For Outdoor Enthusiasts

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Our family bought pie irons this past season and really didn’t have an opportunity to use them very often because we didn’t know what to cook in them. This year we won’t have that problem. We bought a recipe book from Rome Industries titled “Creative Pie Iron Cooking ~ 100 award winning recipes”  

This is a pretty good book of over 100 pie iron recipes – I can't wait to cook the Pesto Calzone. The recipes were complied by Richard O'Russa of Rome Industries, a leader in Pie Irons and camping cookware.

This book is 64 pages and there are bunches of yummy recipes in there. We can’t wait to use it this year. The book is only $10.99 including shipping. Rome Industries also sell a wide selection of pie irons.

Happy Camping

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During the camping season, our family stores various reference books in our tent trailer. We even have a CD of different birdcalls we can play to add some tranquility to the moment. We keep a camping journal, a bird book, a book on Northwest trees. This year I plan to add a book of campfire stories.

 I love a good campfire story. I enjoy sitting around the campfire, telling or listening to stories while watching the red glow of the fire reflect off the faces of the others like a welcome fever while I spin a yarn told to me when I was young.

 Story telling is an age-old custom. Traditionally stories were committed to memory and then passed on from generation to generation. Native Americans used congregate around the campfire to recount the stories of their great hunts.

Nothing restores the morale more in a person than a campfire after a long day of hiking. Regardless if the light comes from a fireplace, campfire or a even a lantern, flame has always been a staple for human interaction.

Here are a couple of resources for campfire stories. The first one is a book western author Rick Steber titled simply, “Campfire Stories.” Steber is from the Pacific Northwest and has around 27 titles under his belt plus numberous awards for his work. The book definatley looks like it would be worth the read.

The second one is if you go to the KOA website on my page or click here, you’ll find some downloadable campfire stories suitable for all ages.  You can either print a campefire story or download the audio version.

When I tell a campfire story I try to commit everything to memory and spin my own version of the story, thats what makes it fun.

Happy Camping

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Since the West is getting so much snow lately, our family figured what the heck lets at least try to make the most of it and have some fun and build a snow igloo. We didn’t have the right type of snow to build our igloo, so I thought it would be nice to post some instructions I found on benmeadows.com  so your family can have some winter time fun.

Provided temperatures remain below 32 degrees F, constructing snow shelters is relatively easy. Sheltering from the wind is the first priority, since the wind can drastically decrease the air temperature. Temperatures below 14 degrees F become increasingly unpleasant, so that it becomes necessary to construct shelters in which heat is retained extremely well.

These can range from a simple, hollowed-out heap of snow to an igloo, which can take a few hours to construct. In a long-term shelter, such as an igloo, heavy, cold air is diverted away from the occupants by digging a cold sink to channel the air down and away from the shelter. It is important to allow for adequate ventilation in all snow shelters in order to prevent suffocation.

1. Cut blocks from dry, hard, hard snow, using a snow saw or large knife. Each block should be about 3 ft. (1m) long, 15 in. (40cm) high, and 8 in. (20cm) deep.

2. Form a circle with blocks around the hole created where you cut the blocks. Cut the circle in a spiral from the top of the last block to the ground ahead of the first block. This will make it easy to construct a dome.

3. Build up walls, overlapping the blocks and shaping them so that they lean inward. Cut a hole under the wall for the cold sink and entrance. Put several blocks along one wall as a sleeping platform

4. The last block must initially be larger than the hole. Place the block on top of the igloo, then, from inside, shape and wiggle it to slot exactly into the hole.

5. Hot air from your body and stove rises and is trapped inside the dome. Cold air falls into the sink and flows away to the outside. It is essential to cut ventilation holes in the walls with an ice ax.

Finished Igloo. With warmth inside the igloo, the surface of the walls will melt and freeze over, to form a smooth, airtight ice surface. The roof over entrance tunnel prevents snow from blowing into igloo.

WARNING! It is vital to make at least one air hole in the roof to avoid suffocation. The igloo will get very warm inside with heat from your body, even if it is cold and windy outside. Without ventilation, lethal carbon dioxide will build up.

Also, the use of stoves in an enclosed shelter is not recommended due to dangerous build-up of carbon monoxide.

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This is a great little recipe bringing the delicacies of the SouthWest to your camp site.

You can create variations many ways by changing the ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 3 small cans of spiced or flavored beans.
• 2 pounds of pork cut into 1 inch cubes (You could use chicken or beef just as well. We prefer the pork flavor in this dish.)
• One yellow or brown onion, chopped.
• ½ to 1 cup of grated cheddar or jack cheese.
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic.
• 1 tablespoon of red chili sauce (optional).
• 1 can spiced Cornbread Mix.  
  •  It is cornbread mix spiced with red and green bell peppers and hot spices.
  • You can use any package of cornbread mix as a substitute. Prepare using baking instructions on the package (adjust for altitude if you are above 5000 ft by adding extra liquid).
  • When camping usually mix the cornbread in the 1 gallon freezer bag and it saves a lot of cleanup.
• 1 tub of sour cream to serve with the cooked tamale pie.

Preparation:

• Dump the beans, onions, pork, garlic, and chili sauce in the bottom of the Dutch oven and mix with a spoon. Be careful not to tear the foil lining.
• Sprinkle the cheese on top of the mixture.
• Pour the cornbread mix over the cheese and even out all over using the backside of a spoon.

Cooking:

• Usually takes 50-60 minutes. It is done when both the pork and cornbread are fully cooked.

Serving:

• Spoon it onto your plate, add a dollop of sour cream, and enjoy!

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Howdy Happy Campers!  Sorry that MCR has been inactive for a while but that is going to change— expect at least two-three postings a week of new content.  

MCR will be taking on a new look this coming year. In addition to camping reviews, we’ll be reviewing products, camping cookware, camping supplies, sporting goods, and much more.   

Thanks to those of you who visit our site regularly. For those of you who are here for the first time, welcome and we hope you enjoy the site.  We are working on a new website theme. A site that will be easier to navigate. We’ll be offering advertising spots on the site to help support the time that goes into maintaining this site.

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Our family could not have asked for a better weekend or a better campground to wrap up the 2008 camping season.

Nestled along the south side of the Pend Orielle River in the Northern panhandle of Idaho sits a gem of a campground.  We’ve tried to camp here earlier in the year, but the campground was full. This place is popular and now I know why.

Riley Creek has about 67 campsites all with electricity on two loops, and although the campsites seem close together, the pads are positioned out away from the neighboring campsite as to allow for privacy.  The pads are large, and although it was the last camping weekend for the campground, the sites were clean and maintained well. If you are traveling with a large group there are a few companion sites at the campground.

There is a small beach and a vast park area and great recreation facilities including about 4 horseshoe pits. There is plenty of space to have a family picnic, or family reunion. There is an area for pets to do their business named fittingly “Dog Island.” There is also a hiking trail and an amphitheater. The bathrooms are the cleanest I have seen at a campground.

There are picnic shelters available and they can be reserved if you call Albeni Falls Dam at (208) 437-3133. There is a lot of history and attractions that include Albeni Falls Dam Visitor Center that exhibits the area’s history and natural history.

As we strolled around the two loops there were really no campsites that were better than the other, you can’t go wrong with virtually any site here. With that said,  the only sites I didn’t care for were sites #2 through #8 on the east side of the “Nigh” loop because they bordered with a chain link fence along a row of residential summer homes.

Riley Creek is probably the most family friendly campground we stayed in 2008. If you are going to make reservations for 2009 you better hurry. These sites fill up fast, and even though the recreation.gov website shows there are there are some first come first served sites, these sites go like hotcakes too.

Overall I’d rate Riley Creek a 9.5.

Riley Creek (ID)
2376 E HWY 2
Oldtown ID 83822-9243

Happy Camping

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Chief Timothy State Park: Rating 7

On the way home from our garnet collecting excursion we stayed at Chief Timothy State Park just outside Clarkston, WA for four wonderful days. I had my concerns about Chief Timothy State Park.

Until this trip we have only camped in the wilderness styled parks. Chief Timothy is comprised of concrete pads and grass. The park is on an island in the Snake River.

Chief Timothy State Park offers 24 picnic sites, 33 utility campsites and 33 standard campsites, a trailer dump, eight sun shelters, a bathhouse, an unguarded swimming beach, an interpretive center, four boat ramps and docks, and a food concession stand. There are fire pits and picnic tables at the sites.

The park employees are very helpful, and in fact one of them even went as far as helping me wash down my tent trailer after we arrived from the dirty and dusty Emerald Creek campground.

The campground is wide open grass, with concrete pull through pads. The sites are close to each other, maybe 50 feet apart. With that in mind I was surprised how private it felt despite having neighbors right next door. All the sites are forward facing so it doesn’t feel cramped like those back in sites.

The bathrooms were spectacular! They were clean and cleaned regularly. The park has quarter operated showers which was a welcome site considering we have just spent three days of camping with out amenities.

We had a great time at Chief Timothy. There is a playground and swimming area and if you are geo-cachers like us, then this is the area for you. There are several geo-caches in Clarkston and there are about 7 caches nearby Chief Timothy State Park.

Two Downsides

One of the two downsides to the trip, and I’ve heard complaints from others who have stayed at Chief Timothy – is the skunks. Yes I said skunks. These stinkers are nearly domesticated because they certainly are not afraid of humans.

Come night fall they come out and about and scurry for food. Make sure you empty your garbage at night. We made the mistake our first night, and we had a pair or more of la pews rummaging through garbage directly underneath our tent trailer. Thank goodness there was apparently enough for them to eat and they didn’t begin spray each other in the fight for morsels. Park employees told me they have been working on trapping them, but according to several campers who have stayed at Chief Timothy on numerous occasions the skunks have always been trouble.

The second downside is a necessary evil. The park needs to water to keep the grass green and keep people coming to this wonderful park. The park waters the grass every other day. If you don’t keep your supplies protected you’re going to end up getting soaked. I saw this happen to the campers around us.

We put a couple of ice chests in front of the sprinkler risers to keep out area dry but its good to make sure you read the watering schedule to prevent your things from getting drenched.

Getting there:

Chief Timothy Park (WA)
13766 HWY 12
Clarkson WA 99403

Located on Highway 12, eight miles west of Clarkston, Washington

Rates:

$20.00 Tents
$20.00 Standard non electric
$26.50 Standard Electric
$66.00 Cabins

We had a great time ! This rating would have been higher if it had not been for the skunks.

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