Under the tarp
The standard.
Light, quick, open to the sky.
Camp craft
Sleep where the day ends.
No hotels on these routes. Just a tarp, a fire, and the skills to make them work.
When the riding stops, camp begins. Unsaddle, water the horses, pick a spot out of the wind. String a ridge line, peg the tarp, gather wood, light a fire. Cook. Eat. Sleep.
You don't need to know any of it before you come. You'll learn by doing it, next to people who've done it a lot.
Shelter
Tarp pitches for wind, rain and clear nights. Lean-tos, A-frames and the one that works when nothing else does.
Fire
Finding dry wood in wet country. Lighting it, keeping it going, and putting it out properly.
Water
Where to find it, how to make it safe.
Knots
Six knots that solve most problems: bowline, taut-line hitch, clove hitch, trucker's hitch, sheet bend, highwayman's hitch.
Camp cooking
One pot, one fire, very good food when you're that hungry.
Horse care at camp
Picket lines, hobbles, grazing, checking feet and backs.
Leave no trace
The camp should look untouched when we ride away.
Shelter
Forest lean-to
Tarp, a fallen log, a fire in front.
Local shelter
Ger, yurt, puesto, mountain hut:
When the route passes one and the family invites us in.
Storm tent
For when the weather wins.
What we bring
Tarps, ropes, cooking kit, a fire kit, group first aid, horse kit, tents, sleeping bags, mobility vehicles, and horses.
What you bring
A headtorch, layers you can ride in that keep you warm, and a knife where it is legal to carry one.
Camps are chosen and run by The Frontiersmen. Fires only where the ground and the local rules allow it, and we drown them before we leave. A guide carries the group first-aid kit. If someone is hurt, we stop, treat what we can, and get to the nearest road.