Crutches , Gadgets , Gismos and garbage for out there. | SouthernPaddler.com

Crutches , Gadgets , Gismos and garbage for out there.

oldsparkey

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2003
10,479
123
Central , Florida
www.southernpaddler.com
Crutches , Gadgets , Gismos and Garbage for out there.

This is a carry over from a different post where we were talking about using bright colored tarps so you can find your campsite after you go for a days paddling. Some of us like the more nature friendly camps where they don't stand out and SHOUT ... Look At Me.

So to keep the other post in content and move the discussion over here :roll: ..........

I really hate to say this but I really have to ...... If you are out there paddling and camping and leave your campsite , intending to return at a later date or time , and then don't have the smarts or any idea where the campsite is ( But require a billboard to locate it ) then you don't belong out there but instead need to stay in some motel and have a road map.Hopefully on an interstate so some hitchhiker can point you in the right direction.

Especially if that is the only reason you require the bright tarp , not counting personal preferences which could be excused.

Down here we call it Orlando Paddlers or Campers ( City Slickers) out camping an paddling , you guys might use the word Greenhorns.

Don't laugh ... During my Range and Water days , I had to tell a lot of folks , even at times , show them where there camp was after the explained the surroundings to me , since they were lost. To top it off they , some of them were in spitting distance of where they wanted to be.

This is a really sore subject with me , cost me uncountless hours , needless , wasted hours of my off duty time ( No we did not get overtime back then) out there helping the idiots find there camp.

If you have no idea of how to get back to your camp then you do not need to be out there on the water ... Try hiking this way and if your camp is in Florida you might end up in Georgia while looking for it. "OR" Better yet ... Just stay in motels like I said. This way the poor guy working the river can be home after his shift with his family.

I can or will tell you this ... You could have the Good Year Blimp overhead as a marker for your camp , GPS , God and all of HIS wisdom paddling in the bow of your boat, If you do not pay attention to what you are doing and where you are then , suffer sucker.
I'm Retired and will not be there anymore to save you useless arse. Call someone else who cares , if they any of them do now days.

The best directional finder , GPS and anything else is what is between your ears when it comes to being out in the woods or on the water. Exercise it with just day walks in a park and then reverse your path or short padding.

Everything else (electronic , Man Made) can CRASH on you and when it does then what do you do , sit down and cry for mommy or call the cops , good luck the cell phone might not work.

Pay attention to where you are , where you have been and the route back. It does help to look behind you at times , this way a thing called your brain will register the return path.

The best thing a person can have is a compass ( normal one not battery powered ) and a good , updated map with the know how of using both of them.

If I have stepped on your toes , insulated you , ticked you off or done anything where you think I am the #1 Jerk , GOOD , I have you thinking and that just might save your hide one day.
Trust in your self , play with the toys but trust yourself.

Yep , I have the toys in the Jeep and with me on the water but I trust myself more then the toys.

In fact I use the toys to mark good camping spots when on the water and drive the one in the jeep nuts when driving , it does not know the shortcuts on getting to places. After all some nut behind a oak desk with a computer put all the road options in it. Not information from the locals.
Heck the one in the Jeep keeps telling me to take a road that is not there anymore to get home , some good directions , really makes me have faith in it and it has been updated. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Chuck.
 
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dangermouse01

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2006
312
1
Palm Bay, FL (East coast)
oldsparkey said:
Did I say that a Tropical Storm ( Possible Hurricane) might be here this weekend for the camping trip?


Chuck,
Wed evening/Thursday morning the TS will be at it closest to Florida, about 200 miles off Miami. Friday morning it will be about 300 miles off of Cape Canaveral. We will have great weather. :D :D

DM
 

oldsparkey

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2003
10,479
123
Central , Florida
www.southernpaddler.com
If the weather folks are right and it makes that right hand turn Thursday and goes out to sea on Friday what a blessing. Even if it runs up the Atlantic then the west side of Florida should be on the backwash and safe.

Right now it is raising some hell down in the islands , killed 20 so far , as far as they know.

We have lots of upper winds moving from the west side of the state to the east along with some dryer weather behind it ....... If it continues , right now it is looking good. :D

We are WET around here and really need the water , no complaints. With any luck the dust bowels around here will become lakes again , or at lease have water in them.

Thats just Florida , if you don't like the weather , hold off for 20 minutes and it will change.:lol: :lol: :lol:

Chuck.
 

FlaMike

Well-Known Member
Jun 20, 2007
624
2
Spring Hill, FL
www.ptponds.com
Well, maybe just one complaint.

I'm up here and my plywood is down there! :shock:

I don't want to drive down to pick it up until I'm fairly sure I can make the trip without getting caught in the rain. I'd hate to start a build with warped plywood, I'd much rather warp it myself, during the build, like everybody else. :lol:

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL
 

catfish

Well-Known Member
Feb 7, 2007
996
3
jesup, ga.
Chuck sounds like you need to set down & take a deep breath. :wink: I know you guys need some rain like we do up the road . I just hope you or us don,t get know bad weather from it.
 

hairymick

Well-Known Member
Dec 8, 2005
2,107
2
Queensland, Australia
I really hate to say this but I really have to ...... If you are out there paddling and camping and leave your campsite , intending to return at a later date or time , and then don't have the smarts or any idea where the campsite is ( But require a billboard to locate it ) then you don't belong out there but instead need to stay in some motel and have a road map.Hopefully on an interstate so some hitchhiker can point you in the right direction.

Especially if that is the only reason you require the bright tarp , not counting personal preferences which could be excused.

Down here we call it Orlando Paddlers or Campers ( City Slickers) out camping an paddling , you guys might use the word Greenhorns.

Don't laugh ... During my Range and Water days , I had to tell a lot of folks , even at times , show them where there camp was after the explained the surroundings to me , since they were lost. To top it off they , some of them were in spitting distance of where they wanted to be.

This is a really sore subject with me , cost me uncountless hours , needless , wasted hours of my off duty time ( No we did not get overtime back then) out there helping the idiots find there camp.

If you have no idea of how to get back to your camp then you do not need to be out there on the water ... Try hiking this way and if your camp is in Florida you might end up in Georgia while looking for it. "OR" Better yet ... Just stay in motels like I said. This way the poor guy working the river can be home after his shift with his family.

I can or will tell you this ... You could have the Good Year Blimp overhead as a marker for your camp , GPS , God and all of HIS wisdom paddling in the bow of your boat, If you do not pay attention to what you are doing and where you are then , suffer sucker.
I'm Retired and will not be there anymore to save you useless arse. Call someone else who cares , if they any of them do now days.

The best directional finder , GPS and anything else is what is between your ears when it comes to being out in the woods or on the water. Exercise it with just day walks in a park and then reverse your path or short padding.

Everything else (electronic , Man Made) can CRASH on you and when it does then what do you do , sit down and cry for mommy or call the cops , good luck the cell phone might not work.

Pay attention to where you are , where you have been and the route back. It does help to look behind you at times , this way a thing called your brain will register the return path.

The best thing a person can have is a compass ( normal one not battery powered ) and a good , updated map with the know how of using both of them.

If I have stepped on your toes , insulated you , ticked you off or done anything where you think I am the #1 Jerk , GOOD , I have you thinking and that just might save your hide one day.
Trust in your self , play with the toys but trust yourself.

Yep , I have the toys in the Jeep and with me on the water but I trust myself more then the toys.

In fact I use the toys to mark good camping spots when on the water and drive the one in the jeep nuts when driving , it does not know the shortcuts on getting to places. After all some nut behind a oak desk with a computer put all the road options in it. Not information from the locals.
Heck the one in the Jeep keeps telling me to take a road that is not there anymore to get home , some good directions , really makes me have faith in it and it has been updated.

Chuck.

Chucky, That is a SUPERB RANT MATE :D :lol: and it echoes my thoughts allmost exactly, only I was too shy to voice them here.

I can understand the choice of the bright colours for a potential search and rescue situation or even because the owners like them (sort of) but round here, such a tarp would recieve howls of derision from the other bushmen.

Each to his own, I guess, and I have no idea just how bleak your northern evenings might be. Here, in the land of bloody endless sunshine and heat, the preference is for plain or drab colours that blend with the surrounding bush and tend not to advertise ones position. That way, if others are passing your camp, they are not so likely to notice it and steal from it while you are not there.

Not only that, Aussies, in general, hate to comply with authority and love to camp in places they are not supposed to. The last thing we want or need is s neon sign advertising our position. :lol:
 

oldsparkey

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2003
10,479
123
Central , Florida
www.southernpaddler.com
hairymick said:
Not only that, Aussies, in general, hate to comply with authority and love to camp in places they are not supposed to. The last thing we want or need is s neon sign advertising our position. :lol:

Mick ...

That is what I'm getting at , sometimes I camp in places where they sort of frown on the idea. In fact sometimes they just plain don't have a sense of humor about someone being there.
Example , a friend of mine was camping in a area and was fixing a pot of coffee when there was a loud bang and his coffee pot exploded , then this voice said ... Your Next if you don't get...... NOW.

He left in his boat without his gear.

Then there is the other side of the coin , where folks who are not the land owners (Crooks as in smugglers or poachers ) see your camp and like to use it for target practice , including your boat. They think that is a good way to keep strangers away from there not quite legal activaties.

So by getting into the habit of setting up camp so no one knows you are there is a good habit to have.

Chuck.
 

Lazyriverguy

Well-Known Member
Nov 9, 2006
180
0
Eureka,Florida
Dear friend and paddle person Chuck
I just had to retrieve one of those nice city (Orlando ) folks off my river. He was doing an over nighter from SR40 to us. Was gonig to be out 3 days. Showed up here with his boat and said he can't remember the place he set up camp this morning. He thought it was next to a cypress tree.Couldn't remember if he had went by Gore or not. Thought he saw some thing like that after setting up for the day. Left his camp to go fishin, My question " did you go with the flow of the river or against the flow" I think it was with the flow but I am not for sure. That was the best he could do. I found his camp with the new w-mart tent that could be seen from 3 turns down stream it was at the camp you and I use on the left hand turn before Gore. When I got him there he said yup that looks like it. No way he should be out there by himself. I helped him get his camp and moved him to Gore for my own peace of mind. It is not the first one and I am sure it won't be the last. Have a great week end it looks like we all will have good weather for campin this week.
Joe