It took roughly a month for my next camping trip after my initial two day trip. I left of with an appetite to show my coworker I can get my setup beyond basic, so this one features new gear!
- A cot, replacing the self-inflating mattress which took up a lot of space
- A smaller (and better) pillow
- A table
- Cooking supplies
- Compact Cassette Gas Burner
- Solid Fuel firestarter
- It’s hard to see, but there is a moving blanket under the cot, I was worried without it I could damage the tent interior.
This campsite (Sea & Sun Auto Campground https://maps.app.goo.gl/6Hpa4epBQgHGJJPR9) was quite nice, shielded from the coastal winds from all sites and I was able to pick a spot out of view of other campers. I liked the ground too.
The moving blanket gets strapped and secured atop the motorcycle bag with the blue shock cord you can faintly see in the pic when zooming in. It actually takes up a lot of space as I choose a big size.
I also prepared audiobooks of my favourite series, Spice and Wolf and started listening to that during setup and the rest of the day.
For cooking, I wanted to take a step forward, I had two cooking methods prepped, a gas cassette burner and a tiny portable grill that uses solid fuel firestarters. Instead of sourcing my food from the konbini and eat as-is, I wanted to cook a bit.
Unfortunately I absolutely fucking sucked at it lmao. I prepared some sausages and bacon, when it came time to cook, it became extremely clear, extremely fast, that a gas burner outputs WAY TOO MUCH energy and my shit burned and smoked almost instantly. I thought “ok ok, maybe not gas, lets try the other thing” and this one… is too underwhelming. Sure, it can get things warm, but these solid fuel firestarters don’t output enough energy to cook themselves. Oh well, warm sausages and half burnt bacon it is.
The night was…not good. See, I am a side sleeper, I can not for the life of me sleep on my back. But I did not know/realize that cots are not made for side sleepers. Even with my usual alcohol I could just not fall asleep, I was watching the hours go by, creeping closer to morning, and I knew I had to set down early due to an incoming typhoon hitting the area. At 4 am I tried a hail mary and just tried sleeping directly on the ground, on top of the moving blanket and… was actually able to get 1.5 hours in. Not much, but enough to make it back safely.
Coming back, lesson learned, cot is compact, but not for sleeping, need to find an alternative. I also wanted to lock in cooking. I finally realized the actual meaning of the “no fires” rule all campsites had I visited so far. It’s “no open fires”. So for the next trip I wanted to prepare a portable fire pit I’ve seen others use. I’ve also wanted to try out another tent. The popup is nice for convenience and space, but I don’t like driving with it on my back as it limits my visibility and makes me a more susceptible to wind coming in, so next post will include a new tent, yay.
Bonus Pics:
I’m enjoying seeing your camping journeys on here. Please keep posting! :-)
The cot gets you off the ground which is easier on your knees and back and keeps your tent tidier but yes they are not comfortable on their own. I would recommend a small self inflating mattress to put on the cot.
With cooking, there are stoves designed to heat up water really quickly, usually designed for hiking, and there are others with better flame control that will let you cook at lower temperatures. I’m not sure what brands available in Japan but if you ask at a camping shop I’m sure they’ll be able to help. The other trick with camp cooking is using a pan or pot with a thicker base that will distribute the heat more evenly rather than a thin material like aluminium or titanium which will have hot spots and cold spots which makes it much harder to cook food evenly.
Good luck!
Love all of this, thanks for your advice! This is early in my journey (I’m at 18? camps now) so discovery is high. I’ve not closed myself off completely off cots, but the wider one I got for use with an air mattress takes considerably more space and weight, something thats precious on a bike. I have some plans tho lol. In terms of cooking, from this point on I become a campfire addict. I actually physically can not eat much, so trying to cook a lot was a newb mistake back then and means high heat scenarios for like making rice or pasta are not needed for me. <3