Darren Kirby - The Best Tent Camping Guide: From Novice To Expert

Praise For
The Best Tent Camping Guide

The Best Tent Camping Guide is a must have for anyone looking to enter the exciting world of camping and outdoor recreation. Finally, answers to all those important questions can be found in one, easy to read, easy to understand guide. From selecting a tent, to building a camp kitchen, this book will help you navigate through the process and get you on your way, even on a limited budget.
Skip Huber
Host/Executive Producer, Happy Camper Radio

A good basic primer for folks who are new to tent-camping. [It] details basic but important things that newbies seldom consider...an easy read.
Cliff Jacobson
Author of Campings Top Secrets and Canoeing and Camping: Beyond the Basics

The Best Tent Camping Guide
From Novice To Expert

Darren Kirby

Copyright 2017 Darren Kirby

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portion thereof in any form whatsoever.

First Publishing: September, 2017

Cover Design by Heidi Marie Designs
www.heidimariedesigns.com

Cover Photo by Denys Nevozhai
on www.unsplash.com

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If youre reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please go to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Other Writings by Darren Kirby

~Nonfiction~
The Best Tent Camping Guide
American Word Search
Pie Iron Recipes
~Novels~
Coordinates For Murder
~Short Story Collections~
Sometimes They Scream
~Short Stories~
Pins and Dolls
The Ritual
f r e q u e n c y
Two Inches of Revenge
A Push Too Far

Tables of Contents

Acknowledgements

Putting a book together is never a solitary effort. Yes, the writer does his or her part in putting words to paper, but thats just one part of the whole process. There are others, both before the words were committed to paper as well as after, that have their place in the process. They need to be acknowledged for the sacrifice that they offered to help make a book better than it was.

First, I need to thank my parents for providing many years of outdoor education. As kids, they would take my brothers and I fishing in all seasons, hunting, boating, and camping, both near and far. It was during my youth that I gained an appreciation for the power of an open fire in hypnotizing people, flames dancing in the darkness. Without their tireless efforts to show us all the magic of the outdoors, this book simply would not exist. Mom and dad, thank you so much!

Next, there are several people that need a special shout-out. They provided wonderful insights, confirmed some things I had wondered about, and generally helped to make this book much better than it was originally in my head. All of them sacrificed their time, with no compensation, to help me make a better book. Their selfless acts will not go unnoticed nor unrewarded. Thank you Catie, Danette, Laurie, and Clifford.

I also need to give a special thanks to a couple of people who provided me with endorsements: Clifford and Skip. It was a big ask on my part, yet you willingly agreed to help me in this regard.

I want to thank my graphic artist and friend, Heidi, for her enthusiastic work on the cover for this book. I am very fortunate that she gets me when it comes to the outdoors, and she never fails to impress me with her ideas.

I would be forgetting a hugely important person in my life if I didnt give a thank you to my wife, Amy. She has stuck by me for more than two decades, putting up with my crazy ideas and interests, and still smiles when I tell her of my next wild adventure. She is my favorite camping partner, and only complains a little when I end up getting burn holes in her camping sweatshirt. I love you, sweets!

Lastly, I want to thank all of the readers of my past books, both fiction and non-fiction. Your interest and feedback help keep me motivated, and I hope that this volume will provide help to many people who are already tent campers as well as those folks who want to get into tent camping. A book is just a stack of paper until it gets picked up and read, so thank you for making this stack of paper a real book.

~Darren, July 2017

Introduction

Camping in general provides one with the ability to explore in greater depth the wonderful outdoors that surround us. There are many ways to go about camping, from the minimalist with few provisions and just a light form of protection, all the way up to the coach bus motor home with satellite television access and Internet connections, so why focus on tent camping? Because tent camping is the easiest and cheapest way to get into the activity of camping, it is a type of gateway drug that leads to other styles of camping, all of which require more expensive investments.

This book should provide nearly everyone, regardless of their experience level, something to consider with regards to how they tent camp, but certainly the novice tent camper will have more to learn than the experienced tent camper. The stages of tent camping follow a natural progression, and I will be following this natural progression in this book. The novice tent camper who finds they enjoy the activity will soon move into what I will call the beginner tent camper, which is someone that has gone a few times and finds that they enjoy it. Then they may move into the intermediate tent camper, i.e., a tent camper who owns their own gear and goes a several times a year. The intermediate tent camper may eventually move into the experienced/expert tent camper, though this doesnt always happen. At each of these stages certain things happen, and its important not to rush through these stages as it could result in a bad experience, having equipment that just doesnt suit a persons needs, or more.

So what does this book cover? Well, of course it deals with tents and all the variety that there is with these portable shelters (and there is a lot!). But well also deal with the other items that youll need for a proper tent camping setup sleeping bags, tarps, cooking equipment, accessory shelters, and more. At each stage youll be encouraged to really evaluate where your tent camping needs are, and then to equip yourself properly. While money helps to solve a lot of issues, it can actually be a detriment if just thrown about without some advance planning. Also, while well go all the way up to the expert who goes all year-round, that doesnt mean you should feel that you have to. You should do what is right for you, and that will not be the same as the next tent camper.

Just as important as what the book covers is what the book does NOT cover. I dont spend time on things like how to light a fire, how to pack your clothes, or other items. This isnt because these things arent important to know, its because there are a ton of resources that already address them. This book is intended to be different from the rest, and that meant that I didnt want to waste time (and paper) detailing things that are easily found on YouTube or other sites or in books that you may already have or can borrow.

One other note to keep in mind. Most of what I discuss related to camping sites pertain to established camping facilities state and national parks, as well as private campgrounds. These locations have assigned spaces to stay at, many offer pre-cut wood for fires, and are generally easy to get to and you can often reserve a site well in advance of your camping expedition. Im not talking about backwoods, off-grid, middle-of-the-desert style camping. Thats a different program that requires different knowledge than whats discussed in these pages.

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