Backcountry Camping Tips-Help

[trealtree]

We will not be hiking to camp, all spots should have 4x4 access.I am planning a trip to wyoming this year and instead of hotel camping we plan to camp out on BLM land. Obviously there will not be any running water and no established campgrounds. Anyone that has any tips or has done this in the past please feel free pass along any tips that would help me out.

The dates that I will be there are somewhere between Oct 15 and Nov 4th. Elevations that I could camp in could be between 3800 to 9500 feet.


I will have my wife with me.(She is dreading it) lol

All the research I have done and talking to people that have hunted the area say to hunt as close to the end of October that I can, because the rut will be kicking in near that time. But the later in the season means more snow....

 

[trealtree]

I plan to get one of these to use in the tent.

http://www.mrheater.com/product.aspx?catid=41&id=116

 

[Rackseeker]

I will have my wife with me.(She is dreading it) lol

Good luck with that........ :grin:
Don't use air mattresses and purchase a heavy two person sleeping bag. Better yet go the hotel route if possible.

 

[trealtree]

I will have my wife with me.(She is dreading it) lol

Good luck with that........ :grin:
Don't use air mattresses and purchase a heavy two person sleeping bag. Better yet go the hotel route if possible.

Did the hotel thing last year... I dont like waking up and driving 40 miles to hunt every day when I am on a hunting vacation. I told her to put on her big girl pants.

 

[Rackseeker]

I hear ya, I'd rather camp myself also. When I said to go the hotel route if possible, I thinking of how it would be camping with my wife for a week in cold weather. :grin: Hope yall have a great trip. Don't forget to take alot of pics and post them on here when you get back.

 

[trealtree]

Yeah, I plan to take lots of pics.

My wife asked me yesterday "How am I supposed to wash my hair".... I just said not to worry about the little things.

 

[Yellowstone Mike]

My answer is to have a hot shower using the Coleman Water On Demand, a chemical toilet, a comfortable bed and heat. Camping in the Rockies doesn't mean that you have to be uncomfortable!

 

[trealtree]

There is the Mr Buddy heater. Tell me how well that thing works.

And the hot shower looks like something my wife will make getting mandatory if she finds out they exist.

 

[UPSman]

First question is: How much room do you have to take all your creature comforts?

Weather, out west, can change quick....real quick. Depending on what elevation you will be at could determine if your wearing shorts or needing a parka.

Take tire chains, nothing worse than getting stuck 30 miles from nowhere in the mud. Take a spare 5 gallon can of gasoline. You could burn 1/4 tank just to go get gas in places.

Take baby wipes and powder. Nothing like that clean feeling after hiking around all day. Snow...don't worry about snow. It never snows in the Rockies.

The day we got there...

4 days later when we left in a blizzard and glad to get out....

 

[trealtree]

nice pics Upsman. lol I have been checking into the weather patterns and I have a backup plan/camp site if things get bad up high. Obviously these plans are all theoretical, since I have never been camping in the rockies. Thats why I like getting first hand information from those that have.

 

[UPSman]

I've got more of us walking out in a driving snowstorm but they are on my phone.

Be sure you take lots of pictures. Once you go out there you are going to be ruined. All you'll think about for vacations is being there. Screw the beach, I wanna be on the Rocky Mtn high.

 

[trealtree]

I've got more of us walking out in a driving snowstorm but they are on my phone.

Be sure you take lots of pictures. Once you go out there you are going to be ruined. All you'll think about for vacations is being there. Screw the beach, I wanna be on the Rocky Mtn high.

Even when I was in eastern Wyoming last year all the locals were telling me to go west to the rockies or the bighorns.

 

[UPSman]

I was just perusing all the pics of our trips after you started this thread. Take pics... lots of pics....even of little things that you think are silly and don't really matter. Its awesome stuff out there.

 

[Yellowstone Mike]

There is the Mr Buddy heater. Tell me how well that thing works.

And the hot shower looks like something my wife will make getting mandatory if she finds out they exist.

The Mr Buddy heater works great. Get the double not the single Little Buddy. There is a hose that lets you attach it to a 5 gallon propane tank. That way you won't be changing bottles every night. There is a fan that is incorporated into the system that run's on D cells (4 I think) Go to Cosco and buy a brick of D Cells. The fan helps when it is really cold.
The shower is Great! It really is effective. It is about $200 with the shower attachment and but it is rechargable and two people can get more than a week of daily showers on a charge. IT has an propane bottle which also lasts better than a week. You can dial up the water temperature to suit you and it is very responsive.

 

[Yellowstone Mike]

There is a lot of difference in the camping between 4000 and 9000 feet. If you are not use to the Rockies and are not being supplied by a guide service, I would suggest that you set up a Base camp at a lower altitude. Something that you can drive out of if the weather gets bad. You can always set up a spike camp if you need to stay up higher while you hunt. You are going to have snow, it is just a question of how much and for how long. You have to really be geared up for the high altitude bad weather. If you get caught in it, your wife will never camp with you again.

 

[trealtree]

As for having enough room, I will be driving a toyota extended cab. I had planned to take my 4 wheeler, but now I am thinking maybe I need a topper.

 

[trealtree]

I was just perusing all the pics of our trips after you started this thread. Take pics... lots of pics....even of little things that you think are silly and don't really matter. Its awesome stuff out there.

Last year, I was so busy driving and trying to get to my hunting areas, I had no time to think about pictures. I only took a few, I plan to change that this year.

 

[Chris Tripp]

x2 on the pictures, we got around 1900 photos in 11 days and over 80 hours of video to go through. Here is the tent we stayed in while in Idaho this year.

It was a Montana canvas that we had to cut poles to put up, not real fun, but it worked.

 

[trealtree]

Nice pics. Too bad I did not get drawn for my hunt.. Looking at other options now.

 

[Chris Tripp]

is it elk your after?