Camping and Family – The FamilyCampman.com Camping Blog

posted by familycampman on Dec 13

Hi everyone,

Since starting my familycampman quest, I’ve encountered a challenge I didn’t expect – starting a campfire.

Whether the wood hasn’t been seasoned properly (a common problem, according to my buddies at thatscamping.com) or completely soaked from from a recent downpour, I just have had serious difficulties getting a fire started.

During one such occurrence, in a moment of complete desperation, I ran to the local store and despite my embarrassment and my injured male ego , I purchased some outdoor Duraflame starter logs.

I hate to say it, but these logs may have saved my familycampman quest. Amazingly enough, they worked out really well and burned for a couple hours. Without them, my wife and kids wouldn’t have enjoyed the campfire and therefore every future camping trip may have been in question.

One added benefits of these starter logs is that they don’t carry the bugs and diseases that are destroying trees everywhere. When you have a minute, visit dontmovefirewood.org to find out more about the dangers of bringing your own firewood to the campground.

Despite how effective, affordable and convenient they were I cannot help but feel that I’ve strayed away from the roughin’ it  camping method that I grew up knowing.  Did I cheat or just use another perfectly fine resource to help make a camping trip enjoyable?  I tend to believe that using starter logs is fine as long as they’re designed for outdoor use. Regardless, I expect I’ll be using them on many camping trips in the future.

Thanks again for reading.

Eric

ps.  Check out this video I found on youtube. It’s too funny. Now only if I had the skills of this young girl. I want it noted that I don’t encourage children to play with huge camping knifes or starting campfires on their own. Enjoy!

posted by familycampman on Dec 19

I’m sure you’re wondering – “What is WBGUI?”. That stands for “Would Bear Grylls use it” of course. This is the first post of what I hope will become a recurring theme about the famous “Man versus Wild” star and if he’d use a particular piece of outdoors gear.

Today’s item – GSI Outdoors Hard Anodized Extreme Wok Set

I can picture it now. Bear is deep in wilderness and in the  most extreme conditions. His stomach begins to growl.  What does he reach for?  Why, the GSI Outdoors Hard Anodized Extreme Wok Set of course. He’d love to whip up a nice rabbit stir fry.

If you couldn’t tell, this is a complete joke.  I am all for cooking great food when camping, but bringing a wok on a camping trip seems like a complete waste of time and space.  It certainly is not roughing it.  BTW, you can buy the GSI Outdoors Hard Anodized Extreme Wok Set at Amazon for under $30.

Before you do, please think.. Would Bear Grylls Use it?

Eric