The Horse Forum banner

Semi - Primitive Camping Trip planned

8K views 66 replies 13 participants last post by  QOS 
#1 ·
Three of my trail riding buddies and I are going on a primitive camping trip on December 16-18 in the Brazos Bend Park which is southwest of Houston, TX. There is a camping site that has water for the horses and that is it. No electric in this area and I believe there are some bathrooms but no hook ups etc. No corrals so we are looking at purchasing a portable corral system. You can haul in a generator but must be off by 10:00 PM.

So...we had talked about a crock pot (LOL forgot about no electric) and that was scrapped. Lee Ann said "Denise, you are getting a NEW crockpot!" I said I could get another and she said "No....Doug (her hubby) is going to get us a Dutch Oven to cook in!" So we are discussing recipes for the Dutch Oven and she wants to try a cobber. We are going to make Chili for one night and my Italian Chicken Soup for another. Johnny Cakes and baked potatoes to throw in the fire should round everything out. My darling Uncle Dee taught us to make Johnny Cakes in the fire when I was a kid. :lol: We are so looking forward to our trip - the park is gorgeous. Lee Ann went and scouted it out last weekend so we are raring to go!!

Nokota, I am going to do my best to become a decent Dutch Oven cook - I am a pretty darn good cook on a grill or stove so this is just a new challenge. Hoping it isn't too cold - you never know in southeast Texas in the winter - could be warm...could be freezing!
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Sounds awesome. Good luck wih the cooking!!!

Two tips. When you are cooking somewhere that the food you are going to eat is the only option, use good(kingsford) charcol. I have struggled with heat from our cheap grocery store charcol.

Second tip. If you have a car or ability to bring heavier items, get a galvanized trash can. Take the lid and put upside down on the ground. You can flatten the handle if you want. put your charcol on that, then the D.O. on top of the charcol. Then of course, the charcol on the lid of the D.O. This helps reflect the heat up and isn't lost in the dirt/sand/soil. You could always turn the trashcan upside down and do the same thing using it as a work(cook)bench. Being galvanized, you may want to start a fire in it first to burn off the galvanized coating as it is not healthy for you. If the trash can is not an option, put some aluminum foil on the ground a littl bigger than the DO and again put the charcol on that to help reflect the heat up.

D.O. cooking is fun. Google and there are a bunch of websites. Also you can find books on it with recipes in a lot of stores like Cabela's, Gander Mountain, maybe even the local bookstore.

Don't forget the tongs to pick up and place your charcol pieces under and on top of the D.O.

Let us know how the camping trip works out for you!!!!
 
#3 ·
thanks Nokota. I am surfing the net right now trying to find recipes and times for cooking. Some of the instructions are as clear as mud!

I am wanting to cook a whole cut up chicken with chopped carrots and celery. I know that at home I cook my soup on medium high for more than 2 hours so that the chicken is tender and falling off the bones. It is pretty darn delicious. We love it and eat it all the time. It is great for when you are cold!!! So...whatcha think Nokota...How long do I cook something like this over coals?

We are so excited about all of this trip. We are having a blast just planning it. It is just another adventure and fun to learn something new.
 
#4 ·
I camp like that all the time, I have a quiet 1800 watt camp generator. works great, I fire it up to run the Mr coffee maker and I cook on a george foreman grill. I'll give you a recipe, paritally cook some red potatoes. Then in ten foil add some frozen steak cubes or kebashi slices ,squash slices, tomatoes, sweet onion and pepper if you like, add some italian dressing then rap in in tinfoil and throw in the fridge the night before. Then put in your cooler they'll keep a few days, then I throw it foil and all still rapped on the foreman grill. You could also cook em like that on rocks next to the fire. Use enough foils so you can unwrap and eat out of the foil..
Oh dont waste money on the portable corrals, get 9 step in fence posts and a roll of electric tape or cord. and a D battery or solar fence charger. You probably have enough ribbon around already. A couple gate handles come in handy. You use one of the step in stakes as a ground rod,
I have also seen people just use picket lines, there is a art to getting them the right height and the lead line correct but that could be an option as well.
 
#5 ·
I guess you want to treat it like a crock pot. The longer it is in there, the better. If you get done riding at three, just start cooking then. Let it slow cook and maybe around 6 it will be falling off the bone tender. Just in time for dinner. Hmmmmm I'm getting hungry.
 
#6 ·
thanks y'all. Nokota, it will be getting dark by 5:15 or so. We will try to be back at the camp by 4:00 so that we can get the horses settled in. I think keeping enough coals hot will be the trick. I was just reading about a "side" fire where you can keep adding the coals that you remove from the DO side that cool off back into the side fire to keep the "reheat". Lee Ann P (our barn manager and the lady I am going to run the Limited Distance ride with) wants to try a cobbler so we will probably take 2 DO's. I might have to give this a "run through" in the back yard before we go! There isn't any stores or fast food restaurants close by and after riding all day who wants a cold sandwich?
 
#8 ·
I think I will be hooked. I love to cook. I got on a kick of grilling about 10 years ago I can grill like a champ. I did it over coals til I switched to gas. I don't grill to often anymore outside but i grill in the house in Le Creuset skillets and make my soups in the dutch oven. They have killer pots and skillets. I am lucky enough to have 4. They weigh a ton and cost a fortune.

This will be a new cooking challenge to learn to do it without burning it or serving something raw and calling for its momma!
 
#9 ·
What, no cooking over a bonfire? Good heavens, you people are too citified. How about bannock (biscuit dough) wrapped around a freshly cut stick and baked over the fire. Big pot of beans in a big cast iron pot and a cast iron frying pan for pancakes, or bacon. Cooking is only part of it, there's cleanup afterward. Two post and a couple of sticks and you can fix quite a variety.
 
#11 ·
Yeh I go on trips to have fun, I do the quick and easy recipes. Hotdogs over the fire, bratworst patties, hamburgers cooked on the electric foreman grill, which wipes off after I am done, I made veggie, meat kabobs without the stick and wrap in tinfoil at home, then grill. If you are an experienced griller you can come up with things. Guess I am over the whole campfire thing. Seems like you spend the whole trip gathering wood.
 
#12 ·
You guys are cracking me up calling camping with a generator PRIMITIVE!!

Bwahaha!

I used to guide pack trips into the Colorado rockies where even a heavy dutch oven was out of the question. All cooking was on a grill, cool handle frying pan or squirrel forks. We ate like kings on those trips. On the base camp trips we did have dutch ovens that were all wood fired. I loved cooking with them.

Generators.......are you going to have blow dryers and tvs,too?
 
#13 ·
You guys are cracking me up calling camping with a generator PRIMITIVE!!

Bwahaha!

I used to guide pack trips into the Colorado rockies where even a heavy dutch oven was out of the question. All cooking was on a grill, cool handle frying pan or squirrel forks. We ate like kings on those trips. On the base camp trips we did have dutch ovens that were all wood fired. I loved cooking with them.

Generators.......are you going to have blow dryers and tvs,too?
Personally I was cracking up over the primitive camping bit. I've never camped where there was electricity (not even from a generator), feel lucky if there is an outhouse and potable water you didn't have to lug in yourself is a luxury.
 
#14 ·
Well......they never said they were bringing a generator. Just said that the rule was they had to be off by 10. I think the only anemity that was stated to be there was water.
 
  • Like
Reactions: QOS
#16 · (Edited)
Baby steps folks...baby steps!!! :wink: We generally camp in my Brenderup - clean it out and we do have electricity at Ebenezer on Lake Sam Rayburn and there is showers/rest rooms there so this is a little less than we have camped with before.

"Primitive" is the word Brazos Park put on it...so I am going with semi since we will be hauling a generator! I would like to one day really go camping on the horses and that may happen. We are going to check it out from the safety of Brazos Bend which is about 2 hours from home. :-p I can grill so that isn't a problem...but I must admit - I like a few creature comforts!!! :lol: The main one is AC at night. I don't mind staying out all day in the heat and riding but at night, in southeast Texas in the summer, you could smuffacate. (my own made up word that my oldest son finds icky! :twisted:) This will be in the winter time and we might freeze our backsides off or be hot. One never knows in se Texas!!! Gotta be prepared for both.

Don't need a blow dryer - my hair will be a giant frizz ball put up in a pony tail and under a hat...Don't watch TV but it would be nice to have wifi!!!
 
#17 ·
Joe, I am with you!!! A few creature comforts never hurt anyone :D and scorpions don't make a good bedfellow - snakes either. I am not scared of snakes...but rats/mice? O M G I would run over everyone in the camp to get away from them. Hopefully, won't see any of those. I think we are going to have a blast and December can't get here fast enough. My son is getting married the first weekend of December and I am making the wedding cakes - then I can go play with The Biscuit. Woot!!!
 
#19 ·
Allison, if my hair looked that good I wouldn't have it in a ponytail under a hat!! I have very curly hair and the front will FRIZZ. One day I had a hat on...no ponytail. We stopped at a convenience store on the way home from camping/riding for hours and I looked in the mirror. Oh MY GOD I was mortified I looked like Bozo's momma - my hair was a two big HUGE frizz balls on both sides of my face and I was dirty to boot. :shock: I was embarrassed for even my husband to see me...:-( he was kind enough not go say "yuk!" :?
 
#21 ·
I have heard about this vaguely...can you elaborate? I know my hubby and coworkers used a "hot box" on job sites. Box lined with sheet metal and heated by a light bulb but we have no electricity other than if we run a generator and we don't want to do that!!
 
#22 ·
We take a box large enough for the meal, cover it with aluminum foil inside. Place a few rocks of equal size inside to support the pot or pan and place the charcoal under it. We figure 40 degrees per briquette (sp). So if you wanted 320 degrees place 8 hot briquettes inside. I fit takes an hour at home it will here also. You can get creative with the box, I usually cover it inside and out but most only cover inside. I make it so the door is attached so don't. It can be used over and over.
 
#23 ·
I've done it all over the years. I even bought a LQ trailer for few years when my daughters were riding a lot with me. Mainly in hopes of getting their mother to come along. She never did enjoy the camping or horses, So I sold the the LQ and went back to a plain GN trailer.

I frequently camp at the trailer. A dry place to sleep with a mattress is nice. We often pack in and set up a large wall tent. We pack in cots and a wood buring stove. This can be more comfortable than sleeping in the trailer.

I can't stand pillow head. So I insist on washing my hair every day. Some times its just dipping a bucket in the creek, Sometimes it involves heating water over the colman stove. I've had my share of Ice Cream Headaches from cold water.

Food runs the gamet from full blown dutch ovens to a can of beans sitting on the edge of the camp fire. A lot of the high use wilderness is now going camp fire less. Meaning all cooking has to been over a stove. I have small Pop can burners, two burner colman propane, and large Camp Chief high output camp stoves. So it just depends on if we camp at the truck or pack into the back country. I also bring a generator and use the George Foreman when I camp at the truck.

Hot Dogs and Canned Stew around a camp fire for lunch out of our saddlebags during a ride.
 
#24 ·
LOL that gave me a chuckle Painted Horse - nice to know not all guys are grubby!!! My guy is ultra neat bless his heart. I don't like hat head or fuzzy head and I get a lot of that.

A Coleman Stove might come in handy if they say no campfires. Most counties in Texas have had burn bans for ages!
 
#28 ·
Allison, I go riding so nobody can find me. I delibertaly go places the cell phone won't work
Amen to that. Although the better half is insisting that I carry a SPOT with me. So far I've been able to avoid (so many other toys)

Regardless of how we choose to camp with our horses and mules it's great that we all agree that the trails and the great outdoors beats an arena :)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top