Meeting the need for exotic camping

Meeting the need for exotic camping

By Lynn Elliott

Families attempting to make their camping excursions even more special, or veteran campers looking for a little twist on the usual outdoor experience, are finding what they're searching for with some unique accommodations offered at selected state parks.

Rather than settling down for their outdoor time at the traditional sites and lodges, adventuresome campers now have the option of renting tepees and yurts at a handful of parks around the state.

Tepees make an interesting and historical attraction at a state park, perhaps providing a more imaginative take on the usual camping trip. What a better setting to make a camping trip into an adventure than in a tepee in the woods?

Although a number of Native American groups used similar structures during the hunting season, only the Plains Indians adopted tepees as year-round dwellings. In Michigan, the compact and tough structures served as hunting bases and as shelter during treks through the deep woodlands of the time.

State Park tepees are much closer to their historical inspirations than yurts, though, as the latter is very much a modern take and the kind of accommodations any good Mongol would say was too much to carry.

The traditional yurt is a circular, tent-like dwelling used in northern Asia that can be quickly dismantled, moved, and reassembled at another site – the kind of efficiency that facilitated the movement of eastern tribes into Europe and the Roman Empire.

At that time, yurts were primarily constructed of a felt-like material and/or skins that are stretched over a wood framework.

Modern day yurts are constructed with hi-tech materials and are designed for extreme weather conditions and, very unlike their historical inspirations, take a relatively long time to build and are more expensive than a tent. Prices start at about $5,000.

That doesn't stop them from being fun camping options, though.

“The rented tepee program has been ongoing since the 1980s or so,” Michigan State Parks Chief of Field Operations George Cameron said. “The ‘enhanced lodging' program we've undertaken with the tepees and yurts and lodges has been hugely popular.”

Tepee rentals are available at Cheboygan State Park, Interlochen State Park, Baraga State Park and Wilson State Park for $30 per night. Cameron stressed, however, that reservations for tepees and other enhanced lodging venues go pretty quick and that campers should think ahead to ensure they get a chance to enjoy the special experience.

“Renting a tepee can be a fun adventure for the family camping trip,” he said. “We've also found that the yurts and lodges and cabins are even more popular.”

Tepees are set up in modern campgrounds with access to the parks' toilet/shower facilities, a fire ring and a picnic table. The tepees feature solid floors, closeable flaps and they sleep up to four people in bunk beds or cots.

Park staff set up the tepee and campers can also erect one additional tent on the same campsite, but no other units, and no pets are allowed inside the tepee.

Tepee reservations can be made for by calling 1-800-44PARKS or electronically online via the DNR website at www.michigan.gov/dnr under the “recreation and camping” menu.

Cameron said the site at Baraga, the newest of the locations to offer tepee rental, has been particularly popular as it offers a majestic view of the Keweenaw Bay and Lake Superior.

Called “the Kitchigami Tepee,” the site offers campers an opportunity to experience the woods of northern Michigan the way a Native American might have when the territory was still untouched.

“Kitchigami” meaning “great water” or “great lake” is a name taken from the Ojibway Language Dictionary written by Bishop Frederic Baraga. This dwelling offers visitors a chance to learn about and experience the Ojibwa culture and traditions. The tepee is decorated with a pattern called “Big Lakes” in honor of “Otchipwe Kitchigami” or Lake Superior in the Ojibway language.

Another option campers can consider provides a more eastern influence.

Yurts, modeled after the structures utilized to this day on the steppes of eastern Russian and northern Asia by those areas' nomadic peoples, are available at the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park and the Pinckney Recreational Area.

Staying in a yurt is a more involved camping experience at Porcupine Mountains as the sites are only accessible by trail, and the fact it is available for rental during all four seasons. The park has three yurts, all within proximity to its hiking, biking and cross-country ski trails.

Yurts, which are sturdy, tent-like structures, are yet another variation on the traditional camping experience that was implemented when the Parks and Recreation department undertook its ‘enhanced lodging' program several years ago.

“We looked at what we were offering and decided on two things that yurts and the lodges provide; one is that they attract folks who don't have camping equipment and, secondly, they are popular with folks who are looking for a different camping experience.”

Each of the 16-foot-diameter yurts are available year-round, will sleep four people and are equipped with bunk beds, mattresses, cook stove, wood stove, axe, bow saw and cooking and eating utensils.

Running water and electricity are not provided, but an outhouse is nearby and wood is provided for heat in the colder months.

Porcupine Mountain's yurts are accessed only by trail, and the distance and degree of challenge required to reach them will vary with the season.

The rental fee is $60 per night and there is an $8 reservation fee. For reservations call 1-800-44-PARKS or online at: www.midnrreservations.com/ . For additional information, contact Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park at (906) 885-5275, Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The Pinckney Recreational Area, located just on mile from memorably-monikered Hell, Michigan, features a yurt that is easier to reach, with campers able to get there via the park's biking- and hiking-trails or even by motor vehicle.

Called the “Glenbrook Yurt,” the Pinckney site is located on a ridge overlooking both the Portage River and Halfmoon Lake and just a stones' throw from the Potawatomi trail.

The sleeping capacity for a yurt is five, and outside campers will find a picnic table, grill and fire circle, with a hand-pump water well and outhouse nearby. The yurt is kept cozy in winter with a propane heater.

A cooking stove is provided, but campers need to bring a one-pound canister as well as cooking utensils, pans and dining service.

Boat rental is also available at the Pinckney location and campers will find easy access to a chain of lakes.

Building a great campfire

How do you build a campfire? Is there a different type of fire that goes best with heat, light or cooking? The answers are as old as the domestication of fire itself. Here are some tips to help you build the perfect campfire for whatever your need.

Before you begin, make sure you have at least a bucket of water and a shovel nearby. A fire extinguisher is good idea; in fact you should always have one in your camp.

If you are in a campsite with a fire ring, build your fire there. If there is no fire ring, clear all the leaves, twigs and burnables from an area and turn over the soil to about a three-foot circle. Surround this circle with rocks.

Now, gather your firewood and stack it away from the fire pit. Don't use green or fresh cut wood. Cutting down a tree for firewood is just plain dumb. The wood won't burn and you'll kill a tree.

Always use local firewood. Most campgrounds can sell it to you or you can buy it nearby. In more rustic areas, you may be able to find deadfalls that are nicely seasoned and easy to cut with a handsaw, chainsaw or even an axe. Never transport firewood, especially from south of this area. Michigan is currently facing a terrible blight of Emerald ash borer insects that can kill our forests. Do your part to halt this. Never transport firewood.

You'll need three sizes of fuel for a good fire, small stuff or tinder, kindling and fuel wood. For tinder you can use small twigs, dry leaves or grass or needles. Small dry twigs work best.

For kindling select sticks less than one inch around. Larger sticks and logs are your fuel.

To begin, put your tinder in a stack and light it with a match. Stick matches are best. You may need to blow on it a little to get it going. Add a little more tinder to get the flames larger, and then slowly add your kindling. Once the kindling gets going place one or two fuel sticks on top, adding more as the fire gets larger. Keep the kindling and fuel sticks close together, so they heat off each other, but far apart for some air to pass through.

For light and heat, stack your fuel wood around the fire like a tepee. But remember that old Native American observation: “White man build big fire, sit far away. Indian build small fire, sit close.” For a good cooking fire, crisscross your fuel logs and let them burn until they form coals.

Finally, remember these fire safety tips:

Never build a fire near tents or flammable objects, including vehicles.

Never use gasoline or flammable fluids to build a fire.

Never leave a fire unattended.

History of modern camping: an overview

Camping and picnicking are some of humanity's oldest recreational activities. These activities go to the heart of human society.

Both are largely social events. Both involve food preparation and eating. Both are about good times and good friends and family.

They also address the need to get away from it all.

Fishing is different. While most people fish to relax, the activity does have some value – you get fish to eat.

But camping stands alone.

We would expect that the first camper was probably some soul who wandered away from the cave to spend a night of peace and quiet on a hill away from all that noise and foot traffic in the cave.

To be sure, there are nomads all over the world and there always have been, but that's different. Nomadic people traveled often and lived in portable shelters for a reason, usually to search for food or hunt game.

It took the rise of civilization to breed a need to get away from the civilization and relax.

There is evidence that the early Greeks and Roman engaged in recreational camping, usually by a seashore where the breeze off the water would cool the thick summer night air.

Modern camping seems to have begun in this way as well. People began to have some leisure time after the Civil War and it became popular to spend a weekend afternoon at a lake. Eventually, some people began spending the night as well and cooking over a campfire instead of bringing a picnic basket.

Until the end of the nineteenth century, camping in Michigan was either done in conjunction with fishing or hunting trips or it was part of a lifestyle of timber harvesting and had no relationship to anything recreational.

The early logging “camps,” as they were known, were actually portable or temporary towns. The loggers usually slept and ate communally in bunkhouses and dinner halls. Once the timber was harvested, the lumberjacks left, taking their tents with them and leaving behind buildings, which would rot and disintegrate over the next few years.

Recreational camping began to take off at the turn of the century. Several things seem to have come together to make this happen.

Two of these things were men – John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt. Muir was a Californian and founded the Sierra Club. Roosevelt, of course, was a president and he was fond of both hunting and the outdoors in general.

Industrialization was becoming increasingly large and dirty at this time and the growth of industry in England and the Eastern United States had destroyed a lot of natural beauty. Some people came to be aware of the need to preserve some of what was natural, both for the good of the planet and the variety of life and for people and later generations.

Partially thanks to Muir and Roosevelt, land began to be set aside for preservation as state or national parks, forests, monuments and under a handful of other designations Combined with this was the spread of the automobile.

As we mentioned above, industrialization brought about some destruction of the land, but it also fostered a large middle class in America, a middle class with both leisure time and a means to get to all those new parks and sites to see – the automobile.

Camping in Michigan seems to have sprung up around the many lakes in the state. Some camping was very rustic and without any facilities but some camps were much more. These were usually group camps or camps established by companies. The Gerber baby food company created one of the first in this part of Michigan right after WWI.

From 1910 to about 1929, camping began to grow up. While people did camp with horse and buggy and canvass tents, you almost had to already be there to go camping.

Northern Michigan would have been a prohibitively long was off from the cities to the south by horse and buggy.

During this period, many of our state forest campgrounds were born. The Boy Scouts of America was founded at the beginning of this period and that also helped fuel the interest in the activity.

Among the earliest 20th century campers were Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Harvey Firestone. They were sometimes joined by John Burroughs, Luther Burbank and President Warren Harding.

Old-fashioned newsreel stories of the camping trips were filmed and shown in movie houses at the time, helping to popularize the activity.

People also began using their cars more and more as part of the camping experience. They certainly slept in them during foul weather and there were many early designs for kitchens that could be carried in the trunk of a car.

Then, along about this time, the camper trailer was born.

The first ones were a little shaky, but eventually the designs improved. They were usually limited in size, however, because they had to be pulled with cars. Trucks, at this time, were not considered suitable family transportation.

The Great Depression took some of the attractiveness out of camping for many people. In the south and west, large numbers of people were on the road and traveling to other states to find a new life. They lived in camps and the camps weren't usually pleasant.

Those who did have jobs had less leisure time again.

It wasn't until after WWII that camping, as we know it really began to take off. Today it is one of the largest activities in the U.S. and it is continuing to grow.

According to researchers at Michigan State University, Michigan has exceptional camping resources. Half of the state is forested, and 21 percent of our land area is in public ownership. In addition, Michigan has more than 3,000 miles of Great Lakes coastline, over 11,000 lakes and 36,000 miles of streams and rivers.

When buying a Recreational Vehicle

Owning an RV – a motor home or a travel trailer – has become increasingly common in recent years as the baby boom generation has aged and become more affluent. More manufacturers have come on the scene and the popularity of SUV's has enabled more people to simply hook the trailer to the back of the household truck and hit the road in the summer.

The art of buying and owning a RV, and the many decisions that go along with it, can be confusing, but there are some tips that can simplify the process and make the experience more enjoyable.

Shopping for an RV, new or used, has become such a common occurrence that the number one search request on the Internet shopping site e-bay is RV. And while there are pros and cons to owning either a new or used RV, many of the considerations in buying an RV are the same with either event.

Motor Home or Travel Trailer?

The first choice most buyers make is whether to purchase a motor home or a travel trailer.

Motor Homes are more expensive but they offer a great deal of flexibility. In the first place you don't have to stop in a campground and get set up to cook a meal, sleep or use the bathroom. Those things can all be done anywhere as you travel.

If you have to stop somewhere in a pouring rain, you don't need to go outside. And, for long trips, one person can sleep comfortably in a bed while the other drives (state laws vary on this). None of these options apply to a travel trailer.

One way to check this out first hand is to rent before you buy. You can rent various sizes of motor homes and you can rent travel trailers, too. This allows you to check out many options of each size and configuration.

Some dealers will even apply the rental fees to the cost of buying a new RV.

If you decide you want to try renting before you buy, make sure you reserve your rental far in advance. Some peak times of the summer can be booked solid a year ahead.

You can find an RV rental company near you in the yellow pages. If you don't already live in northern Michigan and you're concerned about gas prices, consider renting from a dealer in an area where you intend to go, then driving the family north in a fuel-efficient car to pick up the motor home.

But while that can save money, it also takes away from the motor home experience, the lifestyle of freedom and mobility that goes with owning a totally self contained system.

Many people see the ability to move around, or sit in larger, more comfortable seats while the vehicle is traveling down the highway as one of the hallmarks of the motor home lifestyle. Only the driver is confined to his seat, not the entire family (although state driving regulations vary. Check with the state police in the states you want to visit before you depart). Family members can watch television, play electronic games, cook (microwave) or sleep while the journey is underway. Gone are the frequent stops while passengers, one at a time, decide they need to go to the bathroom.

Size, Floor plan, Storage

Today's motor homes and travel trailers come in a wide variety of floor plans and sizes with varying degrees of on-board storage.

Fifth wheel designs for travel trailers (where the trailer is attached to a fifth wheel mounted in the bed of a pick-up truck) usually offer the widest variety of floor plans. Most of them come with slide-out rooms, sometimes as many as three, which create a variety of floor plans. Fifth wheel trailers are generally more expensive, however.

Many conventional travel trailers also offer slide-out room designs.

On-board storage is an often-overlooked feature that can end up being very important, especially on extended trips and year around traveling when bulky winter coats may be needed.

Size, floor plan and storage needs will also be affected by the number of people in your family. Maybe you want a king or queen size bed, maybe the kids want to sleep on the floor in sleeping bags. Think about these things before you shop.

In addition to on-board storage, there may also be issues with storing the RV itself. Some community zoning laws prohibit storing an RV at your home. This isn't usually an issue for people living in rural areas, but if you live in the city it probably is. Check to see if there are safe and affordable places to rent storage space near your home.

If you buy from an RV dealer in the fall you might find you have plenty of time to find storage. Many dealers will let you store your new RV on their property until spring.

New or Used? Private Seller or Dealer?

At first it might seem that the obvious way to go is to buy a fairly new RV from a private owner. This is the way some people approach buying a car but it may not be the best way to buy a RV.

Here's some reasons why.

First, the market for new and used RV's and cars (or small trucks) is not the same. Many cars are now sold though lease deals and vehicles coming off-lease have both flooded the market and depressed prices. Used RV's, on the other hand, won't be coming off a lease and the market for them is strong, which tends to keep prices up.

In addition, most people have some prior experience with buying a car or truck. They can spot worn tires, feel worn brakes and test for worn-out shocks. Few people, however, know how to check an RV furnace or how to spot a RV refrigerator that's about to go.

And, in Michigan, a registered RV dealer can't sell you a used RV “as is,” but a private owner can.

This means if you buy a used RV from a dealer in Michigan it comes with an implied warranty, even if no warranty is stated. On the other hand, a private owner can sell you an RV “as is.” Drive it a mile and the refrigerator blows up and you're out of luck and the money to repair the fridge.

Many dealers, however, go well beyond this “implied” warranty. They commonly check out the used RV they take as a trade-in, make safety related repairs as a matter of course and then put a warranty on items like the furnace and refrigerator.

If you do intend to purchase a used RV from a private owner, have a qualified professional assess the its condition before buying it.

Many a used RV buyer has found that roadside “deal” to be no deal at all when the sudden, unwarranted repairs are figured in.

In addition, an RV dealer can usually help you with financing your purchase, where a private seller probably can't.

It's for reasons like this that many buyers prefer to shell out the extra cash and buy a new RV. In addition to the piece of mind that comes with owning something new that shouldn't need repair, you also get the benefit of being able to select exactly the features you want, right down the interior color scheme. You can also choose from the newer floor plans.

Getting a Deal, Other Tips

The best time to buy a RV of any type is in the fall when dealers are trying to reduce their inventory. And, as we mentioned above, most dealers will offer free storage over that first winter.

Certain types of small trailers can bring particularly good deals in the fall. Tent campers, also known as pop-ups, fit this category.

Manufacturers may also be making special price offers on new RV's in the fall; it's worth asking about. Shopping at more than one dealer in the fall may be a good idea as well, but most of the time buyers will find prices to be consistent and very competitive.

Another thing to keep in mind is the selection available.

Going to RV shows over the winter can also be a good idea. Some dealers may offer special RV show prices or include extra items at no extra cost. It's also a good way to see several makes, models and dealers at one time, saving time and gas.

Another thing worth special consideration when you buy an RV of any kind is insurance. It's usually best to find an insurance company that specializes in RV insurance and covers things like a stolen TV set. Check with a dealer, the yellow pages or on the Internet to find an insurer.