Caledon State Park Overnighter
Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 2:06 am
Last weekend I finally got around to doing some camping in my gear. Since I wanted my first go at it to be more of a trial run than anything else, I decided to go somewhere with marked trails and a camping area, just to limit the amount of trouble I could get myself into. With this in mind, I decided on Caledon State Park. It's a relatively small park along the Potomac River, but the campground consists of only 6 primitive sites (sand tent pad, fire pit, and picnic table) and is a 3.5 mile hike from the visitor center/parking lot. I also managed to talk one of my friends into coming with me and using modern gear, so if something didn't work I had access to a modern back-up.
Here is what I took:
I also took an emergency blanket (the foil-looking kind), my phone, a back-up pair of eyeglasses, some matches, and some modern first aid supplies.
The hike to the campsite was really pretty, and the trails were well marked. The only downside was that the trails were gravel, which I learned does not play well with turnshoes. Other than that, I was comfortable in my kit and with how the set-up I was using (swag and haversack) worked out.
Here's a picture of all my gear on me:
I have really terrible eyesight, and I wear contacts in my day to day life. However, I felt like taking out and putting in lenses would detract from the experience, so I decided to wear glasses. On the other hand, modern glasses didn't seem right either, so I took a dremel to an old pair, rounded off the lenses, and made a leather frame for them to go in. They stayed on my face with loops of string around my ears, which all worked out surprisingly well. I may switch to using 18th century frames in the future, though, just because they look a little less odd.
You might also notice that I'm carrying my costrel. I don't have much in the way of woodworking skills, so the stopple that I made didn't stay in when I hung the costrel from my belt, so I had to carry it. I'll be making a new one that hopefully will fix that problem.
Another change that I'll be making to my kit is to get a larger belt pouch. I could only really fit my fire-starting supplies in the one I have, and I'd like to be able to keep a few other items close, like my phone.
One problem with using a campsite was that I couldn't really figure out home to set up my tarp without tying off to trees or the like. I fought with it for a little while, then gave up and decided to use it as a bedroll, since I knew it wasn't supposed to rain. I was able to get a fire started with flint, steel, and charcloth, though, with the help of a fire-starter I made by pouring a layer of beeswax over a bunch of wood shavings. This caught really well, and burned long enough for everything to catch.
When it was time to bed down for the night, I made the unfortunate discovery that two layers of canvas and a layer of wool were not enough to keep the ground from sucking the heat out of me. I was comfortable enough sitting up, but one I lay down, I was pretty miserable. Around midnight I gave up, pulled out my emergency blanket to use as an additional barrier between me and the ground, and climbed into my friend's tent, which trapped some body heat and let me get some sleep. Next time I'll make sure to gather up some fallen leaves to put under my tarp. I'm even considering buying a sheepskin to take with me as a ground cloth/insulator.
The next morning I woke up around sunrise and got another fire started. This time, I even boiled some water for oatmeal without shattering my pipkin from thermal shock:
After breakfast, we packed up and hiked out. It was then I realized how bad gravel is when wearing turnshoes - I had bruised my feet on the hike in. By walking carefully and sticking to the edge of the trail, I wasn't too uncomfortable, though.
All and all, I thought it was a really good learning experience, which is what I wanted. I should be able to use this winter to use what I learned to refine my kit. I'm definitely looking forward to trying this again once Spring rolls around!
Here is what I took:
I also took an emergency blanket (the foil-looking kind), my phone, a back-up pair of eyeglasses, some matches, and some modern first aid supplies.
The hike to the campsite was really pretty, and the trails were well marked. The only downside was that the trails were gravel, which I learned does not play well with turnshoes. Other than that, I was comfortable in my kit and with how the set-up I was using (swag and haversack) worked out.
Here's a picture of all my gear on me:
I have really terrible eyesight, and I wear contacts in my day to day life. However, I felt like taking out and putting in lenses would detract from the experience, so I decided to wear glasses. On the other hand, modern glasses didn't seem right either, so I took a dremel to an old pair, rounded off the lenses, and made a leather frame for them to go in. They stayed on my face with loops of string around my ears, which all worked out surprisingly well. I may switch to using 18th century frames in the future, though, just because they look a little less odd.
You might also notice that I'm carrying my costrel. I don't have much in the way of woodworking skills, so the stopple that I made didn't stay in when I hung the costrel from my belt, so I had to carry it. I'll be making a new one that hopefully will fix that problem.
Another change that I'll be making to my kit is to get a larger belt pouch. I could only really fit my fire-starting supplies in the one I have, and I'd like to be able to keep a few other items close, like my phone.
One problem with using a campsite was that I couldn't really figure out home to set up my tarp without tying off to trees or the like. I fought with it for a little while, then gave up and decided to use it as a bedroll, since I knew it wasn't supposed to rain. I was able to get a fire started with flint, steel, and charcloth, though, with the help of a fire-starter I made by pouring a layer of beeswax over a bunch of wood shavings. This caught really well, and burned long enough for everything to catch.
When it was time to bed down for the night, I made the unfortunate discovery that two layers of canvas and a layer of wool were not enough to keep the ground from sucking the heat out of me. I was comfortable enough sitting up, but one I lay down, I was pretty miserable. Around midnight I gave up, pulled out my emergency blanket to use as an additional barrier between me and the ground, and climbed into my friend's tent, which trapped some body heat and let me get some sleep. Next time I'll make sure to gather up some fallen leaves to put under my tarp. I'm even considering buying a sheepskin to take with me as a ground cloth/insulator.
The next morning I woke up around sunrise and got another fire started. This time, I even boiled some water for oatmeal without shattering my pipkin from thermal shock:
After breakfast, we packed up and hiked out. It was then I realized how bad gravel is when wearing turnshoes - I had bruised my feet on the hike in. By walking carefully and sticking to the edge of the trail, I wasn't too uncomfortable, though.
All and all, I thought it was a really good learning experience, which is what I wanted. I should be able to use this winter to use what I learned to refine my kit. I'm definitely looking forward to trying this again once Spring rolls around!