On the Trail
Do you hear those birds singin', those crickets chirpin', those frogs froggin' and the campfire roarin'?
Well, pardner, you must be somewhere around this great country of ours in the woods and on a camp-out.
Camp-out. Just the sound of the word will probably do one of two things to you: it will either strike terror in your heart (and y'all should leave now) or it will give that peace that only comes from being around a calming, crackling fire.
You know, there's something mesmerizing about a campfire. The way it licks up at the logs and eventually devours them . . . like a ravenous wolf at the carcass of a felled animal. Hmmm . . . quite a picture, don't you think? Somehow, I should be able to work that line into a cowboy poem.
Camping is one of the greatest adventures you can enjoy - or it can be a disaster. With careful advance planning, making sure you have everything necessary, you can be sure it's the first - a great adventure.
So let's review some things to think about as you plan for going on the trail:
- Are you tenting, or will you have a camper? Or sleep on the ground under the open sky and stars?
- How many are going along, and who are they? Are they experienced campers or not?
- Does the group include children? Have you planned for them?
- What facilities do you need? (Nowadays Leslie Ann wants a bathroom 5 times a night)
- What kind of campsite is best for your group -- a campground or the wild?
- Are you taking animals with you? Make sure they are allowed.
- Are you taking horses? Make sure there are trails to ride.
- Who will cook, and how will the cooking be done?
- If you are cooking over a fire, is an open fire allowed?
Camp Packing Checklist
When you have answered these questions, make a checklist of things you will need to take with you. This list can be as long as is necessary to jog your memory before leaving, and you will add to it the longer you camp. Every time you're out on the trail and find you've forgotten something, add it to the list.
Here's the camping checklist we use, and you can use it to get started planning no matter what level of roughing it you like to do. Even though our guiding principle is to take what we need to be comfortable (nowadays Leslie Ann and I think roughing it is having to watch a black and white TV), we don't take nearly all of these things. The list we're sharing is a comprehensive list that helps us plan for different circumstances:
Camping How-tos
After you've done the kind of advance planning and packing that will ensure adventure, not disaster, you'll want to consider some how-dos:- How do you choose the perfect campsite?
- How do you get to the perfect campsite?
- How do you set up?
- How do you prepare to cook for the time you're there?
- How do you cook?
- How do you enjoy yourself on the trail?
Choosing the perfect campsite involves thinking about who is in your group, their individual needs, levels of experience and whether being in the wild makes them feel like Tarzan or terrifies them. If you're reliant on weather, are there special considerations? If you love the sound of raindrops on canvas and are challenged instead of aggravated by wet matches when you get ready to cook, Washington State might be a good choice. If you love to broil like a hotdog on a spit and find scorpions fascinating, you'll choose the bottom of the Grand Canyon in summer.
Getting to the perfect campsite.
Here's a simple question that can determine a lot of how you plan and prepare: how are you going to get to your campsite? Will you drive, hike, ride horses, canoe, swim or swing in on a grapevine? My preference is to drive to the campsite and then unload all the goods as close to the site as possible. Less stress you understand.
Setting up the perfect campsite.
When you get there, wherever "there" is and however you get to it, you first need to locate a level spot for your camper - or for your tent. Leslie Ann 
has progressed from the old canvas tents her family used as a kid to the lightweight pop-ups that came in during the seventies to the VW camper she had in the 90s to the Northstar camper we have today -- a compact truck-back home on wheels that includes a microwave, a flat panel TV and surround sound and -- wonder of wonders -- a bathroom complete with toilet and shower!
So when you've gotten to the site, you'll need to unload and set up your tent. Here's another place where advance planning can mean a lot. If you're tenting, you'll have to pack a lot of stuff in your car or in your pack. Your tent and the tools you need to set it up would be some of that stuff. It's kind of frustrating to realize you put all those things on the bottom under the PJs you won't need until nighttime long after the tent has been pitched.
Here's the pack/unpack order I like to use: first (and so packed last), pull out the tent/s and tools. Pitch the sleeping tent, set up your cover for the cooking and eating area - a screened tent or a tarpaulin. Situate your table - if you're in a campground, they will probably provide one, which you can hopefully move into your cooking area. Cover the table with a heavy-duty plastic cloth. Unload all the cookware, utensils, and food. Unload any gear that's not staying in the car, and put it in its place. Leslie Ann used to keep several large plastic see-through crates in the back of her VW camper, like file drawers - arranged by usage. The crates were filled with things not needed all the time but easy enough to pull out for use in a particular task or activity. Her beagles even had their own see-through crate with food, vitamins, bowls, toys and leashes.
Preparing to cook in the perfect campsite.
Build a fire pit far enough away from your temporary living area so as not to catch anything on fire. If you aren't purchasing kindling and firewood, you'll need to gather wood. You should look for dry grass and twigs as kindling. Make a pile for that, a pile for somewhat larger sticks, a pile for medium-sized sticks or smaller "logs", and a pile for larger logs. All you outdoorsmen out there - don't go trying to build your fire with the big logs first, no matter how tempting that may be. Those big logs are for late in the evening after you have an established fire. 
When you're cooking, it will be convenient to have a table nearby with all your pots, pans and cooking tools and food items in reach. Hopefully you can set these up in an organized way for the duration of your stay. If possible, put your staging area under some kind of cover so you don't have to move it all every time it looks like rain.
I like to make two fires, one for cooking and one for "sitting around". With a "sitting around" fire going, you may want to adjust the size of your cooking fire upward, 'cause I guarantee folks will stop by your campfire, and if you happen to be cooking at the same time, they'll be wantin' to hang out with you to watch or at least warm their hands.
When we're cooking outdoors, we prefer cast iron cookware. We have found that this stuff is better to cook with because of the even temperature distribution while cooking and the easy cleanup. Mostly you just wipe out the pan. When it's cleaned of all debris, wipe in a little olive oil, and you are done. On rare occasions you will need to actually wash the pot with a non abrasive soap, dry thoroughly -- and then wipe with olive oil to re-season the pan. The olive oil protects the pan against rust.
We recommend 3 or 4 different types of pots and pans - at least a couple of fry pans or skillets, a medium pot and a casserole or Dutch oven.
Cooking in the perfect campsite.
First evening meal. Generally on the first night in camp I start with something like burgers or hotdogs because they're so easy to prepare. After all everybody is usually tired and hungry by this time. Leslie Ann will often make an easy one-pot veggie stew for herself which the rest of us can eat as a side After clean-up, it's time for everyone to go right to bed and to sleep. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow! Goodniiiiight.
Breakfast. Well here it is 6:00 in the morning and I have been up and around for at least an hour already. I've got the fire going good, and the coals are just right for cooking! Here is our menu for breakfast this morning: biscuits, gravy, sausage, eggs, coffee and fried potatoes. This just happens to be Leslie Ann's favorite breakfast! If you believe this, I've got some land in downtown Chicago for sale, cheap. I'm sure when she edits what I've written, Leslie will change a few things. Let's see if this menu makes the cut.
Anyway here is what I do and the order in which I do it. We'll use three cast iron pots for breakfast - two skillets and a Dutch oven.
Biscuits. For biscuits, I prefer to use a 12 inch wide by 3 inch deep Dutch oven. The easiest way to make biscuits, of course, is to buy the biscuits at the grocery store and use them. The problem with this method is, you need to have a good refrigerator to store them or they'll go bad. I'd rather make my own biscuits from scratch and will share my recipe in the recipe section of this web site.
Whether you use a store-bought dough or make your own, take some of the coals from the beautiful fire we discussed awhile ago, and lay them on a flat piece of metal that should be on your list of things to bring. Place the Dutch oven over the coals and put the lid on the oven. Let the oven pre-heat for about 5 minutes or so. Place the biscuits in the oven with sides touching and put on the lid. Put more coals on top of the lid and let them alone for about ten minutes.
Potatoes. While the biscuits are cooking, you or your designee should be cutting up potatoes and putting them on to fry. I like to use a 12 inch skillet for this. When the potatoes are frying nicely, put on another 12 inch skillet for the sausage and eggs.
Just before the 'taters are done, check the biscuits, and be sure they aren't burned up. You will probably need to remove them from the bottom coals as they will more than likely be done on the bottom and just need to finish up on top.
Eggs and sausage. As the biscuits are finishing up, you need to tend to the eggs and sausage. Fry up the sausage first, and pour off some of the grease to keep for gravy. Put the eggs in the skillet, and fry them perfectly to everyone's satisfaction -- or you can scramble the eggs like the sissies do.
Gravy. When you remove the eggs from the skillet, pour just a taste of the sausage grease back into the same skillet if needed. As the grease gets to bubbling, pour in about a cup to a cup and a half of flour. I always say the whiter the better when it comes to flour, right Leslie Ann? After the flour is poured in, stir until it starts to turn a light shade of brown, and then add milk as you continue to stir. When it has reached gravy consistency, remove from the fire and ladle generously over the biscuits.
I'm sure this sounds like you're going to have to juggle a lot of balls at the same time, but stay calm! The more relaxed you are about things, the more smoothly it will all run. Remember: practice makes perfect. Besides, anyone caught pulling their hair out around the cooking area will be sent to their tent with no breakfast.
So there you have it - if you've made it through, a hardy breakfast for your first morning in camp. I promise you, it will be the best tasting breakfast ever. I really enjoy cooking and eating breakfast outdoors!
Lunch. For the noon meal we usually just have a sandwich or something light because of all the activities that go on during the day. If you prefer a salad, you can check out Leslie Ann's ideas in the recipe section. I call her meals "grazing" - pretty good description of pouring olive oil on grass and munching away . . .
Dinner. Mmmm...mmmm....mmmm...I'm getting excited just thinking about this part. First of all, I always try to take along a smoker of some kind when we go on the trail. I'd like to tell you a little about the smoker we just got for ourselves. It's without doubt the finest commercial smoker I have ever owned -- and trust me, I take it with me and use it as often as I can.
The smoker. Our smoker is built by Horizon Smokers hailing from Perry, Oklahoma. Roger and the boys at Horizon have spent a lot of years (and tears, I would imagine) designing this great smoker. If you haven't yet purchased your Horizon Smoker, well, what are you waiting for?? Take a look right here on this site and get in touch with us. Otherwise you might consider taking one of those bullet smokers I have been talking about. They do a fairly good job, although it takes a while longer since the metal isn't as thick as on the Horizon Smokers.
What you need for smoking. To smoke, in addition to your smoker, you'll need charcoal, a fire starter chimney, wood of your choice and paper to start the fire. You'll also need aluminum foil, and I'll say more about this in a minute.
Smoking time. To smoke meat for an evening meal, you should plan to put it on quite early in the day. Actually, I like to start smoking a brisket the evening before and continue smoking through the night. You may need to get up several times to “tend” the meat, but that’s okay, the work is worth it. It's always better to finish the meat early than to be caught with your britches down with the meat not done when it comes time to eat.
Testing for doneness. When smoking meat, you'll need one of those fancy little thermometers with the sensitive tip. This type of thermometer can read the temperature on the inside of the meat. The meat needs to cook to an internal temperature of 170 to 190 degrees for about 2 hours before you can proclaim to the world “It’s done!” If you keep this thermometer gizmo hidden, every one will think you have smoked many a pork butt or brisket to know when it is just perfect. If you follow these instructions, the meat should be so tender you literally won’t need a knife to eat it.
Chef's secret. Keep in mind that once the meat has been on the fire for a couple of hours, the wood taste has already been imparted to the meat and is not needed any longer. At this point, after the meat is cooked (notice I didn’t say done), I usually wrap it in aluminum foil for the duration of the cooking. Told you I'd get back to that aluminum foil! The meat is not done until it is tender. The last few hours of cooking are generally for the tenderizing process. I have often said if you leave the toughest piece of meat on the heat long enough, it will eventually get tender.
Serving. I like to serve smoked meat on a plate with all the sides I can think of and a little bit of that wonderful Hat Creek BBQ sauce. So Leslie Ann, take it away with the sides! But before you do, I'll tell the good folks a little about my favorite side: home made French fries. I like mine sliced rather thin and what I call flash fried. That’s where you put them in a really hot pot of oil and fry them in a hurry. It makes them really crisp and just down right good.
And now for those wonderful sides, things with names I can’t even pronounce. I have learned, though, that if Leslie Ann makes one and sets it in front of me, it’s gonna be great.
Leslie Ann gets the last word on food
I'm editing, so I get the last word. David's breakfasts and other meals really are great - but I've persuaded him to make a few changes on my behalf, and we've agreed that these breakfasts rival his southern heart attacks on a biscuit and will keep us healthy and taste good besides. Specifically, he now uses white whole wheat flour, a little known but wonderful item to have on your shelves. We cook with and saute only in olive oil. We often substitute sweet potatoes and onions for white potatoes. Eggs are ok these days (I've always thought they were). I enjoy them, especially with veggie sausage, which even die-hard carnivores will agree is kinda tasty. Sometimes we poach the eggs in Matboukha, a spicy Moroccan salsa for which I'll give the recipe in the recipe section.
As for "sides", as David calls them . . . well, usually by the time I finish serving my salads and other "side" dishes, which I'll tell you about in the recipe section, folks are happily filled and don't have room for anything else. Oh, yes, except for, of course, David's smoked meat!
Making the most of your camping time together
David here again. Yup, those eggs with Moroccan salsa are really good! And that white whole wheat flour makes pretty good biscuits. At least they're better than making biscuits with the lentil and barley flour she grinds (j/k, Leslie Ann).
Now I want to take a minute to tell you how important it is to take those kids camping with you. You'll be able to create memories with them that they will keep forever - and help them develop some resourcefulness besides.
After lunch, I like to make sure everyone gets out to explore nature. Meanwhile, I can put up my feet and rest from all that cookin'! I wait for them all to come back and tell me about what they've discovered. Story telling is very important in any culture, but it is in danger of becoming a lost art -- so encourage your younguns' to go find something worthy of telling about, and then listen to what they have to say.
Finally, I want to tell you how much I enjoy those quiet spaces in time with people I love. Camping is great that way! If you're not campers, find something else. Do positive, creative things together, communicating eye-to-eye and face-to-face. This is where you will find the meaning of your life.