Camping in the Rapidam WMA

A buddy of mine and I are going camping tomorrow afternoon and through most of the weekend in the Rapidan Wildlife Management Area. Click the thumbnail below to get a map. It basically takes up parts of Greene and Madison counties bordering the Shenandoah National Park.


I just got my state wide freshwater fishing license and trout fishing license. It wasn't too expensive... $36 all told. The brook trout fishing at the RWMA is supposed to be great. I hope to land a few trout. Maybe enough to bring a few home with me for dinner with the family Sunday.

Since I got my license, I figured fishing would be a good hobby to get into with my kids. I got my two oldest fishing rods from Sportsmansguide.com. I got a great deal on some beginner's gear. Click here to take a look, in case you're looking for some cheap entry-level rod-n-reel setups for your kids.

I'm also trying to rope my Dad into coming down from Maryland for a fishing/camping trip later this year. Maybe drag a brother or two along with us.

My fishing gear is really lacking, but for this trip a buddy of mine is lending us some of his tackle. I bought a basic rod-n-reel for myself... a Zebco 33. I got mine at Dick's for slightly less than what BassPro has it listed for. It's a decent enough rod that I could hand down to one of the kids if I decided to upgrade later on.

As it stands now the gear I'll be dragging in with me is way too much to fit on my back. Soon I hope to be getting into more hiking/camping trips where I have to pack in all my gear. I know there are certain items that could be jettisoned with no worries, such as:

• Cooler full of homebrew!
• Camp chair
• Drop large 6 person tent in favor of a 2 person tent (saving about 8 lbs)
• Trim down on first aid kit - the one I currently have could easily service a family of six for a week barring major medical emergencies (go figure - I have a family of six!)
• Wool blanket (I have a sleeping bag)
• Hatchet (if my commando saw works out) (UPDATE: The commando saw was an utter failure. Go figure - the site I bought mine from no longer carries it.)

Other than the list above, I generally pack:

• An isopropyl cooker which folds up to about the size a large egg. My Giga Stove Titanium is very lightweight and extremely effective - one of the best camping gear buys I've ever made. I got mine at a local store for about 40% less than it's listed on the SnowPeak website.
• I only ever carry one fuel cell, which is very lightweight and easily lasts a weekend.
• My cookset is a lightweight stainless steel set (3 pans with lids).
• 2 titanium mugs. Very lightweight, but I could leave one if I had to.
• My plate and utensils are both lightweight. The plate could go if I packed some form of freeze dried food in pouches or MREs. But really, the plate weighs nearly nothing and takes up a negligible amount of space.
• 1 person self-inflating sleeping pad (only if I had to drop it. I love that thing!!)
• small coffee press (again - only if I had to. It's lightweight and takes up very little room)
• A bar of soap in a waterproof container.
• A small can of bugspray. It could go...
• some waterproof matches. One or the other between this and the flint.
• a flint and steel set (small). It would be more manly to keep this over the matches...
• a small whetstone (which could probably go)
• Roll-up, self-inflating pillow. Again - very lightweight and compact. It's not a necessity, but it has very little impact on weight or space and it fucking rocks.
• Buck knife. A must have. That bad boy stays above almost anything else!
• A zip-up journal pad with a deck of cards and pen. It could go, I guess.
• My trusty Fuji digital camera. Small and lightweight. It fits in a breast pocket with room to spare. It would be a shame to not take pics of the beauitiful places I like to camp. I have yet to find a camera that has a better size to picture quality ratio. Probably a keeper even on "hardcore" expeditions.
• 25' nylon rope. Never know when you might need some rope... pretty lightweight, too.
• Sleeping bag. Duh, gotta have it.
• A small LED lantern and a large LED lantern. I could choose one or the other. I'd probably choose the small one.
• 2 bandannas. Keepers for sure.
• Small hand-crank charged LED flashlight. Very dependable. A keeper even if I had to drop both lanterns to keep it.
• 5 plastic stakes. Very rugged. These have come in handy so many times that I couldn't ponder leaving them.
• Emergency insulation space blanket. Lightweight (like nearly nothing)... a keeper. A great insulator/heat reflector for the fire.
• a small roll of TP (for my bunghole)
• 2 gallon water bladder. Gotta have water.
• 2-3 nalgene water bottles

Damn. I think that's it... that's a lot of stuff.

That's why it's best to hike-camp with a buddy. You could share a tent, cooking gear, lanterns, camera, matches, and other stuff and split that gear between the two of you. That means after the communal gear split all you have to carry is your own sleeping bag, food, water, and knife. It makes the weight distribution much easier to handle.