Camping

Image by toughkidcst via Flickr

Picking Out The Right Camping Table

Camping tables are used for many different reasons . . . we use them as a place to:-

• Prepare camp food.
• Sit around and eat the food with our fellow campers.
• Sit around and chat with the fellow campers about the food and the days activities, maybe even plan for tomorrow (the chat is often about how tasty the food was . . . not sure why camp food tastes so good but it just does . . . maybe it’s something to do with being out in the fresh air all day, I’m often so hungry I could eat a buttered brick and find it perfectly acceptable – if a little crunchy).
• Sit around drinking coffee in the mornings / beer in the afternoons / wine in the evenings . . . hey, what about doing a little walking, hiking, fishing, swimming . . . surely you don’t  just sit around drinking all day.
• Play cards (whilst drinking coffee in the mornings, beer in the afternoons . . . you’ve got it)
• Other activities can also be performed on a camp table if you just use a little imagination (although be careful because many of them are designed to be lightweight so will only stand weight of around 60 lbs or so) – I was thinking about board games, coloring books, map reading to plan for the following days hike . . . that sort of thing!

Tables To Suit All Occasions

As you may have gathered, some tables are better suited to some of those activities than others. Hikers and backpackers very often forego a table altogether, (there’s often a flat rock surface handy if you set up camp in the right spot), but the table is the central hub of activity for many family car camping trips . . . well, it is if you’re not allowed to build a camp fire anyway, you need something to sit around and put the world to rights don’t you?

• Fold Up Camping Tables – there are plenty of different designs of these. Make sure that if you’re planning on preparing the food on your camping table that the surface is easy to wipe clean, that’s always a good tip.
• Roll Up Camping Tables – some of these are really very clever indeed, in fact, when they’re all rolled up and stuffed inside their stuff sack you’d be hard pushed to guess that it was a table at all, but then you can simply unstuff it, unroll it and hey presto, somewhere to put your lantern.

She’s done that before hasn’t she . . . it looked a bit wobbly to me!

•  Camp Kitchen Tables – have two or three different work surfaces so that you really do have a home from home kitchen (but usually with a better view). Food preparation areas, heat resistant surfaces for hot cooking pots, stow away pantry for all of those bits and pieces you use to spice up your camp food, hooks for spoons and spatulas . . . great for cooking but not so good for eating or playing cards.
• Tables with seats attached – often used as picnic tables, these are really popular among some campers too. The table and seats are all joined together, with is fine in principle, but realistically speaking they’re often a bit difficult to get your legs in and out of, and if you do get stuck, or try to move your seat a little nearer the table (after you’ve forgotten that you’re attached) then the whole lot can go, especially if the other seat is empty. Caution definitely needed after a couple of cold ones!

Whereas he, on other other hand, has definitely NOT done that before . . . .  that’s definitely not right, it’s far too wobbly. Do you think he read the instructions first?