Camping down south in the summer

Use2btrix

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Does anyone here camp down south in the summer? I'm from Iowa originally but have lived in Texas for several years and can't get totally acclimated to these 100+ degree days. I bike commute to work often and still ride a ton, but all my overnight trips have been hotels because I feel like 80 degrees and 95% humidity at night is going to have me a sweaty mess all night, just to go ride again the following day.

Anyone else out there push through it or usually opt out of summer camping down here. Can't wait to get out of the south but unfortunately work has me stuck here.
 

Bryce

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I will camp in Georgia in the summer, but tent to head to the mountains on GA/NC/TN were the higher elevations will give us cooler night.
 

~TABASCO~

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I LOVE to camp, and from Texas... but for me the summer camping is just brutal. I've camped in the summer many times but its just not fun and enjoyable.. I sweat my ass off all night, and it a oven. June/July/August and even September is a boiling box. If you have been out on the bike all day with all your gear in 100* heat all day, pull into a cheep motel (if you can) and get some good food and a good nights rest. (I'm personally not an advocate for motel use out on the bike, I would much rather camp. But for me its just ridiculously hot in mid-summer)
 

Use2btrix

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~TABASCO~ said:
I LOVE to camp, and from Texas... but for me the summer camping is just brutal. I've camped in the summer many times but its just not fun and enjoyable.. I sweat my ass off all night, and it a oven. June/July/August and even September is a boiling box. If you have been out on the bike all day with all your gear in 100* heat all day, pull into a cheep motel (if you can) and get some good food and a good nights rest. (I'm personally not an advocate for motel use out on the bike, I would much rather camp. But for me its just ridiculously hot in mid-summer)
Im really glad to hear this. Just making sure I'm not being a sissy lol. I just bought a bunch of camping gear and haven't been camping since i was a child, so anxious to use it, but dam it's just miserable out right now.
 

malcom

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I'm in the landscape trade in N E Florida so pretty much June thru Sept. if I'm not working I try to stay indoors. Man I sweat like a Whore in church. Do my camping in cooler months.
PS I sell Tents and other items geared toward Moto camping.
 

Buelligan

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The south? Hot, muggy, no thanks...
Southwest? 13,000' passes, 50 degree nights, 80 degree days, dry heat, gorgeous views, awesome trails, and roads? I will take it!!!

Try Colorado, or northern New Mexico for some camping and riding enjoyment.

::021::
 

Ramseybella

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Never!!

But that depends on what you mean south?

I camp down in Alamogordo, NM in late fall and in November if I can get to it then. In November between Santa Fe and Alamogordo it tends to snow.
 

Checkswrecks

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This is the season all you Southerners invade Yankee-land to find somewhere cooler or higher in elevation.
 

AVGeek

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Checkswrecks said:
This is the season all you Southerners invade Yankee-land to find somewhere cooler or higher in elevation.
DC may be cooler, but holy crap does it have humidity! Every time I walked outside the hotel last week, I gasped...
 

Checkswrecks

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AVGeek said:
DC may be cooler, but holy crap does it have humidity! Every time I walked outside the hotel last week, I gasped...
DC isn't really Yankee-Land, the Mason Dixon is Maryland's northern border with PA. We watch a constant flow of Florida plates on the way to PA and NY.

And yes, riding in to work yesterday morning you could chew the air. Today is beautiful.
 

Use2btrix

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Checkswrecks said:
This is the season all you Southerners invade Yankee-land to find somewhere cooler or higher in elevation.
I lived in Iowa for 20+ years. I love the northern weather and would move up there in a heart beat if there wasn't so much work in my industry down south. Saving now so I can afford the 50% + paycut eventually. Getting out of this miserable southern heat will be worth it. I'm 28 and I've already had skin cancer removed once. I avoid the sun if at all possible, but work gets me out there sometimes.
 

14s10

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Did a cross country 12k mile trip last summer from west to east and back. Went though some of the middle and southern states. Camped a few times in hot humid weather, but most of the time tried to find motels or Airbnb, so much better than sweating all night. One time remember pulling into a campground somewhere in IL and there was only one person camping in a tent. We get off the bike (gf and I) and gf looks at me and says, let's get a hotel. It was so hot just sitting there, couldn't imagine sleeping through that weather outdoors. It was a good decision, even though we had to ride into the evening farther to find a decent motel. I'll stay away from camping in the hot humid areas. Riding during the days is bad enough in that weather! I don't envy you guys that live down there and have to ride in that all the time. I love our 70-90 degree days without humidity out here in CA. But I sure hate the cost of living, one thing I envy about living in the south.


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Ron Earp

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Born and lived in the South all my life. I don't camp down here unless it's under 65F. Apparently my ancestors were some pasty white folks from a cold climate who didn't do well with heat and, despite growing up here, I too despise the heat and humidity. I do most of my riding from September to June.

High today in Cary/Raleigh NC is to be 97 with a heat index over 106F. Yay. Needless to say I drove a cage into work.
 

silvergoose

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"The air you can wear" a quote from one of the HVAC contractors located in Ft Smith, Arkansas, sums it up.


Good Luck
 

Standby diver

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I am living in FL right now. I would rather drive all the way up to North GA in the mountains with 2 dogs and a toddler in the car to camp, than camp in the forest 45 mins away. So that is exactly what I did.

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Kurgan

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Hot day on the bike with the gear on, I want a room with A/C and a half decent bed so my body can recover in preparation for the next day of riding.
 

Madhatter

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this post has been around awhile , and nothing has really changed , its hard to camp in Texas in the summer . ive read this post a few times over the last two years and I have some thoughts based on my experience . I personally do not plan summer tent camping but I have camped in tents in the summer. breeze , you need a breeze flowing through the tent if you have any hope of comfort . leave the rain fly off or pulled up to allow breeze to do its thing. shade , find a shaded area to set tent up ( but an area that has a breeze ) so the ground temperature will be cooler. think about how hot the ground is and your tent is on the ground and all that stored heat is radiating up through you as you lay in tent. a cot to get you off the ground ,lets air circulate around your body. forget a tent , just camp cowboy style , on your bed roll in the open ( bugs and critters will enjoy your hospitality ). if there are trees consider a hammock , it is something I am exploring , it is different , it takes getting used to , its off the ground and have air circulating around your body. it can be pretty hot and you can get a chill from the way the air pulls the heat from you. hammocks are light and pack small , some have rain flys and bug screens . an option to consider , hennesy hammocks makes quality camping hammocks . have bug screens and rain flys , a hammock tent really. I just have a hammock for lounging around in but in a pinch I can sleep there cooler. and they set up faster no poles.
 

Madhatter

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and I may add a hennesy hammock to my kit in the future , one more thing a hammock does , rocks you to sleep.
 

dannyv

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Hennesy hammocks are great, I know several paddlers that use them. But damned if they don't toss a regular tent in too, in case they can not find trees! It happens sometimes. Personally, I am good with a motel. And blessed Air Conditioning!
 
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