ManCamping Monday

Some ManCamping gold we found out there on the interweb. Enjoy your Monday.

 

Note: These photos are not ours, we just found them while cruising the underbelly of the internet. 

A Cigar and a Challenge - An idea to liven up your trek.

If you're a regular reader here you will know that we are big advocates of taking whiskey with us on our backcountry shenanigans. Well, if there is one thing that goes well with whiskey, it's a cigar. The middle of nowhere is actually the best place in our opinion to enjoy a cigar.  You won't be bothered by people giving you stink eye for the smell, your wife (hopefully) won't smack you and argue the detriments of your health with you, and it is the most relaxed place you've been too in a while. Wind down the day by the campfire with your whiskey and the cigar of your choice. You've earned it.  Here is some useful cigar info as well as a tip on how to use them (more than just smoking smart ass)... check this out.


Have Cigars, Can't Travel?
I stopped by a new location of Havana Castle that just opened up in Port Credit ON. They couldn't  have better timing. Right before spring/summer (ManSeason) camping and around the corner from where I live. I admit I don't know a ton about cigars, but I have a badass humidor (that I don't know much about either) and I enjoy the odd cigar on my trips and my poker games. I always worried about bringing proper cigars into the backcountry. I am not gentle on my gear, I tend to be rough. Bringing anything more than a crappy pack of Colts seemed like a waste as I would psychopathically kill them on the journey in. After chatting with Alex at Havana Castle, about carrying cigars into the woods without destroying them, he suggested and set me up with a travel humidor. This thing kind of looks like military grade brief case that houses a top secret weapon.  It's waterproof, shockproof and will keep your cigars at perfect humidity for about a week. Need to go longer? Toss in a few drops of water into the humidifier inside and your good for another week. It gives you the ability to bring almost any size cigars you choose and not have to worry about crushing and breaking your cigars. Oh and heaven forbid you flip the boat and go for a swim - Your stogies will still be fine! A sound investment for $35.



How to turn your friends on each other
After a long days paddle, camp setup, mocking our canoe mates, surviving or pulling pranks,  portaging, not catching any fish, dealing with pouring rain you weren't prepared for and all the other activities we love about trekking, what could be better then enjoying a cigar while viscously gloating about to everyone who didn't get one? Turn your Cubans into competition.

Bring along some cigars on your trip? Absolutely, but step it up a few notches with some competitions or challenges to win them each day.  This makes everyone do their fair share or compete for the right to smoke the day's cigar. Not everyone will get to have one each night when you make camp, but when you win one, you get to smoke it in front of everyone like the championship trophy at the allstar game. Here are a few ides to get you started.

1. Walleye Whisperer - Biggest fish of the day.
2. Schwarzenegger - Carried the food barrel and canoe on every portage.
3. FUBAR'd - Best Injury of the day
4. Victimized - The butt of all today's pranks
5. Fire God - Started a fire the primitive way (No lighter, No matches)

Or make up your own.

Pick a challenge a day, or through them all out at once and see who completes what... your choice. It will make a entertaining, smack talking, ManCamping trip that much better.

If you're in the Mississauga area - Check out Havana Castle (Lakeshore and Elizabeth, near Hurontario and Lakeshore) 905-278-3333

Where's your post-trip spot?

Where putting something together, and we need your help

Do you have a favorite place to go for beers and food after your camping trip? Somewhere to unwind, get a COLD drink and maybe some wings? That spot that allows your ripe smelling behind to sit and laugh about your misadventures with the rest of your canoe mates?

We are putting together a list of the top places to go in all regions, we would love your feedback and your fav. spot to add to the list.

Email us here: ManCamping Let us know about your spot, why you like it and where it is.  Let's help out the local businesses and help other trekker's get a cold one after a long summers trip!

This Is Man Season: Camping Tips and Reminders

Are you new to camping in the woods? No, camping beside your car in a KOA campground does not count! Are you a pro in the woods gearing up for the season?


No matter which category you fall into, here are the tips and tricks you need to know or be reminded of..

1. Bring the extra roll of TP. You don't want to be the one howling like the wolves because you had to use a pine cone when you ran out of it.
2. Search before you squat. Poison ivy ass is not enjoyable and no matter how attractive your ass is, no one wants to suck the rattle snake poison out of it! (Especially important for the women)
3. Check the tie downs - The Moose Missile of a boat on top of your vehicle is expensive and could kill someone when you hit the breaks.
4. If you're going with your spouse - Be sure to rifle through their pack and remove the swimsuit before you leave....claim you have no idea why it's not there :)
5. Bring a spare garbage bag. Clean up the sites that you visit. Let's keep our sites clean for others even if you didn't make the mess.
6. Check the Glamping List. You should never be glamping. Ever.
7. Prepare your blame List.  You asked your buddies to bring/do something, make sure you are ready to lay the blame when something goes wrong... You know it wasn't YOUR fault.
8. Pack your traditions. Make sure you have your traditional piece of equipment. You'll put a hex on the whole damn trip if you don't!

Our tradition tag-a-long - The Beer Flag

Friendly reminders for things we all know, but sometimes we need reminders for. ManCamping involves never asking for help. These are reminders....not help.

Keep your flask titled and your canoe upright!

Wilderness Weather Predicition

So last week we told you about The Weather Rock. It's reliable and it is never wrong. Which is more than we can say for your local weatherman - who are also known as "Bastards". This week, we thought we would give you some useful tips for predicting the weather in the wilderness when your too lazy to build the rock weather station.  It's actually fairly simple, but there are some scientific "shenanigans" going on with all the names of clouds and processes that make it sort of difficult to learn.  Of course.. you know we like to help out. Let's simplify it for your lazy ass.

Here is what you need to know.
First, find the sky. Sounds simple right? Try it after an afternoon of drinking. You know, the point where your lying on the ground and you have to hold on. You know you've been there.

OK now the next point takes some practice so start trying this now and in a few weeks you'll be a pro. Start looking at the clouds and determining what are high, medium and low level clouds. Literally.. are those clouds you see high in the sky? Medium height? Low?

High clouds (18,000 feet or higher and called the Cirrocumulus for the science nerds) that look like this means you should have good weather for at least 24 hours, but there is a change coming. The close they are together the closer the rain or storms are.
Man Speak = Keep drinking everything is fine

Medium clouds (6500 - 18,000 feet high) come in two forms: What most people refer to as overcast (Greyish clouds that cover the sky) and clouds that look like the photo to the left Altocumulus.  Generally overcast clouds warn of constant rain but not much more. Altocumulus clouds are white and grey and are letting you know that a rain is coming soon. 
Man Speak = If you see these in the morning... cover the booze by the afternoon cause it's going to storm.

Low Level clouds (You guessed it, below 6500 feet) come in two forms (There are always more but were simplifying remember?) Fluffy clouds with blue sky in between -
Man Speak = Weather's still great! But rain will be on the way tomorrow.
The other type (Nimbostratus )should be self explanatory and is pictured left.
Man Speak = Rain. You can keep the drink in your hand, but you'll be wet.



Generally, the lower the clouds, the sooner it will rain. Keep in mind things like wind speed as well. If the wind is blowing had, it can bring a storm faster than expected.


The exception to the rules above is high clouds that look like an anvil, or nuclear explosion mushroom clouds. These guys are deceiving. Even though they are usually white and not grey. The plum of cloud rising towards the sky means a thunderstorm is coming. Watch out for the ones that are flat at the top where the wind has flattened them out.


Practice for a few weeks and see how you do. I guarantee you will be better than the weather bastards.

ManFood - Dehydrated Pulled Pork - Dear God Yes!

Just because you're in the backwoods doesn't mean you have to eat granola or rely on freeze dried meals. Although we are fans of the MountainHouse Sweet and Sour Pork. When the wife is away who hasn't made one for dinner? (Maybe we're just lazy)

Either way, let's get back on track. We cooked up an amazing recipe for pulled pork, dehydrated it so that it will last forever (Not actually forever but you know what we mean) and now we are sharing it with you to. Eat like a man in the woods, not like the canned food isle. Check out the ManFood recipe below. It takes a while to make and then dehydrate, but worth it in the end. Just think about having a pulled pork wrap or sandwich in the middle of nowhere. Beats the canned mystery meat you brought last time.



What you will need: Important - You will need a slow cooker for this one.

4-5 pound Pork shoulder roast (Bone-in is better)
1 cup root beer

2 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder and onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt, celery salt, ground ginger and nutmeg

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 cups root beer
1 /12 ounces of whiskey (be liberal with it!)

Your favorite BBQ sauce (We used House of Q - Rockin' Red. highly recommended!)

1.Now that the giant list is done, the rest is pretty easy. Take a cup of root beer and dump it into a zip lock bag along with your slab of magic-bacon-making animal . Let it marinate in the fridge over night.

2. Mix together the second group of ingredients in a bowl with a tiny splash of water until you have a paste. Remove the pork from the zip lock bag and smear your paste all over it. All sides... If you don't have messy hands your doing it wrong.

3. In a skillet or frying pan heat up (Med-High) a tbsp. of olive oil, and then sear every side of the roast. (It will form a brown crust when its seared. Roughly 2 minutes per side.

4. Toss the third set of ingredients into the slow cooker along with your roast and any left over paste from the second step (toss in any of the brown crusty pieces left in the frying pan as well.) Set it to high and cook for 8 hours. Be sure to turn it over at about the 4 hour mark.

5. Remove your oink from the slow cooker and shred using two forks. It should shred very easily, if it doesn't, it is not done and it needs to be cooked more.

6. Add your favorite BBQ sauce and mix it up so all the shredded pork is covered. Try it. Now try it again. Now stop eating it all!

7. Toss it into you dehydrator  at 140 degrees for about 6-8 hours or so. It should be dry, and crispy when it is finished. You know you machine better than we do so keep an eye on it. If you don't have a dehydrator - set your over to 120 or as low as it will go and prop the door open slightly. It's pretty much the same.

Now you have BBQ pulled pork ready to go into the wild with you. It taste exactly the same as when you first took it out of the slow cooker! Head out into the woods and leave the canned Manwich junk at home.

To rehydrate all you need to do is pour a small amount of water (1-2 ounces) in a pot, heat it up and add your pulled pork slowly. Keep adding water until it rehydrates. Don't add to much at once or you will just have a sloppy mess.

Bring along some wraps or hamburger buns, add some cheese and/or mashed potatoes. Pair it with a fine Scotch. Do whatever you want. Eat and enjoy your ManFood.

Video: The Manly Weather Reporting Tool

 

Have you learned to read the clouds for your wilderness weather report? Do you have the sixth weather sense? Does mother nature call you will the local forecast?  We didn't think so... We have you covered. We're all about helping.