve gotten into better shape.

Tracking hikes for the #52HikeChallenge

The 52 Hike Challenge is a great idea, but their tracking spreadsheet isn’t the easiest to use on a phone. As a fellow challenge hiker, I find that a simple Google Form makes entering my hike each week much, much easier. Even better, I get to capture more than what the 52 Hike Challenge tracking spreadsheet does, which makes the log that much more useful to me.

Benefits of using Google Forms

There are a variety of mobile apps out there that you could use to track your hikes—many of which include useful features like GPS tracks and trail maps. But as new apps are released, feature sets shift, or subscription fees change, many hikers find themselves switching between apps or using them for only a subset of the trails they hike. For instance, I’ll rarely fire up Gaia GPS for a local hike in the nearby Phoenix Mountains Preserve, as I know exactly where I am at all times. On the flipside, I probably won’t use a GPS app on my phone to track a long day hike in the Superstition Wilderness due to concerns about my phone’s battery life. Another problem lies in trying to export your data from many of these apps; it’s not always an easy task.

The end result is a mishmash of hiking data siloed in multiple apps, or missing entirely. But with your own custom Google Form, you can solve many of these issues by simply logging your data in the form after each hike, no matter which GPS app you might use to track your route. Or, if you didn’t use one but know the basic details of the hike you completed (such as the distance and elevation gain), it’s easy to enter that data later—something that’s impossible to do with many of the leading hiking apps. Sometimes, simple is just plain better.

Best of all, it’s free and all you need to get started is a browser and a google account. And since it dumps the data into a basic spreadsheet, it’s rather easy to analyze the data. That allows you to do things like quickly total up your cumulative hiking miles for the year, figure out how many feet of elevation you climbed, or total up how many different trails you hiked during the year. And depending on which fields you include, you could also analyze all sorts of other interesting tidbits, as well. Since it’s all contained in a simple spreadsheet, that data is easily transportable too, so you don’t have to worry about future software incompatibility.

Which fields to include

You have a lot of options here, so spend a few minutes to decide what items you’d like to keep track of. If you’re on the fence about something, my recommendation is to include it on the form and make sure it’s not a required answer. If you later decide to stop logging data for that item, you can simply ignore or delete that field when you review the spreadsheet later.

Here are some possible options of data to collect—you’ll need to decide for yourself which ones to include.

• Date of your hike
• Name of the trail(s) you used
• Mileage hiked
• Elevation gain
• Duration (how long did it take you to hike?)
• With whom did you hike?
  • Was this an organized group hike? (you can even use a drop-down menu for your common hiking groups)
  • Did you lead this hike?
  • Did your dog(s) join you?
• Did you record a GPS track?
  • Link to the GPS track
• Your personal rating of the hike (use the linear scale field type; keep in mind that you can create multiple rating questions, each on a different aspect of the hike, if you’d like to get detailed)
• How tired you were hiking the trail (or maybe how many times you had to stop to take a breather)
• Links to photos
• Links to blog post
• Wildlife encountered
• Type of trail (e.g., out-and-back, loop, lollipop, etc)
• Location type (such as national park, wilderness area, state park, or city preserve)
• Where to find hike details (guidebook, link to website, etc)
• Rating on the “Fun Scale“
• Notes (capture any other details in this section)

How to use it on your phone

As I mentioned in the screencast, I strongly recommend that you add the form as a shortcut to your phone’s home screen. A hiking log is only as good as the data you enter, so you want it easily accessible so you can get to it whenever you remember to log your hike.

The first step is to get the link to your phone’s browser. There are a number of ways to do this, such emailing it to yourself, typing into your mobile browser manually, or using a universal clipboard. Once you have the link on your phone, it’s a breeze to add the shortcut.

Keep track of other types of adventures

You don’t have to use this solely for tracking your hikes—you can create forms to track any of your other adventures or outings, too. It wouldn’t be hard to create separate forms to track things like how many nights you camped, what trails you mountain biked, or what lakes or rivers you paddled. I’ve even used google forms to get track of hikes I want to do, or at least to add to my adventure map.

Get started!

Be sure to check out the screencast above to learn how to design your hiking log. Then hop on over to forms.google.com to get started, and let us know in the comments if you have any other suggested uses or fields that others might want to copy.

The post How to keep track of your hikes using Google Forms appeared first on rscottjones.

Don’t get me wrong. I grew up a San Francisco 49ers fan. Well, make that a rather passionate Niners fan.

How passionate you ask? Well, passionate enough to persuade force my parents to let me wear a Niners shirt during one of our few formal family portraits. Yes, that’s an actual family photo from my childhood.

I remained a dedicated fan through my youth and into adulthood. I’d rejoice in the playoff runs and endure losing seasons. But my loyalty to the game—and especially my team—never waned. One of the true constants in my life has been spending my fall Sundays watching NFL football. I’d record and later rewatch Niner games so I could better understand how plays and the game unfolded. I attended game watching parties with the local 49ers fan club. I made a pilgrimage to Canton to worship the busts of 49er greats, and I could batter rival teams with an unusually comprehensive bevy of cutting insults. I owned far too many products sporting the team logo.

And then three years ago, I gave it all up—cold turkey.

In short, I gave up the NFL to make more time for travel and adventuring.

I boxed up all the shirts, hats, jerseys, cups, plates, and other memorabilia I owned and unfollowed countless NFL and 49ers social media accounts. That might seem a bit dramatic to some, but sometimes the best breakup is a clean break.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love football. And my fall travel opportunities remain substantially limited by the football schedule—I’m an even bigger Sun Devil football fan, after all. But it all came down to choices. And while I loved watching pro football on Sundays (and Mondays, and even Thursdays), it wasn’t worth devoting so much of my fall to the sport. Because it’s not just watching a game or two or three every week, but also keeping up with the latest news, the latest conjecture, the nonstop discussion and analysis. You know, casually turning on the NFL Network and suddenly wondering what happened to the last two hours. There are surprisingly large phantom time costs involved. Until I opted out, I didn’t realize that being a diehard pro football fan takes up a lot of one’s free time.

Choosing priorities

Obviously, I’m not arguing that you should join me in ditching the NFL. It’s simply a gentle reminder to be intentional with your time and attention.

Life is full of tradeoffs and opportunity costs. You can’t have everything, so you have to prioritize based on what’s most important to you. Maybe the NFL makes the cut in your own life. For me, making space for more adventures—even if that’s just squeezing in a hike or day trip each Sunday—was more important than participating in America’s most popular fandom. And yes, even if it was something that I truly did love.

Don’t get me wrong—I do occasionally miss it, at least a bit. But overall I’m pretty happy with my decision…surprisingly so, in fact. I had expected it to be more difficult than it really was. I had forgotten that it can be a bit of a relief to step away from something; doing so often provides an odd yet empowering sense of newfound freedom. And when I can direct that new freedom towards something I love doing even more? Well, that’s worth making the change.

As I dropped the NFL, I also made a conscious effort to curtail my investment in college football. I don’t read up on other teams much anymore, nor watch random games on television, even when it’s a much-hyped matchup of top 5 teams. In fact, it’s rare that I watch a game that doesn’t involve my Sun Devils. Ok…I admit that I still occasionally gleefully watch that awful team down south lose again, just for funsies.

Making some choices

If you want to travel more, or go on more adventures, then you may need to make some adjustments to your life to make that possible—whether that’s freeing up time, saving money, or both. Often, that will involve some choices—potentially hard choices—about where you place your focus.

I’m often asked how I manage to travel as much as I do. Some of it stems from some pretty big decisions I’ve made in my life, such as choosing not to have kids, or not pursuing more financial stability by working 70 hours a week in order to climb the corporate career ladder. And it’s also because of how I travel—traveling fast and camping in order to avoid the expense of hotels—even when I have to fly to my destination. But it’s not just those things alone. It’s also the priority I generally give travel in my life.

It means skipping happy hour after work on Tuesday so that I can do laundry and prep for a weekend trip, so I can leave immediately after work on Friday. Or choosing a cheap sub over a nicer restaurant so I can save some gas money for next weekend’s road trip. Or typing this on a 6 year-old MacBook Pro, even though my battery is toast and I’ve been dying to upgrade. It means driving my car into the ground before replacing it with something better.

But it’s not just about saving money. After all, my divorce with the NFL centered on saving time, not cash.

Being time poor but great at bar trivia

I’m not well versed on pop culture. That’s rather clear to anyone who knows me today. I haven’t seen the latest movies, I only watch a handful of tv shows, and I don’t spend any time following celebrities. Most modern pop culture references zip over my head. I’m simply not someone you want on your bar trivia team. I bet most of the people who’ve met me in the last decade or so would assume that’s just “who I am.”

The truth is, that wasn’t always me. I used to go to the movies at least once a week, and I had enough shows I watched regularly that it was a constant struggle to keep a sliver of space available on the DVR. And I sought out all the football I could find, at least when I wasn’t playing it on xbox instead.

It was actually a period of minimalism—an attempt to reduce the number of material possessions I owned—that helped spark the change. I was already thinking critically about what items I owned, and why I owned them, so it was natural to turn the same analysis towards how I spent my time. And it’s astounding how much of a time sink all of this pop culture consumption can become.

The opportunity cost of time wasters

When I sat down and looked at how I was spending my time, something jumped out at me. It was all the things I didn’t seem to have time for anymore. I wasn’t reading any of the books I had bought. I hadn’t written a blog post in ages. I wasn’t hiking as often as I’d like—and when I was, I was simply returning to the same familiar trails instead of seeking out new ones. I had countless projects I wanted to work on, but I never seemed to have time to get started on any of them.

I was spending, at minimum, a dozen hours a week watching tv or movies that I didn’t care too much about—shows I probably wouldn’t miss if I just stopped investing in them. It’s remarkably easy to keep watching a show after you’re a season or two in, even if it’s no longer especially entertaining. The sunk cost fallacy and simple inertia are more powerful than we realize. And as a result, I was stuck just passively consuming entertainment instead of creating my own.

So, let me pose a question. What could you accomplish with an extra 12 hours a week?

Could you spend some of that on a side hustle that could fund that big trip to Alaska you’ve been fantasizing about? Could you plan out some weekend adventures that you might not otherwise had gotten around to taking? Could you spend it learning how to be a better photographer, or maybe a better photo editor? Could you spend it prepping your gear so your next trip was easier to prepare for? Could you spend a day finally completing that day hike that’s been on your list for a decade?

Would any of these things inspire you to cut out a few hours of senseless sitcom watching each week? Because it sure did for me.

A constant reassessment

There are simply endless ways to waste time—and that was true long before social media cratered our collective productivity. But the key is to be proactive in deciding what’s most important to you and what’s worth the time you give it. And let’s be clear: I’m not perfect at this, by any means. I’m surely due for a reassessment of how much time I spend on twitter, for instance.

An important thing to keep in mind is that your own priorities will likely change over time. This endeavor is something that requires periodic re-evaluations. And to be truly valuable (and I’m convinced it is), this requires candidly honest assessments, not simple rationalizations.

The point is to be open-eyed and intentional about how your time gets spent. If you want to just get out more, then you may have to make some trade-offs to accomplish that. You may need to reduce some of your existing time commitments, even if that means renegotiating your relationship with something you otherwise enjoy—maybe even something like the NFL.

Have you cut out something from your life to make more time for travel and adventure? Tell me about it!

The post I gave up the NFL to make more time for adventuring appeared first on rscottjones.

The cheapest way to travel

One of the best ways to save money while traveling is to camp instead of staying in a hotel. Some people might think that this strategy is limited to destinations you can drive to. But it’s not. With a little bit of planning, you can save big on your trip by flying your trusty camping gear and picking up a few items along the way. I call this fly-and-camp strategy travel camping.

Here’s what you need to know to give it a try.

But, wait…

“I don’t want to waste money on things I’m barely going to use.”

That’s often the first response I get when someone first hears about travel camping. Yes, you will likely buy some things on the trip that you won’t use all of, or that you’ll only use a few times before discarding. For budget travelers, it can feel especially weird to pick out a cooler that you only intend on using for a week or so. But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t make financial sense.

After all, substituting just a single night of camping in place of a hotel stay will undoubtedly save far more cash than you’ll spend on any items you’ll have to discard later. When you add together several nights—and especially if you include cooking some meals at camp—then you’re suddenly saving hundreds and hundreds of dollars. Don’t take my word for it; after reading this post, do some sample math for your next trip and see how much you’d save by travel camping. We could all use some more travel money, right?

To be fair, travel camping isn’t always the best choice for your trip. For instance, if you’re heading to the Sonoran Desert in the summer, I’d recommend staying in a hotel with air conditioning instead of sweltering in a tent (a free tip from this Arizona native). Similarly, I’d much rather pay for a hotel room than camp in a Minnesota winter.

And if your primary destination is a major metropolis, your camping options might be pretty limited or less convenient—though sometimes you can be surprised. For instance, there are camping options just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, campgrounds within a 10-minute drive of the major Scottsdale resorts, and plenty of “this-will-do-for-the-night” private campgrounds and rv parks at the edge of most large cities.

Your gear bag

The first thing you’ll need to get started with travel camping is some sort of gear bag to carry everything you’re bringing with you. I happen to use a large rolling duffel bag for this, but you have quite a few options here. The key is to use something that meets your airline’s baggage limits so you don’t have to pay any oversized baggage fees (typically triggered by anything that exceeds 62 inches when you add together the bag’s length, width, and height).

Similarly, you’ll want to make sure that this bag doesn’t get too heavy to avoid overweight charges, usually bags weighing more than 50 lbs. Depending on what you’re bringing, that might mean strategically carrying some heavier items in your carry-on to help better distribute the weight. Likewise, some items might simply fit better in a standard carry-on suitcase than a large duffel bag, so keep that in mind when you’re packing too.

I usually try to check a single gear bag of camping gear and stashing my usual carry-on suitcase in the overhead bin. I also carry a daypack as my so-called personal item (be sure that this meets your airline’s size limits, which seem to be getting smaller and smaller). If you plan on travel camping often, you might want to consider buying a large rolling duffel for your gear bag; it’s the easiest to carry around the airport and to your rental car. I’ve gone years without one but recently upgraded and it was worth the expense.

What’s allowed in checked vs. carry-on luggage

Not sure what items you’re allowed to fly with? Below is a list of camping-related items and whether or not they’re allowed in checked or carry-on luggage. Please note that these rules can change regularly, so please double-check the TSA list before your trip. Also keep in mind the liquids rule for carry-on baggage when you’re packing.

What camping gear can you bring on the plane?

Some items are allowed only in your checked luggage while others can only be in carry-on baggage; a few items aren’t allowed in either checked or carry-on luggage. For more details on each type of item, check out the links I’ve provided.

• fuel canisters – neither
• camp stoves – both, as long as they are cleaned and no residue fuel or odor remains
• sharp blades (knives, leatherman/multi-tools, etc) – checked only
• scissors – depends on blade length
• disposable & zippo lighters – carry-on only (unless empty)
• torch-style lighters – neither
• strike anywhere matches – neither
• safety matches – carry-on only
• tent stakes – checked only
• lighter fluid – neither
• firestarter – neither
• hand warmers – both
• hiking poles/walking sticks – checked only
• corkscrews with a blade – checked only
• corkscrews without a blade – both
• bear spray – neither
• snowshoes – both
• crampons/snow cleats – checked only
• coolers (empty) – both
• hatchets and axes/ice axes – checked only
• hammers/mallets – checked only
• sunscreen sprays or bug repellent – both (following liquids rule)
• flashlights – depends on size
• utensils – both (but no sharp/pointed knives in carry-on)
• tripods/monopods – both
• wet wipes – both
• emergency beacons – check with airline
• solid candles – both

Sleeping arrangements

The first thing to decide when planning your trip is your sleeping situation. Will you bring a tent? Will you rent an SUV or a minivan that you can sleep in the back of? Are you a hammock sleeper? You’ll also want to consider where you’ll be sleeping. For instance, will you be staying in developed campgrounds, dispersed camping on public lands, or stealth camping in a city?

The answers to these questions will help determine what gear you’ll need. For instance, if you’ll be sleeping in a vehicle, then you don’t need to bring your tent. And if you’re staying in a developed campground, then you’ll likely have a picnic table that you can use for both cooking and sitting at. Consider what items are important for you to have given the circumstances you’ll likely find yourself in.

Will you be cooking?

The next big question you’ll want to answer is whether or not you will be cooking any meals. Cooking your own meals usually saves you a ton of money while traveling, but it also requires additional gear and takes time away from other activities.

Not cooking

Even if you decide to eat out for all of your meals, you’ll still save hundreds of dollars by camping. Just be sure that you’ll be near appropriate restaurants during your expected mealtimes—especially if you have any dietary restrictions. You don’t want to find yourself hungry and in a remote area after hours with no place to eat.

You might want to consider how you could supplement your meals with snacks or beverages to save additional cash. For instance, even if I’m not planning on bringing a stove and cooking during a trip, I might still grab some food and drinks to have with me. I sometimes pick up some sort of small cooler (even if it’s a cheap “keep-groceries-cold-on-the-drive-home” style) and toss in some sodas, water, beer, and few snacks—just so I have some options if I get hungry or for when stopping for food isn’t convenient.

Cooking

Being prepared to cook at least some meals provides you with the most flexibility on your trip. After all, you can always grab a bite at a restaurant if you’re feeling lazy or if you run across a place that’s too good to pass up. You’ll want to do some pre-planning before you hop on the plane, though. First, you’ll likely need a few basic items: a stove, a cooler, pots/pans, plates/bowls, and utensils. Depending on your trip and what you already own, you could bring all of these, buy them all at your destination, or a combination of the two. I tend to pack gear I already own that’s easy to bring on the plane, and then buy the remainder when I arrive.

What to bring and what to buy there

While I own plenty of compact and lightweight backpacking gear, I usually bring slightly bulkier car camping gear when I do these sorts of trips. For instance, I prefer to bring my Coleman single burner stove that uses one of those ubiquitous green 1 lb propane canisters over my much smaller backpacking stove that uses a harder-to-find isobutane canister. While the larger stove is a bit bigger to pack, its fuel canisters can be found at just about any grocery store, gas station, or Walmart. It also cooks a bit more evenly and is more stable while holding a heavy pot. The same goes for my cookware; it’s usually my weekend car camping set, not my lightweight titanium backpacking pot. Keep in mind that this is just personal preference, so choose the gear that works best for you and your trip. [Update: we’ve recently bought this stove, which we paired with a converter so it can use the 1lb propane canisters—this is now our preferred travel camping system].

Plates, bowls, and utensils are items that you can either decide to buy there—you can usually pick up disposable items for relatively cheap—or to bring with you, depending on space considerations. Remember that if you’re cooking, you’ll also need to consider how you’ll be doing dishes, too (this is where disposable items are especially useful). You can often find free condiment packets, salt & pepper packets, napkins, and plastic cutlery at most big gas stations, grocery store deli counters, or fast food restaurants. I often snag some of these instead of buying large quantities I’ll never use up during a trip. However, I do bring some smaller and less common items (like a particular seasoning I like on my sandwiches) along with me so I don’t have to buy a large container of something I’ll use just a bit of.

You can’t bring stove fuel on the plane, so plan on buying a canister when you arrive. You’ll also need ice and a cooler, too. You can usually pick up a cheap plastic cooler for about $15-20 or so; I usually grab either a 28 qt or 48 qt size, depending on how much food and beverages I plan on having at any one time. I also pick up a cheap plastic bin to keep my food dry inside the cooler. My general preference is to buy just a few days’ worth of food at a time instead of plotting out every meal for the trip in advance; I always seem to end up with quite a bit extra food/drinks when I try to buy it all at the start. Also don’t forget to grab a gallon or two of water. You can usually refill these at campgrounds when you run low.

The cheaper (and less enviro-friendly) styrofoam coolers are also an option may people consider, though they come with quite a few downsides. First, you’ll need a lot more ice to keep your food cold, as the lid doesn’t close very well. They can also be a bit top-heavy, so you’ll want to brace them in the vehicle so they don’t tip over. Unfortunately, they also squeak quite a bit (especially when braced in), which quickly drives everyone in the vehicle nuts. No matter which route you choose, check out my post on how to make ice last longer in your cooler for some useful tips.

I do my best to buy only simple, easy-to-prepare meals that don’t require many a long list of ingredients to make. Items that can do double-duty in more than one meal are great too. For instance, sliced cheddar cheese works great in both grilled cheese sandwiches and as a snack when paired with pepperoni and crackers. Items that don’t need to be kept especially cold—like the aforementioned cheddar cheese and pepperoni—make it a bit easier to manage while you’re on the road. I generally recommend sticking to foods and meals that you’re already used to making and that you enjoy eating. It’s never fun when dinner isn’t as appetizing as you imagined it’d be, or worse when doesn’t quite agree with you and you’re stuck running repeatedly to the campground toilet.

Here’s exactly what gear I’ve brought on trips

Every trip is a bit different with its own unique gear needs. In the collapsible sections below, I’ve listed the gear I packed for three very different travel camping trips. The first was a road trip through the Pacific Northwest where we brought quite a few luxury items. That’s much different than our trip to Hawaii, which featured just the basics for sleeping at a campsite. The last trip—a solo, fast-paced but frugal road trip through the South—sat somewhat in the middle of the other two. I’ve listed these to provide a bit of context into the various pieces of gear you might bring for each kind of trip. Keep in mind that your own travel or camping style may require a much different packing list than what I brought.

Roadtripping the Pacific Northwest

This trip featured a combination of hotel stays (3 nights in Seattle early in the trip, and then a night in Bend in the middle) along with 7 camping nights scattered across Washington. We had opted for a cheap economy rental car, so we would be sleeping in our tent. Our schedule was rather variable—some places we’d just be quickly crashing for the night, while others we’d stay for three nights and spend a lot more time at the campsite. We were also a bit worried about possible rain, wanted to ensure that we could shower at camp, and expected to spend several nights enjoying an evening campfire. As a result, we brought quite a few “luxury” items that I normally don’t bring on travel camping trips. Because of the crowds expected for the impending solar eclipse, we also reserved sites in developed campgrounds for each night we weren’t in a hotel. Each of them had flush toilets, but only one listed shower facilities.

The main video above provides some additional context and reasoning for the items we brought. Here’s the list:

• 3 person tent
• sleeping pads [mine, Jen’s]
• sleeping bags [mine, Jen’s]
• fleece throw blankets
• camp/travel pillows
• camp lanterns
• headlamps
• camp towels
• backpacking chairs [mine, Jen’s]
• cheap ikea doormats
• camp fire poker
• tarps
• paracord
• bungee cords
• extra tent stakes
• ziploc baggies
• all purpose camp knife
• single burner propane stove
• nesting pot/pan set
• sponge/soap/scraper dishwashing kit
• plastic plates & bowls
• plastic cutlery
• spatula
• kitchen knife
• thin plastic cutting board
• bottle opener/corkscrew
• spices/seasoning
• tervis-style insulated cups
• folding sink
• camp shower

Island-hopping around Hawaii

This trip was evenly split between hotel nights and camping, which saved us well over a thousand dollars due to Hawaii’s expensive hotel rates. We decided to skip cooking and eat out every meal on this trip for two main reasons. First, we were bringing all of our snorkeling gear, so we weren’t sure it’d all fit in our normal gear bag and didn’t want to pay for an additional checked bag. We had several inter-island flights, so not only would we have to pay for that extra bag on each flight segment, but we’d also have to continually buy additional supplies (like a cooler and stove fuel) between flights. This just seemed like too much of hassle.

Because the climate in Hawaii is so mild, we skipped warm sleeping bags and instead brought a $23 lightweight full/queen comforter from Ikea to share. It was tightly rolled in plastic, so it was easy to pack for the flight there. But we weren’t sure if we’d be able to get it packed again once we used it, so we were willing to donate it instead of bringing it home. With some compression straps, however, we managed to make it fit and we’ve used it on several other road trips since then. Sometimes, picking up some additional gear is worth ensuring you have a great experience.

As you can see from our gear list, you really don’t need much to pull off a few nights of camping—especially if you aren’t going to be cooking.

• 3 person tent
• sleeping pads [mine, Jen’s]
• comforter
• camp/travel pillows
• camp lantern
• headlamps
• camp towels
• sandals
• corkscrew/bottle opener
• silicon bottle topper (in case we didn’t finish a bottle of wine in one sitting)

Quick note about where we camped

During this trip, we primarily camped at Camp Olowalu on Maui. They have recently renovated their campground and installed some very nice outdoor showers and toilets. We loved the place—we even had our own private beach that we could snorkel off! Best of all, it cost $20 a night instead of the $280 we would have paid in the city. To be honest, we actually enjoyed the campsite more than any of the hotels we stayed in and should have booked several additional nights there. Did I mention that we hung out with some sea turtles right off the campsite?

A frugal road trip around the Deep South

Last spring I did a 9-day multi-state road trip around the Deep South to mark off a handful of national park units and other attractions I hadn’t yet visited. With an expensive trip to the US Virgin Islands & Puerto Rico coming up just two weeks later, I really needed to pull this trip off as cheaply as possible. I was able to pick up my flights using airline miles and had one free hotels.com night stay to use, so I’d need to camp the rest of the time to make my budget.

Because this would be a solo trip and I had an aggressive itinerary of destinations to visit, I knew that it’d be go-go-go the entire trip. I also didn’t have a set itinerary planned out in advance, so I’d need to look for a campsite on the fly. I usually prefer to save my longer drives for after sunset in order to maximize what I can see during the day, so it seemed likely that I’d be arriving in camp late each night after driving several hours from my last destination.

So while I brought several items intended to comfortably pass the evening hours at camp—the hammock, tent, and backpacking chair, for instance—I fully expected that I’d be arriving late and leaving early. On this trip, camping was primarily just a way to save money on hotels. Because I got a great deal on a large SUV for the trip, I mostly planned on sleeping in the back of the vehicle. This would allow me to avoid setting up and tearing down camp every day, saving me both time and hassle—especially since the forecast called for rain for much of my trip.

I kept my meals simple and ate out about half the time. That usually meant bagels with cream cheese and a yogurt for breakfast, random snacks during the day (sometimes making a sandwich or heating up some soup or chili), and often grabbing a quick sub or some fast food for dinner before hitting a local brewery to sample their offerings. I ate cheaply in part so I could enjoy these brewery stops, which also gave me a great opportunity to research possible spots to camp each night. It also provided a bit of social time with locals (solo travel can get a bit lonely at times). If I was hungry later, I’d just heat up some soup or snack on something when I finally arrived at camp.

Here’s a quick (and poorly-shot) video on what I brought with me for this trip. I’ve also included the list below.

• single person tent
• sleeping bag
• sleeping pad
• hammock and straps
• headlamp
• one-burner propane stove
• medium cook pot with frying pan lid & handle
• some snacks & drink mix
• mayo packets
• seasoning for sandwiches
• disposable bowls & plates
• tervis-style insulated cups
• plastic bin for cooler
• utensils
• bottle opener
• kitchen scissors
• kitchen knife
• koozie
• plastic camp cup
• ziploc baggies (variety of quart & gallon sizes)
• small daypack
• sandals
• hiking boots
• swimsuit
• backpacking chair
• nalgene bottle
• carabiners
• camp towels
• 2 reusable shopping bags
• power inverter (to charge my laptop)
• binder clips (I use these as “chip clips”)

Other items you don’t want to forget

• Headlamp
• Towel(s) for showering
• Camp/shower shoes
• Ziploc bags (especially useful for repacking snack foods)
• Can opener (though I try to only buy cans with pop-tops)
• Bottle opener/corkscrew
• Paracord

What to do with items that you can’t bring home

If you purchase items like a cooler or other food you don’t use, consider how you can best donate it at the end of your trip. If I’m staying at a developed campground, I’ll often donate my half-full propane canister and other camping supplies to the camp host to use or redistribute to underprepared campers. Another option is to look up a charity like Goodwill where you can donate items like a cooler; I usually look for one that’s on the way to the airport. With leftover food or beverages (and sometimes coolers), I usually donate them to panhandlers before I fly home.

Some recommendations for first-timers

If you’re not a seasoned camper, you can still have an excellent travel camping experience. I recommend easing yourself in on the first trip or two so you can get the hang of it. That means:

• splitting your time between camping and staying in hotels
• reserving every campground you’ll need in advance
• choosing campgrounds that provide both flush toilets and showers
• being ok with eating most meals out (in case you need or want to)
• scheduling a more leisurely itinerary
• bringing or buying some snacks so you always have something to eat

The goal here is to give yourself the best shot at enjoying the experience, even if you end up making some mistakes along the way. Once you get a trip or two under your belt, you’ll have a better idea of what works best for you and your own preferences and can modify from there.

More on what I bring for my “personal item”

Have a good travel camping story?

Tell me in the comments!

This post contains affiliate links.

The post Travel Camping: how to fly and camp in a rental car appeared first on rscottjones.

I responded with a knowing nod. I understood why she felt that way. For many people, a vacation is all about slowing down, about relaxing. It means sleeping in, having nowhere to be, and taking one’s time.

The concept of slow travel is generally revered among travelers. Countless books and blog posts extol the virtues of slowing down so as to “authentically” and intimately experience a specific place. And there’s a lot to be said for that. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this approach; immersive travel is an amazing way to experience new places.

But it’s not always the best approach for everyone. In fact, the push for slow travel as the single “best” or “right” way to travel seems a bit disingenuous. Like most people, I don’t have gobs of time available to devote to a single destination. I simply have too many restraints on my travel opportunities—and faaaaar too many places I want to visit—for slow travel to be a viable strategy for each of my destinations.

In practice, many people don’t spend the extra time they might devote to a destination to truly getting to know that place, anyway. Instead, they might spend much of it cooking a more elaborate meal at the campground, drinking for hours by the campfire, or just reading a random novel in a hammock. Each of these can be a fun way to spend your weekend, but they’re often totally devoid of place. After all, you could be doing them just about anywhere, and they add nothing to further experiencing a specific locality. In effect, those travelers have traded time they could have spent seeing something they’ve traveled great distances to experience for the opportunity to cook bacon and eggs and lounge around camp in the morning.

To me, fast-paced travel is about seeing and experiencing more of the places you do visit, or visiting more places than you otherwise might. It’s about considering the opportunity costs at play and deciding in favor of seeing more of the unique places you can’t easily otherwise see, rather than spending that time doing something that’s routine or commonplace. It’s about maximizing your opportunities to experience places, not shortchanging them (as it’s often portrayed). What motivates me is that, by traveling fast and efficiently, I can sometimes even add bonus stops to my itinerary, or have extra time for spontaneous or unexpected activities.

“You can’t see Yellowstone in a day and a half,” she denounced. “Wouldn’t you rather just go when you could visit for a whole week instead?”

“No, you certainly can’t see it all. But you can sure see a lot of it, and that’s vastly better than seeing nothing,” I responded. That’s always been my philosophy, at least.

After all, waiting for the ideal trip is often a fool’s errand. You may never have such an opportunity. They say there’s no “right” time to have a baby. Similarly, there is unlikely to be a perfect time for a specific trip. Perpetually postponing travel for a mythical ideal opportunity in the future usually means that the trip in question simply never happens. Instead of focusing on what you can’t accomplish during a short visit, consider what experiences you can have. You’ll be surprised at the good time you can have just popping into a national park along your route for an hour or two. At the very least, it might be enjoyable enough to inspire you to prioritize a return visit.

So just go and see what you can, when you can, even if it’s not exactly the absolute perfect visit.

What I’m not arguing

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be strategic when scheduling or planning trips. If you can legitimately postpone a visit until a substantially better time—one that’s actually likely to happen—then it probably makes sense to do so. I’d much rather visit Death Valley National Park for four days in February than for a single day in July—but only if that February trip was actually something that was likely to happen. After all, an abbreviated trip to the scorching hot park—even in the dead of summer—is better than never getting there at all.

Similarly, if I have three things I absolutely want to see in the Philippines and I’m unlikely to get back there anytime soon, then making sure that I schedule enough time to visit those three things during my trip is entirely appropriate.

I’m also not arguing that you should ensure that your trips feel overly rushed. That’s not the point, either. The goal here to increase your travel efficiency so that you can maximize the amount of time you spend seeing stuff you want to see—not simply so you can rush through every possible experience.

That said, I often do employ the 80/20 rule when it comes to my travel activities. That is, the things that bring me 80% of my joy during a trip tend to come from about 20% of the time I spend in various activities. As it becomes more obvious what activities that 20% includes, I strive to do those things more frequently. For instance, if I’m touring yet another historical house from the early 1900s, I might move more quickly through interpretative displays (of concepts I’m already familiar with) in order to spend more time learning about the specific historical figures that lived there. For me, the 80/20 rule helps ensure that I’m spending my time wisely.

Benefits of traveling fast

You get to see more places

This one is the most obvious benefit—and probably the most important one, too. It’s pretty simple, really. By not wasting time on inconsequential things, you get to spend more of your time visiting other places. I’ll gladly forgo a sit-down meal in favor of a quick sandwich if it means I can add a stop at that petroglyph panel that’s not far off our planned route.

You get to see more of each place

Traveling fast isn’t just about getting to stop at additional destinations. It’s also about making more time for the destinations you’re already at. By ensuring that you prioritize the time you spend actively experiencing places, you’ll naturally get to spend more more time enjoying each destination.

You’ll be better informed for future trips

Even if you don’t get to spend as much time as you’d like at a destination, a short visit can often help better inform a return trip. You’ll have a better sense of the place, usually have access to additional materials (like maps and brochures) and can often inquire for some recommendations. Quick drop-ins to help scout a destination can really help you plan a better, more complete return trip.

A few tips on how to travel faster

There are a variety of strategies for getting the most out of your trips. Here are some of the ones I most often employ; while many of these are roadtrip-centric, the underlying strategy can be applied to other types of trips, too. Pick and choose which ones might be the most effective for your own travel.

Prepare an itinerary

One of the best reasons to prepare a rough itinerary is so that you don’t waste time researching what to do after you’ve already arrived. Knowing what you’re interested in doing before you get there is a great way to save time. Now, that doesn’t mean that you can’t be spontaneous. Indeed, having prepared a rough itinerary can actually aid in being flexible, as you already know what you’ll be giving up or how to reconfigure your trip to allow for this new activity. Best of all, you won’t end up standing in a visitor center negotiating with your travel partner what you should do first.

My trip itineraries often include what I like to think of as “bonus” items—destinations or activities that aren’t part of my planned itinerary but can be added (or substituted) when appropriate. That allows me to quickly add an additional stop if I’m running ahead of schedule, or to easily shift to a better activity if bad weather thwarts my original plans. Since I try to overestimate how much time I’ll need at various destinations, I often find myself adding several additional stops during road trips. It’s a great feeling to have extra time to add even more fun stuff than you had originally planned. Keeping track of these places using a custom google map makes the whole process even easier.

Keep things simple

Keeping it simple is often good advice no matter how you’re traveling. But it’s especially useful when you’re trying to reduce wasted time during a trip. You can apply this strategy in a variety of ways. For me, I tend to focus in on food and gear. That means choosing meals that are relatively easy to prepare and require fewer ingredients and cookware. That way, I’m not spending excessive time preparing complex recipes and washing countless dirty dishes.

For me, it also means only bringing gear that I’m actually likely to use, so I don’t have to spend extra time managing stuff I never end up using. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be prepared for possible weather conditions, or that you can’t bring a luxury item that you might not get a chance to use but really want anyway. But if you’ve brought your GoPro on your last five trips and never gotten around to powering it up, maybe it’s time to leave it (and its countless accessories) at home.

Prep what you can before the trip

As much as possible, I try to prep food and other gear before I leave my house. For instance, I’ll often get future meals prepped ahead of time by chopping any vegetables I’ll need, measuring out ingredients, and putting everything together in a ziplock bag. That makes cooking both quick and easy while also limiting the number of dishes I have to clean, too. Similarly, packing your daypack ahead of time for that first hike will save you from pulling apart the car to assemble what you need when you get to the trailhead. Putting together activity-based kits, such as a grab-and-go bag of everything you need to shower at a campground, is also a simple way to prep for your trip. Best of all, once you get these things organized once, it’s easy to keep them ready-to-go for future adventures, too.

Stay organized

This item probably goes without saying. The more organized you are, the easier it is to travel quickly. For me, being organized is all about having systems that work for how I travel. It’s one of the reasons I love having a camping bin, why I try to pack my vehicle the same way each time, and why I create detailed trip docs with all of the relevant trip information listed on one master google doc. Each of these helps keep me organized, which means I waste less time managing my stuff or figuring out trip logistics while I’m on the trip.

Consider the trade-offs

The most important tip in this post is to consider the trade-offs you unconsciously make during a trip, then to choose the option that lets you maximize the unique experiences you can have while traveling.

For instance, I recently had only 1.5 days available to spend in Yellowstone National Park during a road trip. Even though my buddy and I had brought plenty of food to cook and were trying to travel cheaply, we opted to eat dinner at the park. By doing so, we were able to spend three additional hours in the park instead of heading back to camp to cook when we got hungry. Having three more hours to visit the geyser basins was worth the extra $9 we spent on food that day. Similarly, instead of spending an hour cooking and eating breakfast and then cleaning up afterwards, we opted to grab a quick fast food breakfast sandwich on the drive instead. Sure, it was less enjoyable of a meal, but we were more than willing to trade that subpar breakfast for some extra time enjoying the geothermal wonders of a park we so rarely get to visit.

Now, the point here isn’t to inspire you to order more crappy fast food, but it’s to think about what trade-offs you’re making and what’s most important for you. In our estimation, eating a quick $5 burger and getting an extra hour in the national park easily outweighed enjoying the breakfast we would have cooked for ourselves. Your mileage may vary, of course, but consciously considering these trade-offs is the important thing.

Arrive late, leave early

I’m referring to your accommodations here, not your intended destination. Arriving too early at your campsite or to your hotel room means you’ve left some valuable time unused. Since I try to soak up every ounce of daylight seeing things that matter to me, campsites or hotels are mainly just places to sleep and shower before I’m off on the next day’s adventures. For instance, I couldn’t tell you the last time I turned on a hotel room television. Why would I? I arrive well after dark and head to bed quickly, then depart as soon as I’m ready in the morning. I can watch tv any time I want at home, but I can’t spend that time enjoying a distant national park.

Set up camp in the dark

I regularly hear people say that, above all, it’s important that they set up camp “before it gets dark.” I wholeheartedly disagree. Unless you’re searching for dispersed camping, setting up camp in the dark is no big deal. Indeed, in nearly every developed campground you’ll find, it’s a virtually identical endeavor as setting up in the daylight. The only difference is that you’ve traded precious daylight you could have used adventuring for time spent in what’s likely just a run-of-the-mill campground. Today’s tents are incredibly easy to set up; you’ll do just fine using a headlamp. Spend 10 minutes trying it out at home first and you’ll be all set.

Skip time-fillers that you can do anywhere

While I’m traveling, I try to reduce the number of activities I could otherwise do anywhere else, like watching tv or reading a book. If it’s not something that is adding a new experience—especially one that I can only have at my destination—then I do my best to skip it. Now, that’s not saying that you shouldn’t brush your teeth in the morning, or take a shower unless you’re doing it under a backcountry waterfall. But if the choice is between watching another Law & Order rerun in your hotel room versus staying out an extra hour to hear the Yellowstone wolves howl, well…I’d choose the latter.

Drive at night

Whenever possible, I schedule the long drives between major destinations for after the sun has set. That way, I’m not wasting daylight in the car just staring down the highway when I could otherwise use it to enjoy a canyon vista or watch some elk graze in the meadow. There are sometimes additional considerations here, especially for areas with high deer populations or for those who struggle with night driving, but the general strategy here is to minimize the amount of useful sightseeing time you spend stuck in a moving car. Obviously, if your intended destination is a scenic drive, well then, schedule accordingly.

Make good use of time in the car

Most trips require substantial time in either the car or in a plane, train or bus. While it’s easy to see this solely as “lost” time, there are a variety of ways to help pass the time while improving your trip. You can do this by researching what activities to prioritize at the next stop, researching other nearby destinations you might want to add to your itinerary if time allows, creating shopping or other task lists for your next stop, deciding where you might want to eat dinner, or revising other trip logistics. It’s also a great time to complete any tasks that might otherwise subtract from your available time or attention at future destinations, whether that’s posting to social media, providing updates to family members, or catching up on critical work emails. It’s also a great time to journal or think about what you’ve seen during the day.

“This all sounds exhausting”

I know, I hear you. And truth be told, sometimes traveling fast is.

Sometimes that’s just the trade-off I’ll happily make to see and experience as much as I can during a trip—a trip that’s rarely as long as I’d like it to be. Traveling fast is all about maximizing the amount of time you have available for seeing new places (or returning to your old favorites) during the limited time most of us have available for travel.

I’m not here to convince you that this is the only way you should travel. It’s not even the only way I myself travel. I’m simply arguing that it’s a viable approach for many, and one that provides some great experiences that can’t easily be duplicated. Even if you’re still a bit skeptical about parts of this, I hope you can glean a few tidbits that will enhance your next trip.

Have some additional tips to share? Want to chat about this? Contact me.

The post In defense of traveling fast appeared first on rscottjones.

Below are the seven major Leave No Trace principles, along with some bullet-point examples of what each one looks like in practice. Click on any principle title for an even more detailed explanation and additional resources. Want to learn even more? Complete the online awareness course or attend one in-person.

It is our responsibility as users of our public lands to ensure that our recreational activities don’t impair these places. Please, do your part.

The Leave No Trace Seven Principles

Plan Ahead and Prepare

• Know the regulations and special concerns for the area you’ll visit.
• Prepare for extreme weather, hazards, and emergencies.
• Schedule your trip to avoid times of high use.
• Visit in small groups when possible. Consider splitting larger groups into smaller groups.
• Repackage food to minimize waste.
• Use a map and compass to eliminate the use of marking paint, rock cairns or flagging.

Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces

• Durable surfaces include established trails and campsites, rock, gravel, dry grasses or snow.
• Protect riparian areas by camping at least 200 feet from lakes and streams.
• Good campsites are found, not made. Altering a site is not necessary.
  • In popular areas:
    • Concentrate use on existing trails and campsites.
    • Walk single file in the middle of the trail, even when wet or muddy.
    • Keep campsites small. Focus activity in areas where vegetation is absent.
  • In pristine areas:
    • Disperse use to prevent the creation of campsites and trails.
    • Avoid places where impacts are just beginning.

Dispose of Waste Properly

• Pack it in, pack it out. Inspect your campsite and rest areas for trash or spilled foods. Pack out all trash, leftover food and litter.
• Deposit solid human waste in catholes dug 6 to 8 inches deep, at least 200 feet from water, camp and trails. Cover and disguise the cathole when finished.
• Pack out toilet paper and hygiene products.
• To wash yourself or your dishes, carry water 200 feet away from streams or lakes and use small amounts of biodegradable soap. Scatter strained dishwater.

Leave What You Find

• Preserve the past: examine, but do not touch cultural or historic structures and artifacts.
• Leave rocks, plants and other natural objects as you find them.
• Avoid introducing or transporting non-native species.
• Do not build structures, furniture, or dig trenches.

Minimize Campfire Impacts

• Campfires can cause lasting impacts to the backcountry. Use a lightweight stove for cooking and enjoy a candle lantern for light.
• Where fires are permitted, use established fire rings, fire pans, or mound fires.
• Keep fires small. Only use sticks from the ground that can be broken by hand.
• Burn all wood and coals to ash, put out campfires completely, then scatter cool ashes.

Respect Wildlife

• Observe wildlife from a distance. Do not follow or approach them.
• Never feed animals. Feeding wildlife damages their health, alters natural behaviors, and exposes them to predators and other dangers.
• Protect wildlife and your food by storing rations and trash securely.
• Control pets at all times, or leave them at home.
• Avoid wildlife during sensitive times: mating, nesting, raising young, or winter.

Be Considerate of Other Visitors

• Respect other visitors and protect the quality of their experience.
• Be courteous. Yield to other users on the trail.
• Step to the downhill side of the trail when encountering pack stock.
• Take breaks and camp away from trails and other visitors.
• Let nature’s sounds prevail. Avoid loud voices and noises.

These Seven Principles are © 1999 by the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics: www.LNT.org.

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