Check for leaks before you leave. Bought a new queen mattress for a festival and couldn’t figure out why I kept waking up hungover af in a flat bed every morning and blamed it on the air valve. Nope, tiny leak underneath.
Yeah seems like I’m always having to pump it back up at least once during the night. They go a few trips then always seem to develop slow leaks.
I’ve had multiple seasons with different versions of this air mattress:
I guess we’re mostly retiring our air mattresses once we take delivery of our trailer at the end of the month.
Get up at 4:30AM, run and workout in the morning, stay active during the day. By bedtime I can’t read a page of a book without falling asleep.
Mine is a Coleman. I filled it up and checked with water and found a tiny leak underneath it. It either came that way or I made the hole the first night I set it up. After a patch kit it works fine so far. I usually don’t bring it with me and just bring a Thermarest Luxury Pad. For festivals though it’s a lifesaver. It fits inside my monstrous Big Agnes 6 man festival/car camping tent.
My experience with air mattresses is tiny leaks and having to refill them during the night.
I’m definitely not an air mattress fan. What about cots? On the pricey side, but a cot plus a pad/mattress feels like it would do the trick.
This thing from REI looks comfy
I am heading there this afternoon. I hope it’s not full. We don’t really have any option of going early in the morning and @Bro is visiting and we have to go now if we’re going to squeeze this in during her all too brief visit.
Last tuesday something like five campsites were taken, on Sunday it was three. Out of 40. There’s zero chance it’ll be full. Bring $12 exact change for the fee, you put it in an envelope and stick it in a box. Have fun.
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It was nice. Maybe half full. We lucked into a meteor shower. Took a nice hike off trail.
Pretty much no mosquitos, but the flies were such a pain in the morning that we checked out pretty early. They weren’t biting or anything, just annoying. Not houseflies. Some small fly that loves to try to get in your eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.
@LFS, did you bring your dog?
Yes, brought my dog both times. She’s a big wimp and had sore paws after a pretty good hike we took, and was very nervous in the tent at night, so I’m not sure if I’ll bring her back.
Shocked that it was even half full. The second time I was there I encountered the flies but not the first, I wonder if proximity to one of the dumpsters might be involved.
I’ve got the camping bug and am trying to get my son to go back with me on Sunday. If he doesn’t bite I may go on my own. The forest is calling me!
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Heading out on a two week camping trip with the wife here next week:
We have talked about doing a national parks road trip for a while and it is finally happening. Camping the whole thing except for a couple nights where the drive is too long to either know we will have a campsite when we get there or be light when we get there. Rough itinerary is:
-Wichita to see my parents and pick up a rental car ($400 for the whole trip at Costco is too good to pass up vs. 3500 miles on my car)
-Black Hills for 3 nights
-Bighorn for 2 nights
-Glacier for 4 nights
-Grand Teton for 3 nights with a day trip to Yellowstone
-RMNP for the last night on the way back
If anyone has any tips for some good easyish hikes (6 miles or less/1000 vertical feet or less) at any of these places it would be much appreciated.
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Bring food to GNP. Closest “real” store is like 50 miles away. It’s fantastic. Going-To-The-Sun Road was closed til like mid July so check ahead before you go.
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Bear spray for Glacier and Teton. I’d stay longer at other places than Black Hills imo.
It’s really more like 2 days because of how long the drive is to get there the first days. We are doing a daytrip to Badlands one of the full days.
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I’m getting ready to do something like this starting next Thursday. In Jackson Hole I think I’ll be camping in my cousin’s yard. And in Morrison I’ll be camping on my sister’s deck. #CAMPING
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I’ve only been to Jackson in the winter but god damn that town and area is awesome. I liked it much more than my time living in Summit County, CO from my brief experiences there. I love Summit County too, don’t get me wrong. I met a super hot snowboarder on the gondola and she brought me down the Hobacks after 24 inches of powder and she had to stop and wait for me she was so damn good. Told me she may see me at the bars that night but my friend had a breakdown and shit got crazy with him and we almost got kicked out of our hotel Fun times.
Check out Vedauwoo in Medicine Bow National Forest. Looks like you will be driving right by it. It’s directly off the route 80 in between Laramie and Cheyenne. Lots of rock formations reminiscent of J Tree. Nice campground and not busy at all this time of year.
Just clipped this from an image search to give you an idea of the terrain.
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Thanks - will do.