Camping out of your explorer

[Thelt]

I usually have my two small children with me when I camp so you might not want to join us. They are great kids but kids are still kids and get loud and rowdy.

There are lots of great areas around here to camp. I used to own a folding tent camper and it was fun but you can go more places without it. There is an offroad track not far from Wilson's Creek. It is mostly for ATVs and motorcylces but part of it is open to SUVs. I think they let you camp there too if you want.

I may get a more powerful gun eventually when I can afford it. I still figure a 32 is a lot better than sticks and rocks.....

 

[ExploringNC]

I don't mind kids especially if I'm not the one chasing them. My youngest 15 will go but oldest boy 18 gets toooo booored.

Does your family rough it or go to a camp ground?

We found a really good site the other week where the road ended right where two small rivers came together. Great site for a family and some nice swim holes for smaller kids. Get off at marker 17 on 181 out of morganton, turn right onto a forest road and not too far. You can go left and find some primitive sites too, actually you can turn off any forest road and find camp sites.

We took a day trip right before my 4x4 died too Brown Mountain and there was several sites on the way in but allot of road traffic. Brown Mountain OHV was ok even got a little hairy at the top, actually I never made the trail all the way threw I was by myself and got too scared without a support vehicle.

 

[ExploringNC]

This is at the top where I turned around. Nice and flat there but just came threw a few tricky spots.

Some of the back forest roads around Linville have some incredible views.

 

[Thelt]

I don't mind kids especially if I'm not the one chasing them. My youngest 15 will go but oldest boy 18 gets toooo booored.

Does your family rough it or go to a camp ground?

We found a really good site the other week where the road ended right where two small rivers came together. Great site for a family and some nice swim holes for smaller kids. Get off at marker 17 on 181 out of morganton, turn right onto a forest road and not too far. You can go left and find some primitive sites too, actually you can turn off any forest road and find camp sites.

We took a day trip right before my 4x4 died too Brown Mountain and there was several sites on the way in but allot of road traffic. Brown Mountain OHV was ok even got a little hairy at the top, actually I never made the trail all the way threw I was by myself and got too scared without a support vehicle.

That is funny, I turned around on the same rock when I did that trail. I bottomed out just before I got there and there was a hairy rocky section up ahead. The guy in front of me had a lifted CJ with what looked like 35s a seemed surprised I was able to follow him that far.

Maybe we can hook up and camp together sometime. That spot you found off 181 sounds sweet. We usually go to a campground but sometimes go rough. We tried a spot off old 105 about half mile past Wiseman's View and I thought it was great even though the only amenity was a fire ring made of rocks. My dad used to keep a big camping trailer at Horse Shoe Bend campground on 181 and we used to go there a lot. It was a vicitm of one of the hurricanes that came through a few years ago and flooded it.

 

[Neil1750825]

I do it all the time in my Explorer. Especially when I can't drive home from the bars.

 

[KC10Chief]

All of this bear talk is silly. I live in Alaska and I see bears all the time. In town and out in the wilderness. I don't worry about them at all. I ride mountain bikes and I fish. I've fished with bears fishing in the same place. I don't bother them and they don't bother me. I still keep my .44 nearby, but have never felt threatened. I've hiked in the woods with my wife and kids and never had a problem. All I carry then is bear spray if I even remember it. I came outside my house a couple of weeks ago and there was a huge brown bear and two cubs in my yard. They ran away fast as hell when they saw me.

A bear isn't going to break into your X. There are only a few places in the US where that actually happens. Yellowstone is the main place. The bears there have figured out that they can rip a car door off and get to food because of their extremely frequent contact with people. Anywhere else, they won't bother. They certainly won't bother if there is a human in there. Matter of fact, here in Alaska, they tell you to lock your food up in your vehicle. I've never heard of a bear breaking into a vehicle here. So, unless you live in or near Yellowstone or Yosemite, you don't have anything to worry about. Also, if I were to carry a gun for bear defense, I wouldn't carry anything smaller than a .44 unless you think you can shoot it point blank in the face. A .32 pistol is going to piss it off. I think you could jam a .32 down the bears throat and empty your magazine and it's still going to tear you apart.

A bear might rip into your tent though. It's a soft surface and it knows that it can move and tear it. The doors and windows on your X are hard surfaces. A bear doesn't normally encounter metal or glass out in the wild. But it does encounter hard surfaces like trees and rocks. You don't see a bear ripping up a tree or rock. The bear doesn't realize that it COULD rip into your vehicle. It just assumes that it can't and it moves on. I guess if you leave your windows down, he could drag you out by your face.

 

[BrianDye]

Holy crap haa! Id be scared if I seen a bear a thousand feet away, let alone fish next to it!

I guess the reason behind that, is from movies, and never actually encountering one...
What exactly is bear spray? Like pepper spray for humans or something?

 

[KC10Chief]

Holy crap haa! Id be scared if I seen a bear a thousand feet away, let alone fish next to it!

I guess the reason behind that, is from movies, and never actually encountering one...
What exactly is bear spray? Like pepper spray for humans or something?

It's like a really potent pepper spray. Bears have a super sensitive olfactory sense (smell). I've been gassed with pepper spray before and it SUCKS. The bear spray is a lot more potent. I've never had to use it, but I keep a can with me in whatever I'm driving usually. Not for bears, but I want to try it out on some weirdo that tries to accost me.

They did a 20 year study here in Alaska. Bear spray vs. shooting at them. Of all the people that were charged by bears, about 65% were able to deter or stop them by shooting at them with a gun. Almost 99% of the people who used bear spray, were able to deter the bear. I've talked to game wardens around here. One guy who lives near me, is a wildlife guy. He deals with problem bears in the Anchorage area. Bears that are bothering people or tearing stuff up. He's been doing it for 30+ years. He says he's been charged at least 100 times, and all he ever uses is bear spray. He said a bear has never come through the bear spray cloud. That's good enough for me. If the bear expert is using it, that's what I'm going to use too. My can of bear spray was $25. My .44 mag was over $1,000, and I can't even find ammo for it any more.

 

[ExploringNC]

thelt

I'm heading to the mountains tonight for weekend if your interested in stopping by. I'm going to try and get a camp site at mile marker 17 off 181 out of Morganton. Turn right off highway and I will be camping along river, if they are all full then I will be on left road at marker 17. Look for white Ex with Explorer4x4.com on windshield.

 

[Thelt]

I am headed to the beach this weekend. I did camp along one of the forest service roads near mile marker 17 on 181 like you suggested. It is a pretty nice area. That is where I got stuck in that thread that got moved to the "Whoops" section.

 

[inh]

Me and the wife slept in the back of the truck while driving from KS to CA, and we will do the same on our way back. We bought one of those egg carton mattress pads from walmart. Get the Full size, it fits PERFECT =] Me and her have no problem sleeping back there, and im 6'4"

 

[Holeychest]

What I did in the back of the Mountaineer would not be classified as camping, but even though you are awake the whole time some call it sleeping.

Sorry, I just thought that it needed to be said. I know someone else was thinking it.

 

[Happy Jack]

Cold weather it is not bad. In warm weather the bugs can get in and bug you all night. And it's tough to open the side windows and get a breese. Some folks I know use a self inflating thermal pad. I just use a patio lounge chair matress. I get them in the fall/early winter for about $20. Stick my pillow down in my bag so it stays clean during the day. I carry a large mouth receptical so I don't have to get out at night. You can get the ones like they have in hospitals at the store. I'm to big and old to climb in and out of the truck these days. I just carry a tent. Just have to be carefull in warm weather to keep the bugs out.

 

[Kovalchuk]

What I did in the back of the Mountaineer would not be classified as camping, but even though you are awake the whole time some call it sleeping.

Sorry, I just thought that it needed to be said. I know someone else was thinking it.

Be careful man... the rear coil springs on these bad boys break quite easily.

 

[Holeychest]

I don't have to worry about that. She is no longer mine. I have a wagon though, so when the time comes I can just close my eyes and pretend I am in the back of the Mountaineer. But I can't take the wagon to the middle of... well wherever I wanted really. More of a entertaining challenge I guess. The real worry I had was that wooly carpet on the backs of those seats.

 

[Desertgunner89]

Just went on a three day trip to Malibu with my lady, and used the X as a tent. It was comfortable. Brought blankets and a fold-o-mat to use as a mattress as it isn't as tall. I'm 6'0 and I fit fine closed hatch as well as open. It was comfortable and much cooler than a nylon tent.