Poor ol’ Burl. The camping world is all nylon and ripstop now, and the rest of his boy scout troop isn’t there to help him drag those heavy tents.
For those of us who don’t take Pack Mules on our campouts, here’s a tent that looks fit for folks nostalgic for the old Scout Summer Camp:
My dad had one like that. I remember us using it least once!
I have more lasting memories of that huge, weird green bundle gathering dust in a closet, and the occasional aluminum-tipped wooden tent pole “escaping” for us kids to find a more practical use for.
I saw one of our local scout leaders with those poles you mention, Won- I couldn’t believe he was setting up one of those tents. Turns out he wasn’t- the poles have a new life as parts of his Emergency Stretcher-made-from-a-blanket lessons.
A guy like that needs to shop at a Military surplus store.
It’s a great place to find rugged camping gear. Everything from tents,tarps, water purifiers ( no need to boil ) M.R.E.s, mess kits and a whole lot more.
Military grade equipment, at discount store prices.
You’re sharp, Ed. That’s sort of where this gag got its start. My kids have fallen in love with an Army Surplus place in a nearby town, and I keep my ears and eyes open when I take them there.
*sniff sniff* is that cedar smoke I smell, with a side of sweaty-muck water sock thrown in with a pair of ‘worn for 2 day boxers’?
Oh, how I miss thee childhood scout trips, oh, how I miss thee! :'(
Every Memorial Day weekend my dad would take the family camping at some state or national park. My parents had their old civil-war-style canvas tent, and the kids had a new nylon/ripstop dome job. No matter where we went, it always rained at some point. While my parents would stay nice and dry, my sister and I would invariably wake up to dreams of floating down some cold creek, only to find our sleeping bags waterlogged.
And you’re right Greg: no matter what my mother would try to clean that old canvas tent with, when you stepped inside, it smelled like woodsmoke and mildew, with a hint of whatever industrial cleaner was used that year.
I’ll be spending Thursday and Friday nights this week in an old canvas cabin tent. It has aluminum poles, but it would fill the bill for nastolgia. It also keeps the heat in better than nylon. It’s supposed to get down into the 30s both nights.
I use the canvas monsters that the area Scout camp keeps for Summer Camp, but otherwise, I’m a lightweight… or at least the tents I use are, these days.
I slept in a canvas tent with hardwood poles, rough hemp ropes, and huge metal tent pegs last week. I ended up making one, the simplest cheapest method, but there are plenty of tents like that out there for sale, if your shop is good enough. Many of them use car axles as tent pegs, and hardwood poles are made of Eucalyptus here in Oz, but otherwise, just send him to the nearest Medieval Reenactors. (Not renfair, mind you, you yanks seem to find it hard to tell the difference, but find the people doing real history, not fantasy.)
‘Round here, if you want canvas tents done historically accurately, then I guess you go to the hardcore Civil War reenactors. Those guys run around in 100ºF heat and 90% humidity wearing all wool layers including jackets. They (the really serious ones) know where to get all the really real stuff created for their events. The family and I have been to Vicksburg MS to see some of the hotshots do their thing, and there were canvas tents aplenty. On the other hand, there are deer-camp style hunting tents still available that are made to accommodate a wood-fired stove inside. Yow.