View Full Version : cowboy camping
The Phoenix
11-18-2009, 12:48
Hi,
I got into cowboy camping on my hike and kind of liked the thrill of being out in the open... and one every have a bad experience cowboy camping other than petty things like bugs and that crap...
I mean I got bit in the head by a raccoon in a shelter so could cowboy camping be any more dangerous?
There is nothing more liberating than sleeping under a ceiling which nothing but the starry Heavens above!
3 walls and a roof can bring a level of mental comfort to some. I can't sleep without my blankie.
That said, Tried it a few times. Different strokes for different folks. Didn't like the feeling of being exposed, but I bet Freud would love to interview me.
Lone Wolf
11-18-2009, 13:05
Hi,
I got into cowboy camping on my hike and kind of liked the thrill of being out in the open... and one every have a bad experience cowboy camping other than petty things like bugs and that crap...
I mean I got bit in the head by a raccoon in a shelter so could cowboy camping be any more dangerous?
There is nothing more liberating than sleeping under a ceiling which nothing but the starry Heavens above!
i did it in the whites a lot and SNP/Smokys
sherrill
11-18-2009, 13:21
I enjoy it, makes me feel a bit "Daniel Boone". Just wish we had that automatic, small campfire that never goes out. :p
We preferred to camp this way in Denali so we could keep tabs on the bears - there was one who followed us for miles one day.
The Phoenix
11-18-2009, 13:23
Did you ever think that bear liked hiking and was just lonely and wanting some company?
The Solemates
11-18-2009, 13:41
do quite frequently when good weather is expected with little dew. just cowboy camped 2 weekends ago, right by the fire. wonderful starry night.
Once had a mouse run up one arm and sat on my chest squeaking but that could happen in a shelter and another time woke up to a deer nose to nose with me, that one got my heart a pounding.
sherrill
11-18-2009, 14:21
Did you ever think that bear liked hiking and was just lonely and wanting some company?
Yes, he did ask for a bear hug, but considering he was about 500 lbs, I declined. :D
sheepdog
11-18-2009, 14:29
Cowboy camping in a hammock is the way to go.
Jester2000
11-18-2009, 14:49
I cowboy camped about 75% of the time I was on the PCT.
I cowboy camp about 7-8 months out of the year, and hammock the other months.
I got into cowboy camping on my hike and kind of liked the thrill of being out in the open... and one every have a bad experience cowboy camping other than petty things like bugs and that crap... The Phoenix
Nothing very serious. I cowboy as often as conditions allow. On the PCT in almost 5 months put up a tarp maybe 6 times. Cowboyed the rest of the time. On the 900 + miles of the Hayduke Tr slept under a tarp once! Cowboyed all the rest of those nights.
Have had racoons, oppossums, foxes, skunks, deer, a black bear, moose, a coyote, lizards, frogs, an ocassional snake, some mice, an armadillo, probably some other animals I'm not aware of, get real close, like sniff me. Not really a big deal for me. Wouldn't want a skunk spraying my $500 WM sleeping bag though!
I suppose the least favorable is falling asleep under those starry Heavens you mention and waking up in the middle of the night to pit pat pit pat pat pat. You roll over thinking, "it will stop!" And, it doesn't! As it starts to rain harder and harder you wipe your crusty eyes clean and get up to erect your shelter.
It's all very worth it for me though. I get to feel more a part of nature, to become one with it(I know some of you will sneer at that comment), rather than just feel like I'm traveling through it by separating myself from it by erecting both physical and psychological walls.
handlebar
11-18-2009, 20:53
I, too, really got into cowboy camping on the PCT. One has to be a little more careful in choice of campsite to avoid heavy dew, but I really liked staring up into a star-filled sky. Often, I'd see a shooting star or two before drifting off to sleep. When cowboy camping, I tried to choose a location that doesn't appear to have been camped in (Yes, I know about LNT, but on the PCT at least, there were many places that one night in my bag atop my tyvek wouldn't impact.) Like many others, except in bear country, I made a practice of sleeping with my food bag next to my feet.
The only place rodents were an issue was in a designated campsite near Stehekin where I had to get up in the middle of the night to clip my food bag to my clothes-drying line that was stretched over my bag between two hemlocks. It was fun watching that persistent mouse try to tightrope walk the line! I don't know whether other animals came by to sniff at me over the night as I slept very soundly.
In addition to the star show at night, I also liked waking early as the sky brightened to the point I could see in black and white. I usually rolled over for forty winks finally getting up as soon as I could see colors.
I can remember a couple of times when I needed to get up to erect the tent. Once I tried pulling the tyvek from under my pad to cover me and the bag. Unfortunately, the rain progressed and shortly after I had to get up and put the tent up.
Love to cowboy camp. I even did it on the BMT when I could.
Something about the stars above for a blanket and the wind in the air makes me fall asleep so peacefully.
Feral Bill
11-19-2009, 19:17
Only down side I've seen is having the full moon in my face. Too bright! I do sometimes pitcha tarp then sleep outside. i can move in in a hurry if the weather changes.
Tipi Walter
11-19-2009, 20:46
What I call bedroll camping you guys call cowboy camping, same difference. It's the way to go for most conditions but then again, it's not so good to lay down at 10pm and wake up at 3 in a rain deluge with no protection. I call it the Rodeo: you have 8 seconds to rope that calf! Doesn't work too good either in hot conditions and you're covered in mosquitoes.
Or learning how poorly a goose down bag insulates when out in the open and exposed to a cold winter wind. Or to wake up covered in 8-10 inches of snow every morning. Is cowboy camping the same as bivy sac camping? Why wouldn't it be?
nitewalker
11-19-2009, 20:50
i did some cowboy camping last nite off the north south trail[r.i.]. i managed to drag a couple of friends out for an evening. we were able to hike 10 miles yesterday and another 5 today. no strange occurances last nite but we did hear some type of small animal scurrying thru the woods around one or two in the morning. we hiked thru arcadia and carolina management areas. temps were mid 50s for the days and a low of 34 over nite. i used my ems mtn lite 20* bag and was plenty warm. the only problem was how damp the bag got. this is an older mtn lite with no dwr...
I call it the Rodeo: you have 8 seconds to rope that calf!
Keep em coming Tipi! Another good one!
Blissful
11-19-2009, 23:10
My hubby and son love to cowboy camp. Enjoy.
chknfngrs
11-19-2009, 23:17
You can't cowboy camp in a hammock.
johnnybgood
11-19-2009, 23:32
Is cowboy camping the same as bivy sac camping ?-Tipi Walter
I'd say it's the same cause your still exposed to the elements.
You can't cowboy camp in a hammock.
Actually you can do something more comfortable--set up the hammock without the rain fly, or with the rain fly furled into a small roll. Raindrops hit you on the face and wake you up, hop up and deploy the rain fly.
Rain Man
11-20-2009, 11:24
My hubby and son love to cowboy camp. Enjoy.
Same here. I remember a night my wife and I cowboy camped on Rich Mountain, just out of Hot Springs, NC on a fall Saturday night. She fell blissfully asleep. I was lying there, listening to my Tigers kick some Seminole butt on the radio, and realizing I was watching shooting stars cross the Milky Way. Couldn't get much better.
Ahhhhhhhh.
Now, forced to cowboy camp on Standing Indian Mountain one night in the clouds and wind was a different story. Burrrrrrrr.
Rain:sunMan
.
Tipi Walter
11-20-2009, 11:32
Cowboy camping with the cows? I slept with cows but had a tent.:)
I don't know how many times I bedrolled it under a tree by a church or in a town cemetary by a tombstone(I remember the guy's dates: 1854-1952) Bedroll camping is great for stealth camping when you can't set up a tent, and then you can throw the tent fly over you in the rain. Works moderately well.
Backyard camping and deck camping when visiting friends are also ways to cowboy camp, just throw down the ground cloth, thermy and bag and have at it. Quick and no muss, no fuss. It gets a little tough in -5F but then I had two bags for bulk and warmth, and the winter wind just blew over me.
the goat
11-20-2009, 12:10
i love cowboy camping, did it a lot in my '01 hike.
one night while cowboy camping on blackrock cliffs in SNP, a rat emerged from the rocks and stole our socks in the middle of the night. few things leave you feeling more confused about what to do than watching your socks disappear down a rocky slope in the middle of the night.