So I tried motocamping for the first time...

[DJM]

Went to PineHurst Lake Conservation near Cambridge last weekend. 2.5 hr ride for me. Place was empty so it was real quiet and I chose a site farthest away from others. Enjoyed the solitude and I'm going to do it again but start going farther out. I'd like to try Algonquin area eventually and expand from that.

Except for the 4-person Nemo Aurora tent, which I splurged on, the other gear was from Temu. I didn't want to go all out on name-brand stuff like JetBoil, Sea-To-Sky or Mosko Moto only to find out I hated the premise of it all.

Everything worked well but I really miscalculated on the sleeping bag. 10C rating was not enough for unexpected 4C night temperatures. Luckily I brought a wool blanket, Under Armor cold gear and had the grand idea of filling empty Gatorade bottles with boiling water and tossing them in with me. The slightest opening in the bag let what felt like a river of cold air pouring in though. Temu air mattress was comfy.

Tent was great, lot's of room for gear and clothing etc. It's a heavy bastard but I didn't want to feel claustrophobic. I tried out a 2-person at Sportchek and I couldn't deal with that. Saturday night had a T-storm and tornado warning. Not a drop inside but a wild experience in that deluge. Glad I brought extra tent pegs.

Bike was good but felt the weight and higher CG, especially when braking and coming to a stop. Paris was a ****-show of stop/go construction detour traffic, so with that setup really sucked. Bypassed it on the way back thankfully.

 

[Gaoler]

Moto camping.
I like it and hate it at the same time... It's much less expensive that staying in hotels/motels on my cross-Canada trips, but... There's all the work of setting up/tearing down and of course... Dealing with the weather.
'Never fails to be raining more often than not when I plan to camp... It can be miserable.
When the weather's nice though... It's okay.

Moyie Lake Prov. Park (Near Cranbrook BC)

 

[Mad Mike]

The key to moto camping is failing in your kit. Every time you pack, ask yourself “do I reallly need this?” I’ve managed to fit 3 days into 40l.

 

[Lightcycle]

Excellent write-up, thanks for that!

Everything worked well but I really miscalculated on the sleeping bag. 10C rating was not enough for unexpected 4C night temperatures.

We found out the hard way that the sleeping bag temperature rating is a survival number, not a comfort number. -7C rating means you will survive the night at -7C. To be comfortable in -7C, you need a -18C bag.

 

[DJM]

Couple of other things.

I almost left a main tent pole behind. Slid it off into the grass behind the tent to fold everything up and missed it on the final pack. It was only because I moved the bike up and decided to rinse the mud off the kickstand puck that I saw it when I walked over to the faucet. That would have sucked. Mental note for a more thorough check next time.

Also picked up a $60 heated vest for the trip. It uses standard USB power banks that I already had. Lasts a long time on low with my 20 Ah battery but really puts out the heat on High. Came in handy first thing in the morning and later evenings until a fire was going. Even without the heat on, it was thick enough to just have over a turtleneck but thin enough to fit under my jacket for the cool ride home. Seems to be made well except the zipper. I can see that being an issue with use. Definitely not YKK quality.

And, the missus, in her hurried excitement to get me TF out of the house, suggested her travel ziploks that use an air pump to pull vacuum for a smaller footprint. I used my mattress pump to pull them down and it gave me more room in the hard cases. Did my blanket and clothing with them.

 

[Mad Mike]

Excellent write-up, thanks for that!



We found out the hard way that the sleeping bag temperature rating is a survival number, not a comfort number. -7C rating means you will survive the night at -7C. To be comfortable in -7C, you need a -18C bag.

That’s different for everyone. I have a 7c bag, I’m comfortable at 7c. If I’m cold, I don a layer of clothing. A fleece turtleneck, sleep pants and toque keeps me comfortable down to 0.