From Tomorrow I am going to stay inside a Forest. For 3 days... (1 Viewer)

prabha_friend

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What are the things to concern about?

Share your experiences: Both Good and Bad

Advices are welcome... What to take... What to Avoid...

P.S:
Being chased by Wild Elephants is one of my recurring dream 😫 (for more than a decade)
 

kevlray

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Depends on your forest. Crawling critters (bugs) and snakes can be an issue. Especially since snakes and scorpions like to crawl into shoes and sleeping bags. Weather can also be a concern (hot, humid, cold, wet), be prepared (kinda like a boy scout).
 

The_Doc_Man

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Last time I stayed overnight in an undeveloped area - a small forest in southern Mississippi - was 65 years ago. We didn't have any large animals around to bother us. No air conditioning, no TV, and LONG before computers, iPads, cell phones, etc. However, my biggest complaint was bugs. Creepy-crawly insects. I got the firm impression that, as scavengers, they were looking for something to eat, and that once word got out that I was there, it was a literal bug stampede. Insect repellent didn't help much. We had a tent, but it was a bunch of Cub Scouts whose idea of fun was to see who could pass gas the loudest without leaving a "plotcher." Hard to sleep like that. Even harder to breathe.

Maybe Big Foot...or is that Doc in his bathrobe??

Only likely if it was an early morning sighting because then is when I grunt, groan, and moan the most. At night I'm a lot more coherent because I'm a "night person." And since I don't sleep in the buff, the tighty-whiteys would give me away as a person since Big Foot WOULD go about in the buff. Unless he has lately signed some type of underwear modeling contract, of course.
 

Isaac

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@prabha_friend
to answer that question wouldn't we need to know what region of the world you are going to be in?

a forest in Wisconsin USA is just a bit different from a forest in China, or India
 

CJ_London

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What to take - food. You may be able to forage but you better know what you are doing
 

Isaac

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Priority #2 (right after pepper spray for the Bengal tigers)... TOILET PAPER.

Or water and a bowl? Sorry just remembered cultural differences)
 

Cronk

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My son is 95 days into walking the Pacific Crest Trail which runs from the Mexican border to the Canadian border through CA, OR, WA, total of 2653 miles. Buys food every so often at various towns on or near trail and has to carry several days water through some areas. Currently having to store food in bear can. Attached pic shows snow overnight on one stop. He's crazy but I have to admire his dream of doing the walk and doing it.
 

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ColinEssex

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Take a credit card so you can stay in a hotel.
What is the attraction of staying out in the woods?
Col
 

ColinEssex

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Too right. I've never been camping in all of my almost 75 years. Wild animals, creepy things that bite, rain, cold, you'd definitely need a screw loose.
Give me a hotel, room service and a mini bar any day.
Col
 

The_Doc_Man

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When I was a Cub Scout my scouting friends talked me into an overnight camping trip. It was then that I discovered that I did, indeed, have a screw loose. Which has since been carefully tightened.
 

Isaac

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I'm not much for camping unless the weather is between 55 and 70 and I'm in a place with natural beauty and animals, which is almost never.
 

Cronk

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Nowadays, only stars I want to see at night are the 4 or 5 stars on the motel sign out the front
 

The_Doc_Man

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Oh, I go out and look at the stars a couple of times a week. We put out the garbage cans on Tuesday and Friday nights for morning pickup.
 

CJ_London

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When I was in the school cadets we had a week camping trip to the Breckon beacons in Wales.

when we arrived at the campsite it turned out to be a field on the side of a hill - with quite a decent slope. Our tents were heavy canvas ex army affairs for two people about 6’ x 3’ (called a bivouack if I remember correctly). The first discussion was about which way the tents should be pitched - up/down the hill or along the contour? The problem with the latter was that the ‘uphill guy’ would roll into the ‘downhill guy’ overnight which was considered to be too close for comfort.

most, including myself, went for the up/down pitch and sleeping head to toe.

the first thing you need to know is that bivouacks don’t have a built in ground sheet, just a small tarpaulin, plus we had sleeping bags (also ex army and made of a material a bit like felt, certainly not that warm and not waterproof)

anyway, after a day of setting camp, a 5 mile hike and having something to eat, campfires are smothered and off we went to our respective tents for the night.

my tent buddy and I flipped a coin as to who would have the ‘head uphill’ position- I won.

so back to no built in groundsheet and the ex army sleeping bags. As you sleep you do wriggle around a bit. I was OK, my weight kept the bag in place though maybe slipped down the hill a few inches. But my tent buddy was not so fortunate- his wriggling meant not only did he gradually slide out of the sleeping bag, but also slide out of the tent.

you may think the punchline is that it rained and he got soaked, that would have been funny enough but it was worse than that….

so the second thing you need to know is that the farmer only cleared the field of cattle on the morning of our arrival. There were fresh cowpats everywhere and the pitching of tents took these into account so tents and the entrances avoided them.

But no one thought about the other end of the tent.

so my tent buddy managed to wriggle out of the tent and his head into a nice fresh cowpat. He managed to cover himself pretty extensively. No showers, very basic washing facilities and a new nickname he had to live with.

it was so bad our leader managed to persuade the farmer to allow the use of his bathroom so he could clean up

Still makes me smile to this day
 

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