Flying to Your Camping Destination? Three Tips for Stress-Free Air Travel

Whether you’re planning a backpacking trip through Australia and New Zealand, a romantic camping trip for two in a tropical beach destination, or a family camping adventure in rolling countryside, flying to your destination can bring up a whole host of questions about traveling with all the gear that you’ll need to bring along. Checking in a suitcase can be stressful enough, so it’s understandable that you might be a little apprehensive about checking in tents, sleeping bags and everything else you’ll need for your adventure. Luckily, camping gear is becoming more portable, but you’ll still likely have more luggage than you’re used to. Read on for our top packing tips for a camping trip abroad.

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Gear Checklist for a Camping Newbie

Every now and then, friends ask us some basic camping questions. That woke us up to the fact that not all of our readers are seasoned hikers and campers. Today’s guide is for those just getting into camping, the newbies if you will.

We take a step back and look at the basics of planning a camping trip, from gear to some nifty tips and tricks you should be privy to when taking on the Great Outdoors.

Tent and accessories

First and foremost, it’s worth looking into your shelter. The tent-is-just-a-tent approach is common, but it’s not that simple. The wrong tent can lead to a number of issues.

Vital components can easily go missing, or worse, your tent itself can break. To avoid these mishaps, it’s worth considering the following to ensure a safe and calm night’s sleep.

What to Look for in a Good Camping Air Mattress

If you live to be eighty, you will have slept for about 9733 full days in your life.

Another fun fact – did you know that we can go longer without food than without sleep?

For a camper or a hiker, the quality of sleep they get on the trail is one of those things that can make or break a trip. On the other hand, the quality of sleep we get is largely affected by the comfort of our air mattresses and sleeping pads.

Yet, many of us don’t fully understand what makes a good air mattress for camping.

So, today we take the time for an in-depth analysis of just that – the choice of an airbed. We’ll go beyond the usual stuff people talk about and commonplace advice like…

“Make sure you’re comfortable…”
“Make sure there's enough room in your tent…”
“Make sure you’re warm…”

We go beyond that and dig deeper and look at what actually makes an inflatable comfortable or warm. We might get a bit “sciency” but we’ll also make sure we boil it down to actionable advice.

What determines the comfort of a camping air mattress

Blog Update - Wildfires and How to Help

First, please STILL stay out of the Gatlinburg area. First responders are still trying to clear roads from downed trees and power lines. The Red Cross is not accepting any volunteers that are not Red Cross Trained. Upon last known update, a curfew was being imposed in Gatlinburg between the hours of 6pm to 6am.

If you have new items you would like to donate and don't have a way to get it there, let us know. We can schedule a pickup in the Union County, Anderson County, and North Knox County areas. The persons delivering our items will be going up on Friday, Dec 2nd.

If you still want to volunteer, Volunteer East Tennessee is working to connect volunteers to volunteer needs.
Visit https://www.volunteeretn.org/DisasterRecovery
They will be able to assist you in finding the best place for your skills.

Wildfire in the Smokies - How To Help

Updated info as of 11/30 here: https://www.appalachiaandbeyond.com/2016/11/blog-update-wildfires-and-how-to-help.html

Most of you have heard about the devastating wildfires that have affected the East Tennessee area. Last night, Gatlinburg and the part of the National forest that stretches between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge - known as the Spur - was victim of an enormous, swift moving wildfire. Hundreds of homes and structures were damaged or destroyed and many, many people were displaced, some at this time still looking for family members including beloved pets.

It is sad, sad news. We are heartbroken for all of these victims, for all of the animals affected, and for our ancient mountains as well. Although as old as they are they've probably seen more fires than any of us could imagine, but in my lifetime, I've never seen anything like it in the Smokies.

There are more than 2000 people, at this time, that are in local shelters - more than 14,000 people evacuated. With this being #GivingTuesday, you may be wondering what you can do to help.